Book description
Victorian Britain was the world's industrial powerhouse. Its
factories, mills and foundries supplied a global demand for
manufactured goods. As Britain changed from an agricultural to an
industrial ecomony, people swarmed into the towns and cities where the
work was; by the end of Queen Victoria's reign, almost 80 per cent of
the population was urban. Overcrowding and filthy living conditions,
though, were a recipe for disaster, and diseases such as cholera,
typhoid, scarlet fever, smallpox and puerperal (childbed) fever were a
part of everyday life for (usually poor) town-and city-dwellers.
However, thanks to a dedicated band of doctors, nurses, midwives,
scientists, engineers and social reformers, by the time the Victorian
era became the Edwardian, they were almost eradicated, and no longer a
constant source of fear. Stephen Halliday tells the fascinating story
of how these individuals fought opposition from politicians, taxpayers
and often their own colleagues to overcome these diseases and make the
country a safer place for everyone to live.
