In Victorian times, at any rate after the sanitary districts were created in
1872 and appointed MoHs and sanitary inspectors there were regular annual
reports which gave a lot of information about infectious disease. Some
authorities also published the monthly reports of their sanitary inspector.
Two useful books which come to mind, although I read them years ago, are:
EPIDEMIC DISEASES AH Gale (Pelican 1959) and,
RATS LICE AND HISTORY H. Zinsser (1935)
You might also find the following useful
KING CHOLERA Norman Longmate
ALIVE AND WELL N. Longmate.
I suspect you'll find that "conditions of drains" had little or no relevance
to the incidence of infectious disease. It was a strongly held Victorian
belief that unsatisfactory drainage was a cause of infectious disease but I
doubt if that can be supported by the evidence. Remember that many
Oxfordshire villages did not have public drainage systems until well into
the 20th century, probably the 1950s and 1960s. I'm not sure about Didcot
and Wantage but I'll guess that East Hagbourne didn't have a public sewer
until after 1950!
Brian
> From: Jane Knight <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Sat, 12 Aug 2000 03:04:55 +0100
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Is there a good book on disease in the C19th?
>
> I am hoping to do some work on changes in disease patterns in Wantage as
> the conditions of the drains improved. ( This may not work out. Its a
> working title for a project and will probably end up about something
> totally different. ) Has anybody come across a good introduction to the
> sort of basic diseases of the nineteenth century - typhus, typhoid that
> sort of thing.
>
> At the moment I am fascinated by the fact that smallpox was still a major
> hazard long after vaccination had been discovered.
> J E Knight
> 14 Windsor Crescent
> East Hagbourne
> Dicot
> OX11 9LY
>
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