Sanitary Reform in Victorian Britain

General Editor: Michelle Allen-Emerson
Volume Editors: Tina Young Choi, Tom Crook, Christopher S Hamlin and Barbara Leckie


Part I: 3 Volume Set: 1296pp: February 2012
978 1 84893 163 3: 234x156mm: £275.00/$495.00

Part II: 3 Volume Set: 1200pp: December 2012
978 1 84893 164 0: 234x156mm: £275.00/$495.00

Sanitary reform was one of the great debates of the nineteenth century. Unprecedented urban growth significantly increased the spread of disease. This presented new challenges to public health not least because the relationship between sanitary conditions and disease was not universally acknowledged. Opinions from those involved in medicine, engineering, civic development, architecture and politics are all represented, providing a wide overview of Victorian society. This six volume edition, published in two parts, makes available for the first time a modern, edited collection of rare nineteenth-century documents specifically addressing sanitary reform.

The collection includes material on Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Dublin and London, giving a nationwide perspective on the conditions of British urban life. It covers burial, sewerage, water supply, public baths, housing and inspection. The material comes from newspapers and journals, reports of Medical Health Officers and government agencies, architectural guides and promotional literature from sanitary communities. This unique resource is an invaluable tool for researchers of the History of Science and Medicine and Victorian Studies.

  • First edited collection on nineteenth-century sanitary reform
  • Material is rare and includes unpublished sources from nineteenth-century newspapers and periodicals
  • Covers many areas of provincial Britain as well as London
  • Multi-disciplinary editorial team, bringing expertise from a variety of backgrounds
  • Full editorial apparatus: general introduction, volume introductions, headnotes and endnotes
  • Consolidated index in the final volume

Sample pages

Contents

Part I

Volume 1: Medicine and Sanitary Science

General Introduction

Disease and Sanitary Causes

Early-Nineteenth-Century Debates on the Causes of Diseases: Charles MacLean, Results of an Investigation, Respecting Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases (1817); Charles MacLean, Remarks on the British Quarantine Laws, and the So-Called Sanitary Laws of the Continental Nations of Europe (1823); William MacMichael, A Brief Sketch of the Progress of Opinion upon the Subject of Contagion; With Some Remarks on Quarantine (1825); Willam Baly and William W Gull, Report on the Nature and Import of Certain Microscopic Bodies Found in the Intestinal Discharges of Cholera (1849). Re-evaluating Miasma Theory Mid-Century: Report on the Cholera Outbreak in the Parish of St James, Westminster, During the Autumn of 1854 (1855); William Sedgwick Saunders, Report to the Board of Guardians of the City of London Union, and to the Special Committee Appointed under the Direction of the Privy Council, On the Causes and Prevention of Cholera (1866)

The Emergence of Public Health

Cholera Returns in Great Britain (1832); Health of London Association, Report of the Committee to the members of the Association, and the Public, on Sanitary Improvements (1847); John Simon, Report on the Sanitary Condition of the City of London, For the Year 1848–9 (1849); Dr Sutherland's Report on the Outbreak of Cholera, in the Workhouse of the Taunton Union; and the Reply of the Board of Guardians (1849). The Public Health in Greater London: John Sutherland, General Board of Health. Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Epidemic Districts in the United Parishes of St Giles and St George Bloomsbury (1852); William Farr, Report on the Mortality of Cholera in England, 1848–49 (1852); Richard D Grainger, On the Public Health: Being the Introductory Address Delivered at the Opening of the Medical Session of the Queen's College, Birmingham (1855)

The Extension of Sanitary Reform and Governing Bodies

Kenneth Mackinnon, A Treatise on the Public Health, Climate, Hygeine, and Prevailing Diseases, of Bengal and the North-West Provinces (1848); William J Moore, Health in the Tropics; or Sanitary Art Applied to Europeans in India (1862). Sanitary Conditions in Bombay in the 1860s: Andrew H Leith, Report on the General Sanitary Condition of the Bombay Army (1864); Annual Report of the Sanitary Commissioner for the Government of Bombay (1865); Edward Lugard, Instructions to Commanding, Medical, and Other Officers of the Army (1866)

