The Working Class In Britain

2328 Words10 Pages
The harsh realities of living as a working class family in Britain before 1840 included a serious lack of basic human necessities. From 1840 to 1965 there were widespread social changes occurring in Britain that altered everyday life for many people. The experiences of the working class transformed significantly through their increased access to education, healthcare, and welfare reform, but at the same time the experiences of the middle and upper classes stayed stagnant as they already had access to many of these basic necessities. Education was one of the predominate social institutions that begin to transform in late 19th century and this directly affected a large number of people. There was a strong desire to educate more of the population…show more content…
These new changes in the public health system had a vast effect on the working classes and their health, as they were more likely to contract diseases such as TB due to their poorly ventilated housing and were less likely to have access to clean water and proper sewage systems to remove waste from their homes. As more people began to move into cities, where in 1851 over 50% of the population lived in urban areas, overcrowding and disease became a major problem in Britain. An increase in public health initiatives had a widespread influence on the working class life from home health, food safety, and clean water. There were many health problems that the working class faced exclusively, such as milk for babies. Mothers were more likely to have a job in a working class family, so the mother would have to give the baby bottled milk instead of breast milk, which was very unsafe and not regulated. In 1899 the Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milkshops order began to regulate milk, but this was just one example of the health issues working class families faced that many middle class families would not have dealt with. Water was another problem that was more difficult for working class families, as they were less likely to have clean water systems coming into their home and have sewage pipes coming out of their homes for waste. The 1848 Public Health Act was designed to solve this problem by disposing of waste into rivers, in London the Thames, but this led to a dirty river and many used this water as a drinking source. The dirty river would have caused larger problems for those in the working class that lived in cellars where contaminated water could leak in and cause health problems such as typhoid. The 1872 Public Health Act put measures into place to require local authorities to provide clean drinking water. Many of the public health
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