Sanitary policing and the local state, 1873-1874: a statistical study of English and Welsh towns.
This article examines local sanitary policing in extra-metropolitan English and Welsh towns and cities in the period 1873-4. It combines two parliamentary returns, one focusing on the appointments by towns of sanitary officers (inspectors of nuisances and medical officers), the other listing the number of nuisance cases and modes of resolutions. The article uses these databases to examine the identification of nuisances in terms of region, town type, mode of government, population, and salary of inspector. It considers also the effects of tenure and job security on nuisances identification, the effects of town wealth, and differences in the resolution of nuisance allegations by town type and region. The article shows a remarkable and perhaps unexpected sanitary activism, but also a considerable variability by region, town size, and town type.
Hamlin
Christopher
C
Department of History, University of Notre Dame.
D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000266:history; D004739:England; D049672:History, 19th Century; D011635:Public Health Administration / Q000266:history*; D012499:Sanitation / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D014852:Wales