Health and the Industrial Revolution

During the 19th century, the rapid growth of urban populations, driven by industrialisation, resulted in poor public health conditions. This created an environment where infectious diseases, such as cholera, typhus, and typhoid, spread quickly and with devastating consequences.

Industrialisation and Urbanisation

From around 1750, the Industrial Revolution triggered a significant shift in the way goods were produced, leading to the growth of factories powered by steam rather than traditional home-based industries. As factories multiplied, so did the demand for workers, prompting large numbers of people to move from rural areas to urban centres where employment opportunities were concentrated.

This mass migration of people resulted in the rapid growth of towns and cities. Between 1801 and 1901, major urban centres experienced significant population increases, as shown in the table below:

Key Fact:
Urban populations grew exponentially, but the public health infrastructure was unable to keep pace with the rapid urbanisation. As a result, living conditions in many industrial cities were poor, contributing to widespread health problems.

Housing and Sanitation

Factory owners, eager to house the influx of workers near their factories, often built cheap, poorly constructed housing. One common form of housing was back-to-back terraced houses, where families were crammed into small, often overcrowded spaces, sometimes living in a single room. These houses typically lacked basic facilities such as running water, proper sanitation, and sewage systems.

Water supplies were inadequate and often contaminated. Many homes relied on street pumps for water, which was often sourced from rivers that were heavily polluted by industrial waste and sewage. Cracked or poorly maintained pipes further contributed to the contamination of water supplies with human waste from cesspits. Additionally, toilets were frequently shared between several households, creating unhygienic conditions that fostered the spread of disease.

If disease broke out, it would spread rapidly due to overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inadequate waste management, leading to widespread illness and death.

Air Pollution

The burning of large quantities of coal to power factories, mills, and steam engines contributed to severe air pollution in industrial towns and cities. Thick smog often blanketed urban areas, causing serious damage to the health of the population. The smog led to breathing difficulties and contributed to a range of respiratory illnesses, as it severely damaged the lungs of those exposed to it. The poor air quality was one of the many health hazards faced by those living and working in rapidly expanding industrial areas.

Disease

The overcrowding, lack of sanitation, and poor living conditions in industrial cities provided the perfect breeding ground for infectious diseases. Several epidemics occurred, with devastating effects on the population:

• Cholera: Cholera first arrived in England in 1831, and its first outbreak led to the deaths of around 50,000 people. The disease was spread through contaminated food or water and caused severe diarrhoea and vomiting, often resulting in dehydration and death. Cholera epidemics reoccurred in 1848, 1854, and 1866, each time leading to widespread devastation.
• Typhoid: Typhoid, like cholera, was transmitted through contaminated food or water. It caused high fever, fatigue, and other symptoms and could also be fatal. The disease spread rapidly in areas with poor sanitation and inadequate water supplies.

Other diseases such as typhus also became more common in urban areas, exacerbated by the lack of hygiene and poor living conditions. Typhus, carried by lice, was another fatal disease that thrived in crowded, unsanitary environments.

In conclusion, the rapid urbanisation brought about by the Industrial Revolution had a profound impact on public health. The growth of industrial towns and cities led to overcrowded housing, poor sanitation, and widespread pollution, all of which contributed to the spread of dangerous diseases. These conditions made it clear that urgent reforms to public health and infrastructure were needed in order to improve living conditions and control the spread of infectious diseases.