4. Third Phase, 1869-1914

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we turn to the third phase of public health from 1869-1914. This was a period of a rapid rise in life expectancy. This was largely the result of an improvement of urban conditions. The enfranchisement of the working classes after 1869 was crucial to this. The increased electorate meant that politicians were increasingly willing to act in order to win votes from the newly enfranchised working classes. This was most evidently seen through the work of Joseph Chamberlain in the City of Birmingham.

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.