Eradicating Filth: Public Health in Victorian Times


Bilston | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Bilston played an important part in the industrial revolution. John Wilkinson's first blast furnace for the manufacture of pig iron was set up in 1767 and this led to the town becoming the most important area of the South Staffordshire coalfield. During the 18th and 19th centuries, pig and wrought iron were both produced at Bilston in ever -increasing quantities. Bilston became an important centre for other trades such as japanning, sheet metal, galvanising, tin plate and the manufacture of domestic hardware. Men and women moved into the town in search of work. By 1841 the population was 20,180 having almost trebled since 1801 when the figure was 6,914. This major population expansion along with the polluting industries led to major health problems

Many of the houses were built in narrow courts and alleys. Many houses are built back-to-back. A large proportion of the houses consists of a single room. The rooms of the poorer classes in many cases are filthy and only ventilated by the windows or chimney.*

*Bilston reply to Inquiries by the Commission of Inquiry into the State of Large Towns and Populous Districts 1843

The township was also the site of some of the worst cases of cholera, when during the epidemic of 1832 a total of 742 people out of a population of 14,492 died, and in 1849 when 730 people died*.

*Staffordshire Encyclopaedia Page 56 (S9 COC)

A list of 692 of the victims of the 1832 outbreak of cholera in Bilston has been transcribed by Pat Galloway. You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your machine in order to view this file.

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Map of Bilston 1832 (DX-429)

Reverend Joseph Butterworth Owen of St Mary's Bilston (1838-1854) was Chairman of the Wolverhampton Poor Law Union.

The issue of public health was closely associated with the relief of poverty; poor health spelt disease which in turn meant poverty. *

*Social Concerns of the 19th Century Pastorate, West Midland Studies Vol 17 (S9)

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High Street Bilston c.1900 (C1/HIG/0/1)

In 1848 Owen, together with Mr Best, a Bilston surgeon, and the Rev Fletcher of St Leonard's, were appointed to approach the London Board of Health about the state of the Bilston Brook.

"The brook with its "animal and vegetable matter" was foul smelling and a potential danger in the event of a recurrence of cholera".

*Social Concerns of the 19th Century Pastorate, West Midland Studies Vol. 17 (S9)

On the 30th January 1849 Owen gave a lecture in Birmingham on the Bilston Cholera Epidemic of 1832, in which he claimed that the cholera had first appeared in Bilston in the region of Bilston Brook. Which, the Rev Owen claimed,

"instead of being conducive to the cleanliness of the town and a promotion of good health, is the receptacle of all manner of impurities and loathsome filth disseminating disease and death in all directions"*

*Wolverhampton Chronicle 31st January 1849

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