Public Health

"The role of central government in public health was a contentious issue in the later 18th and early 19th centuries as it was often felt that such issues should be left to local government. However, the Privy Council believed that it was necessary to establish Boards of Health in the early 19th century when faced with potential and real epidemics in 1805-06 and 1831-32.

Some investigations into public health were undertaken by the Poor Law Commission set up in 1834 (and its successors) and some of their investigations were published as part of an open debate on public health. These enquiries led to a further, more extensive survey, published as Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population 1842. The Royal Commission on the Health of Towns was appointed in 1843 but it was another five years before the passing of the Public Health Act 1848 which established a temporary General Board of Health.

By 1870 there were over 700 authorities working under the public health and local government legislation along with uncoordinated poor law and registration authorities operating within their boundaries. In small towns and rural areas parish vestries, boards of guardians, highways boards and other bodies all had a hand in public health matters. It was not until 1919 that a Ministry of Health was established."

( from PRO, 2002. Public Health (online), http://www.pro.gov.uk/pathways/localhistory/gallery2/phealth.htm[accessed 28/02/02]

Click here for:

a history of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

an Environmental History Timeline

Next Page