Volume 2: Sanitary Reform in the Provinces

A Gentleman of the Temple, Public Nuisance considered under the Several Heads of Bad Pavements, Butchers Infesting the Streets, the Inconveniences to the Publick, occasioned by the Present Method of Billitting the Foot-Guards, and the Insolence of Household Servants, with some Hints towards Remedy and Amendment (1754); Joseph Ritson, A Digest of the Proceedings of the Court Leet of the Manor and Liberty of Savoy, Parcel of the Duchy of Lancaster, in the County of Middlesex, from the Year 1682 to the Present Time (1789); Miss Horner, Extract from and Account of a Contagious Fever at Kingston upon Hull. Report of the Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor (1805); T C Speer, Medical Report containing an Inquiry into the Cause and Character of the Diseases of the Lower Orders in Dublin (1822); Andrew Buchanan, 'Report of the Diseases which Prevailed among the Poor of Glasgow, during the summer of 1830', Glasgow Medical Journal (1830); [Robert Forsythe], Foul Burn Agitation! Statement explaining the Nature and History of the Agricultural Irrigation near Edinburgh (1840); D J Corrigan, On Famine and Fever as Cause and Effect in Ireland (1846); Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, First and Second Reports of the Committee appointed to Consider any Bills that may be brought into Parliament for the Improvement of the Health of Towns, and the Applicability of such Measures to Scotland (1849–9); William Baker, On the Sanitary Condition of Derby (1842); Charles Barham, On the Sanitary State of Truro (1842); S Scott Alison, On the Sanitary Condition and General Economy of the Town of Tranent (1842); P H Holland, Report of P H Holland on Social conditions in Merthyr (1853); Alfred A Dickens, Public Health Act (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63.) Report to the General Board of Health on a Preliminary Inquiry into the Sewerage, Drainage, and Supply of Water, and Sanitary Condition of the Inhabitants of the Town and Parish of Brixham (1854); Health of Towns Association, Report of the Sub-Committee on the Answers Returned to Questions Addressed to the Principal Towns of England and Wales, and on the Objections from Corporate Bodies to the Public Health Bill (1848); Public Health Act (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63.), Statements and Observations in Relation to 'The Report of William Lee, esq. CE to the General Board of Health on a preliminary Enquiry into the Sewerage, Drainage, and Supply of Water, and the Sanitary Condition of the Inhabitants of the City of Ely in the County of Cambridge' (1850); Anti-Centralization Union, Public Health Bill; and Nuisances Removal Bill, 1855 (1855); E C Potter, The Pollution of Rivers: by a Polluter. A Letter to the Rt Hon G Sclater-Booth, President of the Local Government Board (1875); [James Newlands], Report to the Health Committee of the Borough of Liverpool on the Sewerage and other Works, under the Sanitary Act by the Borough Engineer (1848); Richard Reynolds Rowe, Report upon the Sewage Works of some Towns in England, Recently Visited (1869); Borough of Barnsley, County of York, Report to the Members of the Town Council of Barnsley by the Committee appointed to visit Localities where Sewage Works are in Operation (1874); George Ferme, Local Board Sewage Farming. A Letter to Clare Sewall Read, esq, MP (1876); [T F Kennedy], Papers [and Additional Papers] relating to the Disposal of Sewage from Houses in the Country, the Prevention of the Pollution of Rivers, and the Unsatisfactory Action of the Local Authority (1878); T J Nelson, An Incredible Story, told in a letter, to the Rt Hon Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister (1879); John Struthers, On The Purification and Improvement of the River Clyde (1891); H E Roscoe, Mersey and Irwell Joint Board, Preliminary Report (1892)

Volume 3: Sanitary Engineering

Sewerage of Towns

Thomas Davis, Sewage or Drainage Considered in Connexion with Cholera and the General Health and Improvement of the Metropolis (1832); Court of Sewers for Westminster, and Part of the County of Middlesex, Address upon the Report from the Poor Law Commissioners (1842). London, Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, Reports and Other Documents Issued by the Commission from February 1848 to March 1856 (1848–9): Proceedings with Respect to the Ordnance Survey, Report of Mr Austin, Consulting Engineer, Read at the Meeting of the General Purposes Committee (March 1848); Regulations for Cleansing Cesspools: Together with Suggestions for Facilitating Public or Private Efforts for Sanitary Purposes, Report of Lewis C Hertslet, Order Clerk (August 1848); Preliminary Report on the Drainage of the Metropolis, Report of John Phillips, Chief Surveyor (July 1849). Henry Morley, 'A Foe under Foot', Household Words (1852); The Sanitary Inquiry into the Sewerage, Drainage and Water Supply, of the University and City of Oxford (1851); Report of the Winchester Sewerage Enquiry Committee (1866); George Greaves, Our Sewer Rivers (1866); [J W Bazalgette], Report by the Engineer Relative to the Requirements which the Main Drainage Is, and Is Not, Intended to Answer (1871)

