Public Health Act 1875

The Public Health Act 1875 (c 55) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, one of the Public Health Acts,[2] and a significant step in the advancement of public health in England.

The Public Health Compact 1875[1]
Long titleAn Act for consolidating and amending the Acts relating to Public Health in England.
Citation38 & 39 c 55
Dates
Royal assent11 August 1875
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

Its purpose was to codify previous measures aimed at combating filthy urban living conditions,[3] which caused various health threats, including the spread of many diseases such as cholera and typhus.

Scope of the Act

The Act made it compulsory for local powers to:

  1. purchase, repair or create sewers
  2. control water-supplies
  3. regulate cellars and lodging houses
  4. establish by-laws for controlling new streets and buildings.[4]

With the rapid urbanisation that accompanied the Industrial Revolution, huge swathes of terraced houses had been built to accommodate the factory workers. The contrast between the housing stock built before the passage of the Act and that built after it was stark. The Act required all new residential construction to include running water and an internal drainage system, and also led to the government prohibiting the construction of shoddy housing by building contractors.

The Act also meant that every public health authority had to have a medical officer and a sanitary inspector,[5] to ensure the laws on food, housing, water and hygiene were carried out; and that towns had to have pavements and street lighting.[6]

It is, however, important to realise that the new powers provided were permissive, not compulsory: they provided a model of best practice for municipalities, but actual implementation remained for the most part up to the individual local authority.[7]

gollark: What was wrong with `u64` or something?
gollark: ```c typedef uint64_t c3_d; // double-word typedef int64_t c3_ds; // signed double-word typedef uint32_t c3_w; // word typedef int32_t c3_ws; // signed word typedef uint16_t c3_s; // short typedef int16_t c3_ss; // signed short typedef uint8_t c3_y; // byte typedef int8_t c3_ys; // signed byte typedef uint8_t c3_b; // bit```Wow, this is HIGHLY readable.
gollark: Urbit contains C code for purposes, I assume.
gollark: I do not, however, have any idea why, since I only changed the multicast address.
gollark: Remember how a while ago I was working on a multicast-based chat thing which mysteriously failed and lead me to complain about POSIX or whatever's socket API? I found a random stackoverflow question which prompted me to change one line and it somewhat works now.

See also

References
  • Halsbury's Statutes. Third Edition. Volume 26. Page 38.
  • Thomas Whiteside Hime. Public Health: The Practical Guide to the Public Health Act, 1875, and Correlated Acts, for the Use of Medical Officers of Health and Inspectors of Nuisances. Bailliere, Tindall and Cox. 1884. Internet Archive.
  • William Cunningham Glen and Alexander Glen. The Public Health Act, 1875, and the Law relating to Public Health, Local Government, and Urban and Rural Sanitary Authorities. Eighth Edition. Butterworths. Knight & Co. London. 1876. Internet Archive.
  • James C Stevens. The Public Health Act 1875: Arranged in a Dictionary Index Form. Shaw and Sons. London. 1876. Internet Archive.
  • Robert Rawlinson. The Public Health Act 1875: Suggestions as to the Preparation of District Maps, and of Plans for the Main Sewerage, Drainage, and Water Supply (Revised to 1878). HMSO. London. 1878. Internet Archive (the description of this book, on that webpage, as another work by William Glen is erroneous).
  • World History 4th Edition by William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogel
  1. The citation of this Act by this short title is authorised by section 1 of this Act.
  2. The Short Titles Act 1896, section 2(1) and Schedule 2
  3. E Halévy, Victorian Years (London 1961) p. 451
  4. J N Tarn, Five Per Cent Philanthropy (1973) p. 75
  5. M Walsh, Social Policy and Welfare (2000) p. 40
  6. "History - Government and Public Health". BBC Bitesize. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  7. J N Tarn, Five Per Cent Philanthropy (1973) p. 75


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