members of the population.29 In essence, there were a number of contributing factors to disease and high mortality rates and mostly these factors seem to be linked to social conditions such as food, housing and work – and not simply as a consequence of dirt and filth. Notably, Chadwick was an advocate for the poor laws and he was not open to any criticism which implied that the poor law system was inadequate for the needs of the population. In his Report on the sanitary conditions of the labouring population in 1842 Chadwick stated: The high prosperity in respect to employment and wages and various abundant food, have afforded to the labouring classes no exemptions from attacks of epidemic disease, which have been as frequent and as fatal in periods of commercial and manufacturing prosperity as in any others.30 This is Chadwick clearly outlining that the cause of disease had nothing to do with poverty or prosperity, therefore the cause must be found elsewhere. Notably, Chadwick was also a firm believer in capitalism and industry and therefore was also not willing to accept any comments which claimed that industrial working conditions or worker housing were insufficient. These sentiments can be found in other keen supporters of the Public Health Act, such as G.T. Clark. Andy Croll argues that Clark understood that industrial manufacturers caused a majority of the pollution found in local rivers; however, Clark was careful not to place blame or request remedies from ratepayers because he was: Doubtless aware of the manufacturers’ importance as ratepayers (and their potential to be very powerful opponents of sanitary reform), the soon-to-be trustee of the Dowlais Iron Company was reluctant to suggest any measures that had the effect of curtailing their operations.31 The statistician, Farr and medical officers, Dr John Simon and Dr T.J. Dyke tried to push forward the necessity for social change (such as better pay, better working conditions and more nourishment) as a resolution to the problems faced by the urban working classes; however, historian, Christopher Hamlin states that Chadwick and his followers worked to divert attentions away from such advice and consequently, ‘the ‘traditional’ framework [of the sanitary idea] included resources that might have been powerfully directed toward the social problems of early 29Rammell,
Report to the General Board of Health on [...] the town of Cardiff, p.14 & pp.44-45. Report on Sanitary Conditions’, The Victorian Web, <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/chadwick2.html> [accessed 16 March 2013]. 31Andy Croll, ‘Writing the Insanitary Town: G.T. Clark, Slums and Sanitary Reform’, in G.T. Clark: Scholar Ironmaster in the Victorian Age, ed. by Brian LL. James (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1998), pp.24-47 (p.63). 30‘Chadwick’s
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