Water Supply

Frederick S Peppercorne, Supply of Water to the Metropolis (1840); Thoughts on Popular Subjects. No. 1. Supply of Water to the Metropolis (1849). Glasgow's Water Supply: Lewis D B Gordon, To the Honorable the Lord Provost, the Magistrates and Town Council, and to the Water-Rate Payers of the City of Glasgow (1853); 'The Glasgow Loch Katrine Water Scheme', Glasgow Herald (1854); James Mansergh, The Thirlmere Water Shceme of the Manchester Corporation, with a few Remarks on the Longendale Works, and Water-Supply Generally (1878); The London Water Supply; Being an Examination of the Alleged Advantages of the Schemes of the Metropolitan Board of Works and of the Inevitable Increase of Rates which Would Be Required Thereby (1878)

Consequences, Alternatives, Experimentation

George Coode, Unpolluted Streams: A Letter to Lord John Manners (1858); G Rochfort Clarke, The Reform of Sewers. Where Shall We Bathe? What Shall We Drink? Or, Manure Wasted and Land Starved (1860); Sanitary Siftings, or Results of Sewage Systems Compared. By a Naval Officer (1868); Henry W Acland, The Relation of Modern Engineering to Public Health and Local Government (1876); Henry Robinson, Cleveland Institution of Engineers, 21st March, 1879. Paper on Sewage Disposal (1879); Metropolitan Board of Works, Extract from Report of Works and General Purposes Committee, on the Treatment of the Metropolitan Sewage by Precipitation and Deodorization (1886)

Part II

Volume 4: Sanitary Reform and Urban Improvement (Editor: Michelle Allen-Emerson)

Part One: City of Death

The Living and the Dead, A Letter to the People of England, on the State of their Churchyards, with Practicable Suggestions for their Improvement, by a Philanthropist (1841); George Alfred Walker, Interment and Disinterment, or, A Further Exposition of the Practices Pursued in the Metropolitan Places of Sepulture, and the Results as Affecting the Health of the Living: in a Series of Letters to the Editor of the Morning Herald (1843); General Board of Health, Public health act, Report to the General Board of Health on “the circumstances attending the revolting practices that have been said to occur in the St. Giles cemetery, situated in the parish of St. Pancras.” By Henry Austin and Robert Rawlinson (1850); Sir Richard Broun, Extramural Sepulture: Synopsis of the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum at Woking in the County of Surrey (1851) [excerpts]; William Hale, Intramural Burial in England not Injurious to the Public Health: Its Abolition Injurious to Religion and Morals: A Charge Addressed to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of London, May 16, 1855 (1855); Kenneth M MacLeod, Report on the Burial Grounds in Glasgow: with Proposals for the Establishment of an Extensive Extramural Cemetery, and the Erection of Public District Mortuaries. Made under the Direction of a Committee of the Local Authority (1876); William Robinson, Cremation and Urn-Burial, or the Cemeteries of the Future (1889) [excerpts]

Part Two: Space for the Living

John Moodie, MD, Cemeteries as Receptacles for the Dead ... and as Substitutes for Parks (1848); Alexander MacKenzie, The Parks, Open Spaces and Thoroughfares of London (1869); A Brief Statement of the Objects of the Metropolitan Public Garden, Boulevard, and Playground Association [1883]; Herbert Philips, Open Spaces for Recreation in Manchester (1883); Timothy Newell, The Sanitary, Physical, and Educational Advantages of Interior Open Areas in Large Cities: A Paper Read before the American Public Health Association, 1882 (1883)

Part Three: Circulation and the Healthy City

Notes of Personal Observations and Inquiries, in June, 1866, on the City Improvements of Paris, &c., with Appendix. Presented to the Magistrates, Town Council, and other Representatives of the City of Glasgow, on Tuesday, 2nd October, 1866 (1866); Overcrowding; The Evil and its Remedy (1866); Sydney Waterlow, Improving Away: Extracts from the Public Press, as to the Provision of Improved Dwellings [1872]; T H Hovenden, New Railways and New Streets: A Few Hints to those Affected by Proposed Public Improvements (1872); James Morrison, A Few Remarks on the High Rate of Mortality in Glasgow: with Observations on the Measures Taken by the Municipal Authorities to Reduce Same, under the Glasgow Improvements Act 1866, and Other Public Acts (1874); James B Russell, On the Immediate Results of the Operations of the Glasgow Improvement Trust at Last May Term: As Regards the Inhabitants Displaced: with Remarks on the Question of Preventing the Recurrence of the Evils which the Trust Seeks to Remedy (1875); Metropolitan Board of Works, Statement of the works and improvements carried out by the board in the metropolis, from the passing of the metropolis local management act in 1855, up to the end of the year 1882 [1883]; Charles Cameron, On the Clearance of an Unhealthy Area, under the Provisions of the Public Health Act [1887]; “Street Improvements in London,” Part 1, by H L W Lawson, Part 2, by Alfred Waterhouse, New Review (1890)

