Eradicating Filth: Public Health in Victorian Times


Wolverhampton | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

When the report was published on 24 May 1875, it contained a preface written by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, William Edwards, refuting the majority of claiming that the report was out of date as the majority of the problems had been dealt with.

Despite these claims it was clear that conditions in the town were still far from healthy. In 1887 Henry Malet the Medical Officer of Health for Wolverhampton published his annual report to the Sanitary Committee, These reports dealt with the general health of the town - births, deaths, and disease, a comment on the sanitary condition of the town together with tables and statistics. Entitled, Sanitary Condition of the Borough of Wolverhampton: 1887, Malet reported that deaths from diarrhoea were the highest on record, other illnesses reported included scarlet fever, typhoid fever and diphtheria

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Table of Infectious Disease 1886: Report on the Health of the Borough of Wolverhampton 1887 (L614)

Table 1 (above) lists cases of infectious disease in Wolverhampton during 1886. The table lists various infectious diseases including measles and typhoid Fever. Printed reports such as these are available for the period 1887 - 1973 (with a few gaps) and can be found amongst the minutes of the borough council (CMB-WOL-C-COU). They form an invaluable source for the study of all manner of health issues.

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Extract from Bushbury Council School log book 1891 (D-EDS-133/2/1).

The entries reads

"January 20th Mrs Stavelely Hill gave her annual Xmas treat to the school children. This had been put off on account of the measles epidemic down the lane which we believe has now passed away; 28th Measles has again broken out in many parts of the village; 30th today eight more families were reported to have measles".

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Extract from Bushbury Council School log book February 1891 (D-EDS-133/2/1).

The entry reads

'Four deaths have occurred in the parish this week from measles. Three of them were school children'

By the end of the 19th century great improvements had been made in the living conditions of the townspeople. The annual reports of the Medical Officer of Health reveal that cases of disease and illness were declining, raw sewage and other filth had been removed from the streets, housing conditions had been improved, and pollution controls had begun. These improvements, along with other public health reforms, meant life expectancy at the end of the century had improved considerably since the beginning. However there were still problems. Over 150 people still died of diarrhoea in 1897, whilst in 1891 there was a severe outbreak of measles in Bushbury as the extracts from the local school log book reveal. There was still a long way to go in improving health.

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