Public Health Act 1875

The Public Health Act of 1875 was established in the United Kingdom to combat filthy urban living conditions, which caused various public health threats, the spreading of many diseases such as cholera and typhus. Reformers wanted to resolve sanitary problems, because sewage was flowing down the street daily, including the presence of sewage in living quarters. The act required all new residential construction to include running water and an internal drainage system. This act also led to the government prohibiting the construction of shoddy housing by building contractors.

Many factors delayed reform, however, such as the fact that to perform a clean up, the government would need money, and this would have to come from factory owners, who were not keen to pay, and this further delayed reform. But reformers eventually helped to counteract the government's laissez-faire attitude, and a public health act was introduced in 1875.

The act also meant that towns had to have pavements and street lighting

Sources

* World History 4th Edition by William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogel