A Chronology of State Medicine, Public Health, Welfare and Related ...

Charles Hastings (1794-1866); in 1855 it became the British Medical Association.
1832 Cont - 1834
1832 cont Durham University received its charter.
Bristol Medical School founded.
Manchester Statistical Society founded.
York Medical Society founded.
"The Moral and Physical Condition of the Working Classes employed in Cotton
Manufacture in Manchester", by JP Kay (1804-77, later Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth),
published. See 1838.
1833 Abolition of slavery.
Mills and Factories Act (3&4 Will.IV, c.103) (Althorp's Act) repeated and extended the
act of 1831. Younger children were to attend school for at least two hours on six days a week,
and holidays for the children and young persons to be all day on Christmas Day and Good
Friday, and eight half days. The Act gave powers for the appointment of inspectors, because
provisions of previous acts "were not duly carried into execution, and the Laws for the
Regulation of the Labour of Children in Factories have been evaded". The inspectors (four
were appointed) were empowered to enter any factory at any time and to examine therein the
children and other young persons and to enquire about their condition, employment and
education. Children under the age of 13 years had to be certified by a physician or surgeon as
being "of the ordinary strength and appearance" of a child of his/her stated age. See 1844.
Burgh Reform Act (3&4 Will.IV, c.46) reformed the Burghs in Scotland and enabled
them to establish a general system of police.
For the first time the Government allocated a grant of £20,000 towards erecting Church
of England schools (later extended to Catholic and Non-Conformist schools), provided that at
least half of the cost of the building had been raised by private subscription. See 1839.
A Select Committee of the House of Commons recommended state registration of
births, marriages and deaths. See 1836.
University College Hospital, London, founded.
"The Manufacturing Population of England. Its Moral, Social and Physical Condition",
by P Gaskell, published.
1834 Poor Law Amendment Act (4&5 Will.IV, c.76) followed the publication of the Report
of the Royal Commission on Poor Law (1832-4). The Act limited outdoor relief to the aged
and infirm who were "wholly unable to work"; encouraged the building of workhouses, and
introduced a spartan regime and the "Workhouse Test"; and considered any relief given to be
a loan. The Act required wards to be set aside for the impoverished sick and empowered
justices of the peace to give an order for medical relief to any poor person with "sudden and
dangerous illness". The Act set up the Poor Law Commission to consist of three
commissioners to supervise the implementation of the act, the first secretary of the
Commission was Edwin Chadwick (1800-90). Boards of Guardians were encouraged to
combine into Unions to build the workhouses. Disraeli proclaimed that the new law was
"announcing to the world that in England poverty was a crime". See 1844.
Chimney Sweeps Act (4&5 Will.IV) forbade the apprenticing of any boy under the age
of 10 years, and the employment of children under 14 in chimney sweeping unless they were
apprenticed or on trial. The apprentices were not to be "evil treated" by their employers, and
any complaints of the children were to be heard by justices of the peace. The act was largely
ineffective as there were no means of enforcement. See 1840.