Liverpool has always had achievements to be proud of. In the field of health and welfare and Liverpool people can truly say their city has often led the way. Unfortunately in the 19th and early
20th centuries Liverpool also led the way in
terms of having the worst conditions in housing, health and sanitation. This
situation was in part addressed by people like Doctor Duncan and Kitty
Wilkinson. In 1842 the senior civil servant Edwin Chadwick published a report
on the health of people in Britain .
He examined the average age at death of different groups of people in different
parts of the country. In rural areas the average age of death of a labourer was
41. In Liverpool it was a staggering 15 years
of age! In many ways it was not surprising. Liverpool had grown as fast as any
of the great cities which developed during Britain ’s industrial revolution.
The rise in population was much faster than the increase in housing, water
supplies, sanitation and health care. Other records give us a clear indication
of the impact of putting so many people in such cramped conditions without adequate
facilities. Disease was common and deadly, and few diseases were feared as much
as the cholera outbreaks which swept through British cities in the 1830s and
1840s and which broke out again from time to time.
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| Dr Duncan |
Dr. Duncan was born in Seel street in 1805, the son of a Liverpool merchant. After his training he worked in Upper Parliament Street
and Vauxhall. Duncan
was much more than a doctor. He was aware that most health problems came from
poor housing and sanitation. He contributed to investigations by Parliament
into health issues. One of his most important contributions was his writing. In
his 1843 pamphlet The Physical Causes of the High Mortality Rate in Liverpool, Duncan gave evidence on
the conditions under which by far the greater part of the population of the
borough lived. Typically 25% of his patients were living in cellar dwellings
with between 15 and 30 people in an airless roomThe work of Duncan and other campaigners helped the civil
servant Edwin Chadwick to promote the Health of Towns. Association in December
1844. Duncan established a Liverpool
branch of the Association in April 1845. These advances led to the passing of
the Liverpool Sanitary Act in 1846. This created Duncans future post as Medical Officer Of
Health, the first such appointment by any city in the country. Duncan worked closely with another new man,
James Newlands, the country's first Borough Engineer. Duncan remained Chief Medical Officer for the
next 17 years.
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| Burlington Court |
James Newlands was born in Scotland
in 1813 and died in Liverpool in 1871. As
Borough Engineer he designed and installed Liverpool 's
first integrated sewer system. Working with Dr Duncan, he played a key role in
improving public health through measures such as new building regulations,
provision of parks, an efficient refuse collection system and street cleaning.
He also fought hard to improve the access of people to clean water for
drinking, and facilities such as public bath houses. During his lifetime he was
well known. However, history seems to have remembered Dr Duncan more than
Newlands.
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| The Wash House |
Kitty and Tom Wilkinson were in the fortunate position of
having the only hot water boiler in their street, and so they invited their
neighbours down to their cellar to wash their clothes and bed-linen, hoping to
offer some measure of protection against the cholera. The Wilkinsons were aided
in their work by the Liverpool District Provident Society and the benevolence
of the Rathbone family, each contributing towards the provision of clean
clothes and fresh bedding materials. The Wilkinson’s wash-room became so
popular that it was moved upstairs to the kitchen, with a rudimentary drying
area established in the back yard. Kitty and Tom asked the neighbours who used
their facilities to contribute one penny per family, per week to help towards
water and new bedding costs. By the mid-nineteenth century, public wash-houses
were being established all over 
Sources
Liverpool Central Library
Liverpool Records Office Archives
Robert F Edwards
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