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

sanitary and safety matters including the prevention of danger from telegraph wires, disposal
of chemical refuse, safety of building sites and of places of public resort and pleasure
grounds. See 1891.
Housing of the Working Classes Act (53&54 Vict., c.70) simplified procedures;
empowered local authorities to build council houses using money from the rates; and made it
a duty of medical officers of health to report unfit houses and slum areas. See 1894.
Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act (53&54 Vict., c.34) empowered medical officers
of health to inspect dairies and to prohibit the supply of milk; to order the compulsory
cleansing of premises and disinfection of public conveyances; and other measures. See 1899.
Education of Blind and Deaf-mute Children (Scotland) Act (53&54 Vict., c.43)
provided for the education to be paid for by the school board of blind and deaf-mute children
in approved voluntary institutions.
1890 Cont - 1891
1890 cont EA von Behring (1854-1917) and S Kitasato (1852-1931) discovered diphtheria
antitoxin, which laid the basis for treatment with antitoxins.
First edition of "English Sanitary Institutions", by Sir John Simon, published. Second
edition was published in 1897.
"A Manual of Public Health" by A Wynter Blyth published.
1891 Census (5th April) contained new questions on the number of rooms and their
occupants in all tenements with fewer than five rooms; and distinguished between employers,
employees and the self-employed. Population estimated at 29 million; 35 per cent were aged
under 15 years and 4 per cent 65 or over.
Public Health (London) Act (54&55 Vict., c.76) consolidated and revised the laws in
London referring to general sanitary measures, nuisances, infectious diseases and the
prevention of epidemic diseases, hospitals and ambulances; permitted any sanitary authority,
with the sanction of the Local Government Board, to provide medicine and medical
assistance to the poorer inhabitants of their district; and required each authority to appoint a
medical officer of health who had to have a recognised diploma in sanitary science, public
health or state medicine or have had adequate previous experience in public health practice.
The MOH could only be dismissed with the consent of the Local Government Board. See
1896 and 1899.
Lunacy Act (54&55 Vict., c.65) amended some clauses of the 1890 act. See 1913.
Factory and Workshop Act (54&55 Vict., c.75) consolidated and extended safety and
sanitary regulations; transferred enforcement in regard to some workshops from the factory
inspectors to the local authorities; raised the minimum age for employment in factories to 11
years; prohibited the owner of a factory from knowingly employing a woman within four
weeks of giving birth; and introduced some measures to control conditions of "outworkers".
See 1893 and 1895.
Elementary Education Act (54&55 Vict., c.56) made grants available to all schools to
enable them to cease charging for basic elementary education. See 1893.
Custody of Children Act (54&55 Vict., c.3) empowered courts to transfer parental
rights to guardians; and set out conditions about the custody of children. See 1908.
The British Institute of Preventive Medicine established; became the Lister Institute of
Preventive Medicine in 1903.
Society of Medical Officers of Health of Scotland formed. This Society joined the
English society in 1896 and became its Scottish Branch.
Training of health "missionaries" (later called health visitors) started in