victorian england

833 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Industrialisation and its impact on the Victorian age

Today, deaths from influenza, cholera, and tuberculosis are rare in England; however, in Victorian England, these diseases and many more health problems were widespread. Victorian England was a time of great change, socially, economically, and politically. From the rise of factories to increased urbanization, the lives of many Britons changed during the Victorian era. Ultimately, many facets of change led to the transformation – both positive and negative – of one aspect of every citizen’s life: health. Deadly epidemics became widespread, and workers and average citizens died from disease caused by increased environmental pollution. Yet, health reforms and advances in medicine occurred as well.
Due to more crowded conditions, epidemic diseases spread extremely quickly during in Victorian England. The life expectancy in Surrey at the time was 45, while in London it was 47 (“Health and Hygiene”). One major problem was poor waste removal: increased urbanization led to an increased flow of sewage, which flowed into over 200,000 waste pits and eventually, the Thames, a major source of drinking water. Charles Dickens said “We pour it (the filth) into the rivers flowing through our towns, and pollute them as never before…” (Allingham). Polluted water led to cholera and typhoid, which at the time was thought to be caused by bad smells. Increasing pollution of the Thames led to the “Great Stink” of 1858, which not only stunk but caused rapid bacteria growth and thus rapid spread of disease (“Health and Hygiene”). However, cholera and typhoid were not the worst of the epidemics as they were typically limited to contaminated water and poorer neighborhoods; diseases such as tuberculosis, typhus, and influenza had no geographical barriers. E...

... middle of paper ...

...011. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Douglas, Laurelyn. "Health and Hygiene in the Nineteenth Century." Health and Hygiene in the Nineteenth Century. 11 Oct. 2002. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Douglas, Laurelyn. "Medical Developments In Britain During The Nineteenth Century." Medical Developments In Britain During The Nineteenth Century. Apr. 1991. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Douglas, Laurelyn. "Victorian Attitudes toward Health." Victorian Attitudes toward Health. Apr. 1991. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.
Salisbury, Joyce and Andrew Kersten. "Health and Medicine in Victorian England." Daily Life through History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
Salisbury, Joyce and Andrew Kersten. "Urban & Rural Life in Victorian England." Daily Life through History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
Wohl, Anthony S. "Sanitation and Disease in Rich and Poor." Sanitation and Disease in Rich and Poor. 1989. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • A Midwife's Tale Sparknotes

    629 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the eighteenth century progressed, the medical field followed. The medical field shifted from being underdeveloped into becoming a more developed field. During the early eighteenth century, people relied more on midwives for the medical care; on the other hand, as the medical field started to

    Read More

  • Progressive Reform Movement in Arkansas from 1900-1920

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...children to have the smallpox vaccination. Towns began building pure water systems and sewer systems, creating a much cleaner environment.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of The Ghost Map

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book, The Ghost Map, tells the story of the cholera outbreak that took place in England during the medieval era. During this time, London became popular, causing it to become one of the most populous urban cities in England. However, it suffered from overcrowding, a large lower class, and little health regulations. As a result, living conditions and water supply were not the cleanest, and many died from the disease cholera. Though this epidemic led to many deaths/illnesses during it’s time, it has proven to be helpful and important to public health today. Some public health advancements that have occurred as a result include healthier, cleaner, and longer lives lived.

    Read More

  • Paul Farmer, Partners in Health and Tuberculosis

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    "Partners in Health History." Partners In Health. Web. 5 Dec. 2011. This article describe’s PIH’s

    Read More

  • The Black Death: Bubonic Plague’s Worst Disaster

    1759 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kira L. S. Newman, “Shutt Up: Bubonic Plague and Quarantine in Early Modern England,” Journal of Social History, 3, (2012): 809-834

    Read More

  • The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mary Poovey, “Domesticity and Class Formation: Chadwick’s 1842 Sanitary Report,” in Making a Social Body: British Cultural Formation, 1839-1864 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 115-131

    Read More

  • Hygiene and the Underclass in Nineteenth-Century Rio de Janeiro

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    Beginning in 1850, disease was underway again in Rio de Janeiro after being absent since 1686. In just three years, 6,500 people died of Yellow Fever. The fever disappeared for some time only to return again in the 1890’s where 14,944 died of the disease. Between 1850 and 1901, 56,000 people died of Yellow Fever alone. In response to all the diseases, the Central Board of Public Hygiene was created and they had to act fast in order to prevent any more deaths. The Central Board of Public Hygiene’s job was to lay plumbing underground that would be the underground sewage system. This reform was supposed to eliminate “waste” on the streets and to have cleaner water throughout the city. Instead, disease worsened as the years went on. Of course, like most issues, someone was to blame and those who were blamed were the servants that lived on the streets and worked in the houses. It was obvious that since they were living in the filth they were clearly spreading the disease and when they would work in the houses of their servants they would pass the disease down to the children and the rest of the household. This eventually led to the destruction of cortiços.

