INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES Labourers Middle class
Average ages of death during the Industrial Revolution Manchester 17 38
1831–32 1848 1854
Cholera* deaths in Britain 50,000 60,000 20,000
*Cholera is caused by drinking contaminated water
11
Rutland (country area) 33 50
How, according to this table, did being rich or poor, or living in a city or country area, affect life expectancy in 19th
century Britain?
The Silent
Highwayman (1858) – cartoon depicting Death rowing up the Thames. This was during the
time when London experienced the
Great Stink from the River Thames, into which sewerage drained
One of the most important promoters of public health was Edwin Chadwick. His report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population in 1842 highlighted the link between bad living conditions, ill-health and life expectancy. He wanted government action to improve living conditions. The outbreak of cholera in 1848 forced the government to act. It passed the Public Health Act 1848, which allowed local councils to improve conditions in their own towns. Later acts of parliament improved sanitation, housing regulations and forced local councils to improve conditions in their towns and cities. These acts reduced deaths from typhus (spread by fleas or lice) in London from 716 in 1868 to none in 1900.