Volume 5: Sanitary Reform, Class and the Victorian City (Editor: Tom Crook)

Part One: Knowing and Inspecting the City

(a) Statistics, health and the urban environment
W H Duncan, Report on the Health of Liverpool during 1861 (1862) [extracts]; J Stopford Taylor, Report of the Health of Liverpool, during the year, 1882 (1883) [extract]
(b) Domestic visiting
Ladies’ National Association for the Diffusion of Sanitary Knowledge [Ladies’ Sanitary Association], The Second Annual Report, With an Account of the Proceedings at the First Public Meeting of the Association, Held in Willis’ Rooms on Thursday, July 21st, 1859 (1859) [extract]; S R P [Miss Susan Rugeley Powers on behalf of the Ladies Sanitary Association], Remarks on Women’s Work in Sanitary Reform, Addressed Specially to Mothers, Educators, Tract-Distributors, and Visitors to Schools, Cottages and Workhouses (1862) [extract]; Ladies’ Sanitary Association, The Black Hole in Our Bed Rooms (nd, c1860) [extract]
(c) Sanitary inspection
Thomas Buckworth, Housing and Sanitary Inspection of the Dwellings of the Poor (1884) [extract]; H Mansfield Robinson, ‘Legal Hints on Sanitary Inspection’, The Journal of State Medicine (1893); Albert Taylor, The Sanitary Inspector’s Handbook (1897) [extract]; J Spottiswoode Cameron, ‘Women as Sanitary Inspectors’, The Journal of State Medicine (1902)

Part Two: Domesticity and Space

(a) Middle-class housing and domestic space
William Young, Town and Country Mansions and Suburban Houses, with Notes on the Sanitary and Artistic Construction of Houses (1879) [extracts]; J J Stevenson, House Architecture. In Two Volumes: Volume Two (1880) [extracts]; S Stevens Hellyer, The Plumber and Sanitary Houses (1887) [extract]
(b) Sewer gas
Mr G Mather, Sewer Gas, Ventilation of Sewers, Drainage and Ventilation of Buildings on an Improved Principle (1872) [extract]; Henry Masters, An Architect’s Letter about Sewer Gas and House Drainage (1876) [extract]
(c) Common lodging houses
Howard J Goldsmid, Dottings of a Dosser, Being Revelations of the Inner Life of Low London Lodging Houses (1886) [extracts]; James Burn Russell, ‘Common Lodging Houses’ [1889], in A. K. Chalmers (ed.), Public Health Administration in Glasgow: A Memorial Volume of the Writings of James Burn Russell (1905); ‘London County Council Municipal Lodging House’, The Builder (1891) [with corresponding architectural plates]; George Macconnachie, ‘Common Lodging-houses and their Bye-Laws’, The Sanitary Record (1897) [extracts]

Part Three: Cleanliness and Respectability

(a) Public baths and washhouses
Baths and Wash-houses for the Labouring Classes, Statement of the preliminary measures adopted for the purpose of promoting the establishment of baths and wash-houses for the labouring classes; including a report of the proceedings at a public meeting held in the Mansion House ... Oct. 16, 1844, etc (1845) [extract]; Alfred Ebsworth, Facts and Inferences Drawn from An Inspection of the Public Baths and Wash-houses in this Metropolis (1853) [extract]; ‘Corporation Baths, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire’, The Builder (1870) [extract]; ‘Public Baths and Washhouses for the Parish of Paddington’, The Builder (1874); William Hardwicke, On the Moral and Physical Advantages of Baths and Washhouses (1874) [extract]; A Hessel Tiltman, ‘Public baths and wash-houses’, The Journal of State Medicine (1899)
(b) Turkish bathing
Edward Haughton, The Uses and Abuses of the Turkish Bath (1861) [extract]; John Balbirnie, The Sweating Cure, The Physiological Basis and Curative Effects of the Turkish Bath (1864) [extracts]; ‘Lennox’ [Alfed Mellett Peirson], Turkish Baths: Their Relation to Health and the Senses (1898) [extract]
(c) The ethics and practice of cleanliness
Erasmus Wilson, Healthy Skin: A Popular Treatise on the Skin and Hair, Their Preservation & Management (1855) [extracts]; H G Brooke, ‘Washing and Bathing’, Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association: Health Lectures for the People (1882) [extract]

