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

1834 Cont - 1836
1834 cont The House of Commons appointed a Select Committee to "inquire into the laws,
regulations, and usages regarding the education and practice of the various parts of the
Medical Profession in the United Kingdom". Bills to reform the profession were
unsuccessfully introduced in 1844 and 1845. See 1858.
The Statistical Society of London founded; later the Royal Statistical Society. See
1857.
Manchester Medical Society founded.
Medical School founded at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which became associated with the
University of Durham in 1852.
The Tolpuddle martyrs, six agricultural workers in Dorset, were transported for taking
oaths when forming a local branch of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Workers.
Death of Thomas Telford (b.1757), engineer concerned with roads, harbours, canals,
bridges and aqueducts. A Founder and first President of the Institute of Civil Engineers in
1818.
1835 Highways Act (5&6 Will.IV, c.50) consolidated and amended the law relating to
highways in England (see 1773); forced labour for the maintenance of parish roads was
abolished, and work on parish roads to be financed by the rates and on trust roads by tolls.
See 1844.
Municipal Corporations Act (5&6 Will.IV, c.76) reformed the organisation and
procedures of the boroughs; required the corporations to be elected by the ratepayers, to hold
meetings open to the public and to have their accounts audited. The towns were given power
to appoint their own police forces. The vestries or parish councils continued to appoint
surveyors of highways and overseers of the poor. In 1842 justices of the peace were given
power to appoint paid parish constables. See 1847, 1856 and 1882.
Central inspectorate of prisons introduced.
"Philosophy of Health", a popular exposition of hygienic principles by Thomas
Southwood Smith (see 1830), published.
Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866, pathologist at Guy's Hospital until 1837) published his
lectures on the preservation of health and the prevention of disease given at the Mechanics
Institute of Spitalfields. Hodgkin devoted the second half of his life to the causes of
oppressed peoples throughout the world.
1836 Influenza pandemic.
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act (6&7 Will.IV, c.86) introduced
registration of births, deaths and marriages but contained no penalties for refusal to register;
established the General Register Office; and divided the country into registration districts.
Registration became effective from 1st July 1837. TH Lister (1800-42, novelist and
dramatist) was appointed the first Registrar-General. For similar action in Scotland see 1854.
See 1874.
Inclosure Act (6&7 Will.IV, c.115) set out the procedures for enclosing open and
arable fields. See 1845.
Tithes Commutation Act (6&7 Will.IV, c.71) ended the need for farmers to supply
local clergymen with payments in the form of grain.
A permanent Ecclesiastical Commission, consisting of Anglican bishops, laymen and
cabinet ministers, set up to end abuses in the Church and to reduce the anomalies of wealth
among bishoprics and parishes.