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

presented to it of abuse and deprivation. See 1866.
A Royal Commission was set up on the Prevention of River Pollution. It met
intermittently over the next nine years. Its Third Report stated that serious pollution arose
from
1864 Cont - 1865
1864 cont the growth of the population and from the introduction of sewerage systems
following the 1848 Public Health Act. The Report called for a central authority and an
increase in River Boards. See 1865 and 1876.
Louis Pasteur (see 1856) showed that infections were caused by micro-organisms.
"A Manual of Practical Hygiene" by EA Parkes (1819-76, first professor of military
hygiene) was published. The book was the first important treatise on hygiene.
1865 Sewerage Utilisation Act (28&29 Vict., c.75) created sewer authorities; gave town
councils and other health authorities powers to dispose of sewerage for agricultural purposes;
and to take proceedings against persons polluting rivers. See 1866 and 1867.
Prisons Act (28&29 Vict., c.126) created a national system of the governance of
prisons involving the closure of many local prisons; introduced a more uniform, although
harsh, standard of treatment; and set out detailed regulations about discipline and punishment
of prisoners, the duties of prison officers and the appointment of visiting justices.
Union Chargeability Act (28&29 Vict., c.79) substituted a twelve months residence
qualification for help from the local rates, in place of the rule that any pauper, no matter how
long his or her residence in the parish, must be sent back to his or her parish of birth. The act
permitted Guardians to examine the books and papers of the overseers and transferred the
raising of the poor rate from the parish to the union.
Exchequer and Audit Department Act (28&29 Vict., c.93) created the first effective
machinery for a retrospective annual audit of expenditure and for the treasury to enforce strict
standards of financial practice throughout Whitehall.
Locomotives on Turnpike and Other Roads Act (28&29 Vict., c.93), the "Red Flag"
Act, introduced a 4 m.p.h. limit on highways; and mechanical vehicles had to be preceded by
a man carrying a red flag. See 1896.
An Act (28&29 Vict., c.90) established a single fire brigade within the London
metropolis.
Octavia Hill (1838-1912, philanthropist) started purchasing houses for improvement;
subsequently devoted herself to housing reform; and in 1895 was a co-founder of the
National Trust .
Start of the main drainage scheme for London.
The Lancet set up a Commission to Inquire into the State of Workhouse Infirmaries.
The Commission published reports in successive issues of The Lancet including a general
report and detailed accounts of individual infirmaries. See 1867.
Joseph Lister (later Lord, 1827-1912, surgeon in Edinburgh and later in London at
King's College Hospital) first used carbolic spray in surgery. The results were published in
The Lancet in 1867.
Elizabeth Garrett (later Anderson, see 1862) qualified in medicine (Licentiate of the
Society of Apothecaries); thought to be the first woman to qualify in Britain, but see James
Barry (below). Garrett was admitted to the medical register in 1866. She founded the first
hospital in England staffed by woman doctors; in 1874 she was part founder, with Sophia
Jex-Blake (1840-1912), of the London School on Medicine for Women in association from
1877 with the London (later Royal) Free Hospital, and its Dean from 1883 to 1905.