Volume 6: End-of-Century Assessments and New Directions (Editor: Barbara Leckie)

Part One: Healthy Homes, Sanitary Architecture, and the Rise of Germ Theories

T Maclagan, The Germ Theory Applied to the Explanation of the Phenomena of Disease (1876); W H Corfield, Dwelling Houses: Their Sanitary Construction and Arrangement (1880); Florence Caddy, Lares and Penates, or the Background of Life (1881); Alfred Carpenter, "Domestic Health," in Transactions of the Brighton Health Congress, 1881 (1881); Robert Edis, "On Sanitation in Decoration," in Transactions of the Brighton Health Congress, 1881 (1881); Shirley Foster Murphy, Our Homes and How to Make them Healthy (1883) [extracts]; Horace Frank Lester, Under Two Fig Trees (1886); Robert W Edis, “Healthy Furniture and Decoration.”, Mrs Gladstone, “Healthy Nurseries and Bedrooms, Especially the Lying-in Room.”, Pridgin Teale, “Healthy Houses.” and William White, "Hygienic Value of Color in the Dwelling," from the International Health Exhibition Conferences, Volume 7: The Sanitary Construction of House (1884); Edith A Barnett, A Healthy Home in One or Two Rooms (1888); Wyke Bayliss, "Sanitary Reform in relation to the Fine Arts.", Transactions of the Hastings & St. Leonard's-on-the-Sea Health Congress, 1889 (1890); Florence Stacpoole, A Healthy Home and How to Keep it (1905)

Part Two: Preventive Medicine and the Rising Discourse of Racial Hygiene

Francis Bacon, Civilization and Health (1870); Benjamin Ward Richardson, “The Future of Sanitary Science.” An Address delivered before the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain at the Royal Institution on July 5, 1877 (1877); Charles Reade, A Woman-Hater (1877) [extracts]; Benjamin Ward Richardson, "Salutland: An Ideal of a Healthy People.", Dr Alfred Carpenter, "The First Principles of Sanitary Work.", W H Corfield, "Sanitary Fallacies.", F de Chaumont, “Sanitary Science as Preventive Medicine.", Alfred Carpenter, "The Sanitary Aspect of Dress.", Sebastiano (Florence) Fenzi, "Hygienic Gymnastic in the Dressing Room.", Alfred Carpenter, "Education by Proverb in Sanitary Work.", F D De Chaumont, "Sanitary Science and Preventive Medicine.", Edward Cooksworthy Robins, FSA, "The Artistic Side of Sanitary Science.", Douglas Galton “Address of the Chairman”, Russell Reynolds, MD "Sanitary Science and Preventive Medicine.", A Wynter Blyth, "Address to the Working Class – Self-Help." and B W Richardson, "Storage of Life as a Sanitary Study." from Transactions of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain (1879–1893); Benjamin Richardson, “The Seed Time of Health.” and C F Walsh, “Sanitation in Japan: A Comparative Study.” from Transactions of the Brighton Health Congress, 1881 (1881); Alfred Carpenter and Alfred Hill, [Two papers on the right of the State to enforce notification of infectious disease], Graham Charles, “The Adulteration of Food.”, T Spencer Cobbold, “The Parasites of Meat and Prepared Flesh Foods.”, E W Godwin, “Dress and its Relation to Health and Climate.”, George Vivian Poore, MD, "Our Duty in Relation to Health." and "A Lecture on Thrift in its Relation to Health, or the Right use of Refuse." from the International Health Exhibition of 1884, published as The Health Exhibition Literature (1884); Frederick Bagshawe, "The Preventive Side of Medicine." from Transactions of the Hastings and St. Leonard's-on-the-Sea Health Congress, 1889 (1890); A P Reid, Stirpiculture, or the Ascent of Man (1890); Anna M Galbraith, Hygiene and Physical Culture for Women (1895); Martin Luther Holbrook, Stirpiculture: or the Improvement of the Offspring through Wiser Generation (1897); John Edgar, Eugenics and Patriotism,1900 (1912); Those Who Came After: A Word on Racial Responsibility. By the Eugenics Society (1900); H Lahmann, Natural Hygiene: Or, Healthy Blood, the Essential Condition of Good Health and How to Attain it (1901); George Shee, "The Deterioration of the National Physique." The Nineteenth Century and After, ed. James Knowles (1903)

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