Page 24 - The Health OF Redditch

The Health Of Reditch

Chapter 3 PUBLIC HEALTH IN REDDITCH 1873-1880

The role of the Medical Officer

Florence Nightingale was aware of the shortcomings of the system of Medical Officers of
Health.•She•described•the•position•as•‘a• busy• man•with•a•private•practice•covering•a•very
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large•area,•who•earns•a•pittance•for•doing•a•most•important•public•duty’.

The Medical Officers who were responsible for identifying and eliminating the worst
sanitary practices were usually poorly paid, and held in low esteem. Only in 1872 was it
made compulsory for local authorities to employ a Medical Officer, and it was a further
three years before it was specified that they had to be medically qualified. As late as 1899 the
Lancet drew attention to the insecurity felt by many Medical Officers of Health:

It is not an uncommon thing for a Medical Officer, while endeavouring to have some insanitary
property put in a proper state of repair, to find that a quantity of it is owned by a member of
the sanitary authority - i.e. by one of his masters, by one of the men who have absolute power
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to discharge him neck and crop.
The Redditch Local Board appointed Herbert Page as the Medical Officer of Health for Redditch
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in 1873, and re-elected him in 1874. Some of the problems Mr. Page encountered are evident
in the following accounts of the Redditch Local Board. In 1874 he examined samples of water
handed to him by the Inspector of Nuisances, and found that they contained organic matter and
were utterly unfit for use. Mr. Page suggested that means should be
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adopted•for•improving•the•town’s•supply•of•water.

The Local Government Board extended the boundary•of•the•Redditch•Local•Board’s•district
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in 1875. The extension of the boundary came into force on the 29 of September, 1875, and
included part of the parish of Ipsley, part of the township of Redditch, and the consolidated
chapelry of Headless Cross. The number of members of the Redditch Local Board increased
from nine to twelve, and provision was made for the retirement of a third of the number each
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year, so that the annual election would be for four members instead three. In October 1875
the Worcester Journal noted that Local Board members included Mr. Stinton (Chairman), and
Messrs. Rickets, Gibbs, Mogg, Milward, Hodges, and Booker. 66

Sewerage and waterworks

Now the Board’s•district•been•extended•it•was•time•to•consider•the•sewerage•and•waterworks.
The lack of sewers had continued to be a problem. Letters were received from property

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Halliday, S. (2007) The Great Filth: The War Against Disease in Victorian England. Stroud, Sutton
Publishing.
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Lancet, 23 December 1899, cited in Halliday, S. (2007) The Great Filth: The War Against Disease in
Victorian England. Stroud, Sutton Publishing.
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Worcester Journal, 11 April 1874.
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Worcester Journal, 9 May 1874.
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Worcestershire Chronicle 19 June 1875.
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Worcester Journal 9 October 1875.

Page: 24 of 26 Angela Webster