Waste In The Victorian Era

In the summer of 1854, London was coming out as one of the most modern cities in the world. With nearly 2.4 million people living in the area at the time, the city’s infrastructure itself was having a hard time providing for the basic needs of its residents. The biggest problem existing within the city at that time was its waste removal system, or for better terms, its lack of one. Human waste was piling up everywhere, from people houses to the rivers and drinking water. This situation was the perfect breeding conditions for a number of diseases, and towards the end of that summer, one of the most deadly of them all took over. It took the work of both a physician and a local minister in order to discover the mysterious cause of the

Another negative effect of the Industrial Revolution was the poor sanitary conditions in cities. When Friedrich Engels visited an English industrial city he stated in “The Conditions of the Working Class in England” that the streets are usually unpaved, full of holes, filthy and strewn with refuse due to the lack of gutters or drains. This caused the main river of Manchester to look coal black and be packed with stinking filth. The factories also led to pollution and poor air quality due to the open air vents and chimneys which released the pollution from the factory into the air. Many people who lived in these poor cities or slums were either the working class or the poor that had to struggle through these unsanitary conditions.

In the early 19th Century the vast majority of housing for the working class was in a terrible condition, which were mainly due to overcrowding, poor ventilation and unsanitary environments. These issues lead to outbreaks of cholera on a number of occasions between the years 1813 and 1865. The Public Health Act was introduced in 1848, which required all local authorities to provide towns with hygienic sewage disposal and clean water supplies. Due to the presence of disease in slums, the Sanitary Reform Act was introduced in 1866. The act gave local authorities powers to inspect the cleanliness of homes in their district. (Naidoo and Wills, 2009). As stated by Berridge, Martin and Mold (2011), the Sanitary Reform Act aimed to address the problems with sewage, household waste and contaminated

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, as the country grew and trade flourished, periodic epidemics struck regions of the nation as population density increased. Outbreaks of influenza, cholera took over the nation, and in the south, one of the most prevalent was yellow fever. Due to these diseases, a lot of public health policies were either created or changed to better suit the new issues arising. In this essay, I will argue that the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 brought upon many changes in the health realm in terms of public sanitation. In order to prove the epidemic s place in the history of health policies, I will be discussing the creation of the new sewer system, waste disposal techniques, and other projects created.

It is hard to imagine in the twenty first century the level of filth that was experienced in the 1830’s on a daily basis. Sanitation, public health and sewer systems were problems that gripped the nation throughout the ninetieth century (1830-1860s), encouraging popular debate and proposal of changes. The growth of population and increase in the industry

The article “Waste Not” by Elizabeth Royte was published in March of 2016 in National Geographic Magazine. It depicts the wastefulness of the food industry and shows the path of food from field to consumers’ homes. During the article the story focuses on Tristram Stuart; a food utilizing activist and naturalist, who is gathering wasted food for a food conservation event for the public. Stuart visits many different farms and markets to receive food that is not desirable. Throughout the world nearly one third of food that is grown is thrown away or wasted due to consumer needs and wants. This means that because there is a need and want for good quality food products that not only meet food eatable standards but also

In the very first chapter, Steven Johnson begins to set the scene of how the overpopulation of London coupled with extreme levels of poverty created the perfect opportunity for Cholera to spread in the rapid manner that it did. On page one it states; “These were the London underclasses, at least a hundred thousand strong. So immense were their numbers that had the scavengers broken off and formed their own city, it would have been the fifth-largest in all of England.” Johnson mentions that the city of London had become a city of Scavengers, consisting of; bone-pickers, pure-finders, dredgermen, sewer-hunters and night-soil men. However, the harshest reflection of the Cholera epidemic of 1854 is conveyed by John Snow himself. On page 59 it states; “The young Snow observed

During the early 1850’s in London, life condition was very poor and unhealthy. people lived in complete filth, wasteful and unsanitized environments. While this situation occurred, the city continued to still suffer. Population boosted massively and as time went on, there began to be a lack of space throughout the neighborhood called Soho. Soho also experienced a drastic outbreak, which was cholera. Dr. John Snow was a revered anesthetist who carried out epidemiological work in Soho, London. The collision of two men named Dr. John Snow and Reverend Henry Whitehead helped them both discovered what was the true cause of the outbreak. By finding out what caused

According to document two Robert Southey, an English poet visiting Manchester in 1807, described the city by saying, “...the houses all of brick and blackened with smoke:”. The English poet tells one just how bad of the city was when it came to cleanliness. Although the poet describes the city in a visual manner, a voice missing amongst these documents is the citizens of Manchester during this time period. Their opinion would be valuable when describe what they thought of their city, because after all they are the ones living in it. In another aspect Edwin Chadwick, who was a public health reformer said in document six his “Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Laboring Population of Great Britain in 1842”, “ Diseases caused or aggravated by atmospheric impurities produced by decomposing animal and vegetable substances, by damp and filth, and close and overcrowded dwellings, prevail among the laboring classes.”

Ultimately, the week of the Broad Street outbreak impacted the ways cities organized themselves. Solutions for problems such as cholera helped urbanization in advancing sanitation standards. The Great Stink of 1858 forced authorities to confront the

The Ghost Map talks of cesspools that the night-soil men would remove from their shift of midnight and four a.m. Without functioning sewage systems the breakthrough of having a water closet created a problem of having more sewage overflow the cesspools. If the overflowing cesspools were replaced with a functioning sewage system there is a great chance that the epidemic could have been prevented. The construction of a sewage system would require a great deal of engineering effort but that shouldn’t have been a problem for London. The sewer systems represented a step in the right direction for the world towards higher standards of cleanliness and sanitation. Steven Johnson focuses his attention on sewer systems because it was a sign of modern technology and the modern world coming alive in the Victorian era. The cholera epidemic also brought a rise to modern medicine. The newspapers provided a type of forum for doctors, nurses, public health authorities, and armchair chemists to share their own as well as read each other's discoveries. Thanks to the forums in the newspapers, patent medical manufacturers began advertising their product in the newspapers making it easier to get a general idea of what could be wrong with you. Advertising was the foot in the door that was needed to begin paving the way for modern medicine. The theme of epidemiology was brought to the surface when John Snow

The answer lies in the climate fostered in Victorian England. It was one of unparalleled progress due to exploding industrialization of cities with modern factories, production processes, and advanced engineering. This exciting era also brought momentous discoveries in Geology, Astronomy, and the sciences. Discoveries like electricity and vaccines made a huge difference in the citizen’s quality of life. However, even though there was much advancement, the unsafe sanitation

At the same time, Britain became more industrialized, towns started to grow and became over populated especially factory towns. Houses in these factory towns were close together, and because of this the living conditions in these houses were overcrowded, damp and dirty. People ate, slept and cooked in the same places. There were no sewers so there was human waste everywhere, because of the

The Victorian Age's morality also condemned any kind of sexual reference in literature. Victorian critics demanded from "serious" literature a didactic content and respect to the Victorian conventions which established that sex

This analysis provides a historical context to investigate domestic occurrences and customary behaviors in western culture during the 18th century. Through the study of the daily chores and hygiene practices of people during this time, I will gain an in-depth understanding of practices, which developed over time, serving as the foundation of our culture in present day. The purpose is to gain in-depth understanding related to gender expectations, responsibilities, social class, health care customs and personal upkeep within a domestic culture are the focus. Finding will determine complexities in the nature of the lives of those who managed these dwellings, by studying preserved artifacts, journals, and documented practices from the 1700's.