The Public Health Act 1875
c 55
is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, one of the Public Health Acts, and a significant step in the advancement of

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

in England. Its purpose was to codify previous measures aimed at combating filthy urban living conditions, which caused various health threats, including the spread of many diseases such as cholera and

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

Background

Reformers had from the 1830s wanted to resolve sanitary problems in urban areas, because sewage was flowing down the street daily, including the presence of sewage in living quarters. In 1848 their efforts led to the establishment of a three-man Board of Health – if one with very limited powers. Many factors delayed effective implementation of reform, however, such as the fact that to perform a cleanup would cost money, and neither government, factory owners, or local authorities were keen to pay. Gradually, however, reformers helped to counteract the laissez-faire attitude of the government and public. In 1871, the Board of Health was subsumed into the

Local Government Board The Local Government Board (LGB) was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local administration in England and Wales from 1871 to 1919. The LGB was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871 (C. 70) and took over the public health a ...

by the Liberal Party; and when the Conservatives came to power in 1874, they were committed by

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...

to extending social reform. A public health Act was introduced in 1875. Home Secretary Richard Cross was responsible for drafting the legislation, and received much good will from trades union groups in the consequent years for "humanising the toil of the working man". Disraeli ensured the passing of the 1875 Act; and when mocked by his opponents for neglecting more important political reforms, retorted on them with the resounding phrase ‘”sanitas sanitatum, omnia sanitas” ealth above Everything

Scope of the Act

The Act made it compulsory for local powers to: # purchase, repair or create sewers # control water-supplies # regulate cellars and lodging houses # establish by-laws for controlling new streets and buildings. With the rapid urbanisation that accompanied the Industrial Revolution, huge swathes of

terraced houses In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

had been built to accommodate the factory workers. The contrast between the housing stock built before the passage of the Act and that built after it was stark. The Act required all new residential construction to include running water and an internal drainage system, and also led to the government prohibiting the construction of shoddy housing by building contractors. The Act also meant that every public health authority had to have a medical officer and a sanitary inspector, to ensure the laws on food, housing, water and hygiene were carried out; and that towns had to have pavements and

street lighting A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distribution ...

. It is, however, important to realise that the new powers provided were permissive, not compulsory: they provided a model of best practice for municipalities, but actual implementation remained for the most part up to the individual local authority.J N Tarn, ''Five Per Cent Philanthropy'' (1973) p. 75

References

* Halsbury's Statutes. Third Edition. Volume 26. Page 38. *Thomas Whiteside Hime. Public Health: The Practical Guide to the Public Health Act, 1875, and Correlated Acts, for the Use of Medical Officers of Health and Inspectors of Nuisances. Bailliere, Tindall and Cox. 1884
Internet Archive
*William Cunningham Glen and Alexander Glen. The Public Health Act, 1875, and the Law relating to Public Health, Local Government, and Urban and Rural Sanitary Authorities. Eighth Edition. Butterworths. Knight & Co. London. 1876
Internet Archive
*James C Stevens. The Public Health Act 1875: Arranged in a Dictionary Index Form. Shaw and Sons. London. 1876
Internet Archive
*Robert Rawlinson. The Public Health Act 1875: Suggestions as to the Preparation of District Maps, and of Plans for the Main Sewerage, Drainage, and Water Supply (Revised to 1878). HMSO. London. 1878
Internet Archive
(the description of this book, on that webpage, as another work by William Glen is erroneous). * World History 4th Edition by William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogel

External links

Text of the statute as originally enacted (PDF)
* {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1875 Transport policy in the United Kingdom Urban society in the United Kingdom Health law in the United Kingdom Water supply and sanitation in the United Kingdom

Background

Scope of the Act

See also

References

External links