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

1856
Poor Law Administration Act (10&11 Vict., c.109) revised and consolidated previous
legislation setting out rules and principles for the administration of the poor laws. The
intention was to ensure more humane practice than that of many boards of guardians, but the
new powers were used sparingly and the enforcement of the principles gradually fell into
desuetude. See 1860.
Hours of Labour of Young Persons and Females in Factories Act (10&11 Vict., c.29),
the Ten Hours Act, reduced the permitted maximum hours of work for women and children
to 10 hours per day and 58 hours in any one week. See 1850.
Corn Laws, which imposed duties on imported corn, repealed (10&11 Vict., c.1, 2 and
3).
1847 Cont - 1848
1847 cont Select Committee on Medical Registration reported.
Sir James Simpson introduced chloroform as an anaesthetic. See 1858
Dr WH Duncan (1805-63) appointed medical officer of health for Liverpool (see
1846).
Building started of Edwin Ackroyd's model industrial community at Copley, near
Halifax. See 1853.
1848 Major cholera epidemic in England and Scotland with over 60,000 deaths, including
about 14,000 in London.
Influenza pandemic; there were about 50,000 deaths in London alone.
Public Health Act (11&12 Vict., c.63) created a new central department, the General
Board of Health, under a nominated president, and provided for local boards of health to be
set up; in municipal boroughs these were to be the town councils, elsewhere they were to be
special boards elected by the rate payers on the same footing as the election of boards of
guardians. Each board of health was empowered to appoint a surveyor, an inspector of
nuisances, a treasurer, a clerk and an "officer of health" who had to be a legally qualified
medical practitioner. The appointment of the officer of health and his removal was subject to
the approval of the General Board of Health. The act contained numerous sanitary clauses
including the cleansing of sewers, sanitation of houses, supervision of lodging houses and
slaughter- houses, and maintenance of pavements. The General Board had no system and no
powers to enforce effective local action where the clauses of the act were not adopted locally.
This is the first act in which the term "public health" appears. The act did not cover London
or Scotland (see 1849); London operated under the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Act
(11&12 Vict., c.112). See 1851, 1854, 1855 and 1858.
Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act (11&12 Vict., c.123) legislated in
regard to the removal of nuisances and the prevention of epidemic diseases in places where
the Public Health Act was not in force, and gave power for the Poor Law Commissioners to
compel guardians to execute regulations and directions of the General Board of Health. In
Scotland the Board of Supervision exhorted the parochial boards to take action. See 1849.
Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Act (11&12 Vict., c.112) established the
Commission in regard to London except for the City which operated under its own City
Sewers Act (11&12 Vict., c.163).
Spreading of Contagious or Infectious Disorders among Sheep, Cattle and other
Animals Act (11&12 Vict., c.107) introduced penalties for exposing for sale meat unfit for
human consumption, and gave powers for the destruction of such meat. Regulations to be
made by the Privy Council. See 1866.