England Public Health Records - International Institute

The original content for this article was contributed by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies in June 2012. It is an excerpt from their course English: Education, Health and Contemporary Documents  by Dr. Penelope Christensen. The Institute offers over 200 comprehensive genealogy courses for a fee ($).

Public Health

In pre-Restoration times our ancestors were not too bothered by sanitation (Razzell) and the earthen floors were used in the absence of toilets until the 18^th century. Brick flooring was introduced in the late 17^th century and became very popular, since which time the English had a reputation for domestic cleanliness. The relationship of this to mortality rates is discussed by Razzell.

Taking the waters by drinking or bathing at curative spas having sulphur or chalybeate springs came from the continent as early as 1560 but was at its height of popularity in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The most fashionable centres were Bath and Wells in the west country and Epsom and Tunbridge Wells south of London. There were many others, and your ancestors could have visited them from time to time, perhaps accounting for some of those inexplicable census absences. The Prince Regent, later George IV, popularised the restorative effects of sea air and bathing at Brighton in the early 19^th century.

State Intervention for Good Health

There was large-scale state intervention to promote good health during the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The first national public health board was convened in 1805-1806 regarding a fever then present in Spain and Gibraltar. In 1831-1832 there was another concerning the cholera outbreak in Britain. Chadwick’s 1842 Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Poor resulted in a Royal Commission on the Health of Towns which reported in 1844-1845. As a result of their deliberations the Public Health Act was passed in 1848 which encouraged Local Boards of Health (MOH) to be established to survey and address their local needs. Smith quotes an example from these surveys:

Chart: Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Poor Example from Longbridge Deverill, Wiltshire—1852

Eli Toose, living in the next house, said: ‘We have had five children but they are all dead. I have always lived in this parish. I had the ague first when I was ten years of age; four years ago I was ill of it twenty five weeks; I am ill now, and shall never be well again. My wife is unfit to do anything, she is so ill. She had not been well for some years, and has had the chill.’ Unable to stand, this poor woman was sitting in a chair, endeavouring to wash a few clothes in some very dirty water. Both husband and wife looked more than half dead. The tears ran down both their faces while telling me their sorrowful tale.

Several other acts of parliament followed and by 1870 there were 700 authorities working under public health and government legislation, and these were not co-ordinated with the poor law and registration authorities. Outside the major towns parish vestries, boards of guardians, highway boards and others were all involved in public health matters. To simplify all this two Public Health Acts of 1872 and 1874 established rural and urban sanitary authorities with the compulsory advice of a Medical Officer of Health. This explains the puzzling acronyms USD (Urban Sanitary District) andRSD (Rural Sanitary District) on registration certificates. In 1888 the new county councils appointed the MOH’s and in 1894 urban and rural district councils became the administrators.

Surveys

Several public health surveys were made between 1885 and 1895, the returns and correspondence being at The National Archives. TNA has records of the resulting acts and regulations and some local records survive in county archives, but they are unlikely to contain information about individuals. Further information on public health in 19^th century Britain can be found in TNA document D73. Of more direct use to the family historian are the Charles Booth surveys of poverty in London carried out from 1886 until around 1902. This massive 17-volume work contains street-by-street accounts of living and working conditions, and major occupations of those in each street. A series of colour-coded maps accompanies the text to indicate the poverty levels as follows: black indicates extreme poverty, various shades of blue are slightly better-off, then rising through purple to the comfortable pink, the relatively affluent red, and top-of-the-scale affluent yellow.

Booth’s most detailed accounts are of the east end and central London, and Battersea south of the river, which are in volume 1. It is important to know that Booth used pseudonyms for both streets and people in this volume, however in volume 2 he gives a key to the real street names. The exact date of each walk he did with the police officers is noted, and you can get information about individuals if you have an exact address and use the Booth notebooks in conjunction with the census returns. The rest of metropolitan London is covered in further volumes but in a less detailed manner, and with more emphasis on poor rather than affluent neighbourhoods. Several volumes are devoted to the conditions of work in different trades, which give descriptive material relevant to any ancestor in that trade.

The original published edition is hard to find, but Steele has collected the information on south east London districts in book format, and this is reviewed in Family History News and Digest volume 13 #2, page 91. Scott has a pair of excellent articles in Family Tree Magazine, published before the LSE (London School of Economics) digitised and indexed the notebooks and they can be found at Charles Booth online archive. Not everything is online but some examples are found below.

Chart: Charles Booth’s Notebooks

Stoke Newington, Middlesex Oct 11 1897

A sketch map of the district covered begins at the police station at the north end, Arcola St at south, Rectory Rd on east, and Nevill Rd on west. Walk with Inspector F. Thorpe of the N Division. Headquarters of the Division are at the Police Station in the Newington High Street. The Superintendent is Macfadden. Thorpe has been 21 years in the service. Ten years ago he was stationed in this Division. After that he went as a sergeant to Clerkenwell. Now he has been here 3 yrs as an Inspector. He is a round, podgy man of medium height, moustache, pleasant good humoured face and voice… Starting at the police station on the High Street. Then a little way south turning east at Church Road here are the National Schools built 1837. Pink in character. Houses rented at £32 a year. Running North out of it are Glading Terrace and Leswin Road, roads of 2 storied houses with bow windows on the ground floor. Pink.

The Lovat Arms, Burdett Road, Stepney, Middlesex Feb 11 1898

Interview with Mr F. Friend, publican, owner of the Lovat Arms Public House in the Burdett Rd at the corner of Thomas St i.e. just north of the canal bridge, on an introduction from Mr. Reeve, manager of Truman, Hanbury and Buxtons. Mr Friend is tall, dark, strong looking, about 45 years of age. His father took this same house in 1862. On the father’s death in 1879 his mother carried it on with him as manager until 1891. Then she died and he has carried it in since. The neighbourhood is working class and lower middle and middle class. The mainstay of his business in the winter is the jug trade. There is also a regular set from the Whitehead works opposite, and from Thomas St. Gold and Silver Refinery, that make use of his house.....

Straightsmouth, Greenwich 1 Aug 1899

West of Randell’s Place - purple Through passage way under Railway Station into a row of houses facing the railway called Straightsmouth. Two cottages face north - nursery and comfortable. Pink. At west end 2 st[orey] and 2 ½ st[orey] houses. Houses clean and well kept except a few near the Board School. Postmen [Christensen’s grandfather was a postman living here], many railway men, musicians etc. Pink. Purple near the school. Near the west end is Glaisher Street a cul-de-sac with 2 st[orey] cottages, doors open into lower rooms. Windows of some look poor. Purple to LB. NW from Straightsmouth into Randel’s Place. Board School takes south side. N is 2 st[orey] houses, mixed, some coalies [coal heavers]. Looks quiet and [policeman] Mercer says rows twice a week- Saturdays and Sundays. Purple.

Ministry Of Health

The Ministry of Health was created in 1919 and various public assistance bodies succeeded the poor law authorities in 1930. The National Archives leaflet D109 describes the relevant records for the period 1919-1939 kept there.

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Education,Health and Contemporary Documents offered by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at wiki@genealogicalstudies.com We welcome updates and additions to this Wiki page.