Reports on the state of towns (3.1)

The moral and physical condition of the working classes of manchester, 1832

• written by Dr James Kay
• Written during the 1832 cholera epidemic
• visited 14 district boards to investigate conditions
• significance of report: one of the first people to demonstrate a connection between dirt and disease
• proved that diet affected the health of working people
• set the scene for later investigations

Report on the sanitary condition of the labouring population of great britain, 1842

• written by Edwin Chadwick
• report's scope extended because it was prompted by the home secretary and the bishop of London
• Problems with publication: criticised the water companies and named names
• significance: linked public health and the poor law
• proved conenction between vested interests and overcrowding
• most people were reluctant to the report

Report of the royal commission into the sanitary conditions of large towns and populous districts, 1844

• generated as a result of Chadwick's report
• questionnaires sent to the 50 towns with the highest annual death rates
• upheld Chadwick's findings: 42 out of 50 towns had bad drainage and 30 had poor water supplies
• recommended the that central government be given extensive powers to inspect and supervise local sanitary work
• local sanitary districts be set up, authority over drainage, sewerage, paving, and water supplies
• raise money for sanitary schemes through local rates

Report of the Bradford Woolcombers Sanatory Committee, 1845

conditions revealed about housing and life expectancy:

• cellars filled with working people and also used as workplaces
• Bradford; 10,000 woolcombers living and working in their own dwellings
• average age of death of a woolcomber was 14 years, 2 months