1. Evidence and Health

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we take a look at what evidence survives for the historian when assessing public health in this period and we lay out the phases of public heath from 1700-1900. Four articles of evidence survive for the historian to put together a picture of public health in this period, these are: (i) the Parish Register; (ii) Bills of Mortality; (iii) the National Census; and (iv) the Civil Register. These sources allow us to build up a picture of public health and see that there were three phases of public health in this period: (i) 1660-1815: mildly increasing life expectancy; (ii) 1815-1870: a plateau in life expectancy; and (iii) 1870-1914: a rapid rise in life expectancy.

Course

In this course, Professor Simon Szreter (University of Cambridge) explores public health in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the first module, we take a look at what evidence survives for the historian when assessing public health in this period and we lay out the phases of public heath from 1700-1900. After this, we turn to look at the three phases of public health: (i) 1660-1815; (i) 1815-69; and (iii) 1869-1914. In the final module, we give some concluding comments about the period as a whole.

Lecturer

Simon Szreter is Professor of History and Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John's College. He specialises in the social, economic, cultural and political history of population, public health and reproduction. He has written a number of books including Fertility, Class and Gender in Britain and After the Virus, Lessons from the Past for a Better Future.