    Read More

  • railroad and disease

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    The rail market continued to grow and by the 1860’s all major cities within the United States were connected by rail. The main diseases that showed the most virulence during the time were cholera, yellow fever and consumption, now known as tuberculosis. The 9th census mortality data showed that 1 out 7 deaths from disease were caused by tuberculosis and 1 out of 24 disease deaths were resulting from cholera. . Until the 1870s the general consensus of the spread of disease through population was still the primitive idea that it came from the individual and not specifically the pathogen.... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

  • Medicine in the Renaissance

    412 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the Renaissance, some aspects of medicine and doctors were still in a Dark Age. Outbreaks of disease were common, doctors were poor, medicine was primitive and many times doctors would kill a patient with a severe treatment for a minor disease! But, there were other sections where medicine and the use of medications improved greatly. This paper is written to illustrate the "light and dark" sides of medicine in the Renaissance.

    Read More

  • American Immigration Essay

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    By the 1840’s high rates of disease were ascribed to the housing many of New York’s poverty-stricken immigrants lived in. Fear spread that while disease was rooted in the polluted living conditions of New York’s poorer communities, disease could easily spread to the more well off citizens too. Public health officials realized that the city’s soiled streets and polluted sewers were a health risk to all New Yorkers. In the mid-nineteenth century, New York possessed a primitive sewage system. Poorly planned sewers spanned the city, but most citizens’ homes did not connect to these pipes. Instead, most New Yorkers relied on outdoor outhouses and privies. Because of the high levels of unmanaged waste, epidemics of infectious diseases were commonplace in New York. The city battled outbreaks of smallpox, typhoid, malaria, yellow fever, cholera, and tuberculosis. In 1849, a rash of cholera struck the city, killing more than five thousand people. A wave of typhoid in the mid-1860’s resulted in a similar amount of deaths. Port cities and transportation hubs, like New York, were especially prone to outbursts of infectious diseases because of the high volume of travelers that passed through the city. Americans realized that they were contracting and dying from infectious diseases at an alarming rate, but weren’t entirely sure of why or how. (Web, par. 17,

    Read More

  • Industrialization In The 19th Century

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    American towns industrialized all throughout the nineteenth century, irresistible ailments developed as a genuine danger. The presentation of new workers and the development of vast urban zones permitted already confined sicknesses to spread rapidly and contaminate larger populations. As industrialization occurred, towns developed into cities, and people relocated to them. The expanded interest for shoddy lodging by urban vagrants prompted ineffectively assembled homes that poorly accommodated individual cleanliness. Outside laborers in the nineteenth century frequently lived in cramped dwellings that consistently lacked fundamental comforts, for example, running water, ventilation, and toilets. These conditions were perfect for the spread

    Read More

  • Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    Wood, Ann Douglas. "'The Fashionable Diseases': Women's Complaints and Their Treatment in Nineteenth-Century America." Women and Health in America. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, Ltd., 1984.

    Read More

  • Victorian Perception of Women and Vampires in Bram Stoker's Dracula

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Sexuality & Modernity: Victorian Sexuality." Sexuality & Modernity: Victorian Sexuality. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Jan. 2014.

    Read More

  • Oscar Wilde: Typifying the Victorian Era

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    "History in Focus." : The Victorian Era (Introduction). Institute of Historical Research., Apr. 2001. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • The Evolution of Women’s Clothing

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    Early 19th century clothing for women was designed for style and beauty, sadly, this left practicality, safety and comfort completely out of the picture. Corsets, which were worn to slim the waist and lift the chest, presented many serious health concerns for women. These vices that women wore on their bodies increased their blood pressure and made breathing very difficult. Fainting was so commonplace that a fainting couch was designed and present in most households Prolonged wearing of corsets weakened back and stomach muscles to the point that some women, who had worn corsets for many years, struggled to hold themselves upright without them. If cinched to tightly, they had the power to bruise the internal organs and push them out of alignment, causing sever health issues. (Berkowe)

    Read More

More about victorian england

Open Document