Eradicating Filth: Public Health in Victorian Times


Wolverhampton | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Population of Wolverhampton 1801-1901

Wolverhampton was the largest of the four townships. It had a population of 36, 382 (1841 census), about an eighth the size it is today. Its chief industries were coal mining, iron production and the manufacture of metal goods.

The areas we know today as Monmore Green, Ettingshall, Parkfields and Rough Hills, in the east and south of the town, were areas of coal and iron production. If you were to have walked through the streets of these areas at the time, you would have come across coal mines, iron works, iron furnaces, brass foundries and chemical works - what a dirty and noisy place it would have been, not to mention an unhealthy place!

Township Commissioners had been established in 1777 with authority to levy rates and begin improving the streets and thoroughfares of the growing industrial town, but by the time the borough council was established in 1848 the town faced major health problems. For more information on the work of the commissioners, click here.

In 1843 the Report to The Commissioners on the Employment of Children described parts of the town as follows:

‘Stafford Street and Walsall Street [are] two of the longest and most disgraceful streets in the town. The greater proportion of Salop Street and Horsley (sic) Field, which are very long, is in the same condition. They have no underground drainage, and the entire length of each always runs with filth, or is stagnant in its dirt… in one of the hovels of Stafford Street it appeared that a man, his wife and child, and a donkey all slept together. The hovel had but one room; the man was seated on the threshold of the door, as I was passing one evening; the woman and child were in bed on the ground, and the donkey was standing upon some straw close beside her …’ There is often a common dunghill at the end , or in one corner [of the court], where everything is cast … the slush in front of the doors is usually of the most disgusting kind’

One of the earliest enquiries into public health was the Royal Commission for the Inquiry on the Sanitary State of Large Towns and Populous Districts 1844 or the Chadwick Report as it was also known.

This enquiry included a report from Mr J Dehane on the state of Wolverhampton. In that report Mr Dehane includes a letter from James Gatis MD. The letter tells us about a large number of fever cases, particularly Typhus fever, which he believes was related to the living conditions of the area. He reports open sewers running down the centre of Carribbee Island and rubbish and filth deposited close to the houses.

Click on the image to enlarge

Extract from a letter written by James Gatis MD to J Dehane (L628p)

James Gratis also remarks on the overcrowded housing. Carribbee Island was typical of living conditions in many poor areas at the time, where it was common for there to be several families living under one roof. If we look at the 1851 census we can find evidence of such overcrowding:

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