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

(later Sir, 1850-1932, medical officer of health for Woolwich and professor of forensic
medicine at King's College, London, from 1889). See 1897.
"The Hospital" (later "Health Services Management") and the "Nursing Mirror" first
published. The "Nursing Mirror" amalgamated with the "Nursing Times" (see 1905) in 1985.
Royal Holloway College, London University, opened.
1887 Coroners Act (50&51 Vict., c.71) consolidated previous acts. See 1971.
Probation of First Offenders Act (50&51 Vict., c.25) permitted the conditional release
1887 Cont - 1889
1887 cont from prison of first offenders in certain cases. See 1907.
Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for District Nurses (Queen's Institute) founded. See
1925.
British Nurses Association (Royal in 1893) founded by Mrs Bedford Fenwick (1857-
1947, matron of St Bartholomew's Hospital, London). See 1919.
Select Committee on Smoke Nuisances considered that fog in London had increased
significantly during the preceding years, and that fog was as lethal as any epidemic. See
1904.
Society of Medical Superintendents of Metropolitan Infirmaries formed; became the
Medical Superintendents Society. See 1972.
Robert W Philip (later Sir, 1857-1939, physician in Edinburgh and pioneer in the
treatment of tuberculosis) established the Victoria Dispensary for Consumption; and in 1894
the Victoria Hospital for Consumption. See 1898, 1909 and 1917.
The electromotive changes accompanying heart beats reported by AD Waller (1856-
1922); this led to the development of the electrocardiogram.
1888 Local Government Act (51&52 Vict., c.41) created county and county borough
councils, elected by ratepayers, to take over from the justices of the peace in rural areas the
duties of rating, licensing, asylums, police, highways and weights and measures. Gave
women, if unmarried and otherwise eligible, the right to vote for county and county borough
councillors (see 1918); permitted county councils to appoint medical officers of health (see
1909), and made the holding of a registrable diploma of public health (or equivalent)
compulsory for medical officers of health in districts with populations of 50,000 or more. See
1889 and 1894.
Inebriates Act (51&52 Vict., c.19) amended the 1879 act, and renewed it for an
indefinite period. See 1898.
Final Report of the Royal Commission on Elementary Education, C.5485, (chairman,
RA (later Viscount) Cross, 1823-1914, statesman) published. See 1891.
E Roux (1853-1933) and AE Yersin (1863-1943) described the diphtheria toxin. See
1890.
Society of Medical Officers of Health (see 1856) amalgamated with various provincial
associations, which became branches of the Society; and replaced the Annual Transactions
started in 1879 by a monthly journal "Public Health".
"Hospitals and Charities. The Year Book of Philanthropy", launched by Sir Henry
Burdett (see 1883), became the leading annual reference book on hospitals; later its name was
changed to "Hospitals and Health Services Year Book".
National Union of Public Employees founded.
WH Lever (1851-1925, later Lord Leverhulme, soap manufacturer) began the building
of Port Sunlight, a garden village for the employees of his nearby soap factory on the bank of