• *•* ' • ‘ ■*»5r»r^ ''. ; :; t • U f,if Iv-. r>j» mtmi --**j ■<vri'“' .'I wjjiiOw! Pw®4res":ll‘! •<< ... Ctu; ^ | r• i «' *t il:. - •; -*it• - • 7*: ‘, . n|K 3®jQin ;;t'!XX,W bt; iOCIB Stiriiro*! mm ^ HifW j ft# iliii *,*.,*;' , •. • .‘f' ■* . ‘••I ■ ih i' OXJIUjl f 1 /: t* i I**.1 ;',i ijSfc S ! : VX- . :0»! ■■■ ■ : ;• . £ ifi-i ; las : li.ffiMi. ,■-.> . >:..£ I ; ::iK! . :i : -V E*;; ifctf M 11$ t;»! ’ Wi • :.::r.-y •: . ■ ■■ ■ ■/:•::v i:.-' / i:iji i itti: i; d* i r 1 ft-- ft; i- -r ! \W.‘ ;|‘i (:<<( ! , ^nRSRnflfil(jjji ijij: sfllin To.lfl, A A 7- 2 22102000543 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Wellcome Library https://archive.org/details/b29977368 HEALTH, WEALTH, AND POPULATION IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION M. C. BUER, B.Sc. (Econ.) HEALTH, WEALTH, AND POPULATION IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION LONDON ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL First published in Great Britain 1926 by George Routledge & Sons Ltd. Reissued 1968 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., Broadway House, 68-74 Carter Lane, London E.C. 4. Third impression 1969 Printed in Great Britain by Compton Printing Ltd London and Aylesbury No part of this book may be reproduced, except for brief quotations for reviews, without permission from the publisher SBN 7011 6011 4 TO THE MEMORY OF PROFESSOR LILIAN KNOWLES CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Introduction ....... 1 II. Vital Statistics ...... 10 III. Population Statistics, Birth and Death Rates . 22 IV. Individualism and Laisser Faire .... 36 V. The Growth of Commerce . .47 VI. Agriculture ....... 63 VII. Improvement of Towns ..... 76 VIII. Water Supply and Drainage .... 96 IX. The 18th Century Doctor and the British Pioneers of Public Health . .111 X. The Hospital and Dispensary Movement . 126 XI. General Hygiene and Midwifery . .137 XII. Rickets and Scurvy ...... 151 XIII. Antiseptics, Segregation, Leprosy and Plague . 164 XIV. Smallpox in the 18th Century .... 181 XV. The Anti-Typhus Campaign and the Fever Hospital Movement . .193 XVI. Malaria—General Summary . .210 XVII. The Period 1815-1848 . 223 XVIII. Conclusion ....... 236 Appendix : Notes and References . 245 Statistical Tables ..... 267 Bibliography ...... 275 Index ........ 285 PREFACE f I 'HIS book is a small contribution to that new presentation of modem economic and social history towards which much valuable work has been done in recent years. The general effect of this new knowledge is to present the series of events popularly known as the Industrial Revolution as being far more complex and far less dramatic than did earlier accounts. The popular conception is still, perhaps, that the Industrial Revolution destroyed the primitive virtues and idyllic joys of our more remote ancestors and created in their stead every social and economic difficulty with which we have to contend at present. It is, in fact, the villain of the drama of economic history. But, just as nearly all the picturesquely wicked villains whose stories thrilled us in childhood have been proved by biographers and historians to be much maligned and misunderstood persons, so some compensating virtues are being discovered even in the Industrial Revolution. The modification of previous judgments upon individuals has often been unkindly known as white¬ washing, but it is, in fact, due not to a covering up but to an uncovering of evidence and to the realization that no historical judgment which wholly praises or wholly condemns can, in the nature of things, be just. It may be contended by some thatmore justly balanced views, whether of individuals or of periods, rob history of much of its romantic quality. Instead of the enthralling clash of hero and villain we have presented the drab blunderings of ordinary men and women. But the grey is only grey at a distant and imperfect view, more closely seen it is a queer, jumbled pattern of sharply contrasted colours. Every historical movement has been the result of a medley of motives ; self-seeking rubbing shoulders with altruism and the love of a cause intermingling with personal ambition. An appreciation of the complexity of human motives, together with the scientific approach to history with its careful sifting of evidence, tends to make the modern historian loth X PREFACE to make judgments ; yet he must not shirk the responsibility of doing so if he is to be more than a mere chronicler. The main purpose of the research upon which this book is based was to account for the growth of population between 1760 and 1815, a growth which seemed so inexplicable in view of the alleged social deterioration of the period. In the course of this enquiry I have formed the very strong opinion that the period was by no means one of general social retrogression, on the contrary there is evidence of much- social progress, both material and moral. It is not of course contended that this progress was either universal or uniform. This opinion accords with the view which has been recently gaining ground among many students, that the evils of the so-called Industrial Revolution were much exaggerated by earlier writers. This exaggeration was partly owing to a failure to allow for the effects and after-effects of the war, but mainly to a totally unjustifiably roseate picture of conditions in earlier periods. Many evils decribed as new were very old, but had been ignored in ages when the social conscience was less awakened. It is perhaps desirable to say a few words as to the genesis of this book. My original line of research was a study of the general social conditions of the post-war period beginning in 1815. This work was undertaken as a Hutchinson Research Scholar of the London School of Economics. It was, however, hardly begun when it was interrupted by the outbreak of war. One result of the war was that a considerable amount of attention was directed to the period of my special study and, when I was free to return to its consideration, there hardly seemed to be scope for further detailed research upon its general aspects. One important phenomenon, however, still remained in great obscurity, that was the rapid growth of population. Chance having directed my attention to the work of Pringle and Lind I thus found a line of investigation in the pursuit of which my previous work was not altogether wasted. It is at once my duty and pleasure to acknowledge the valuable help which I have received in the course of preparing this book for publication. I have to thank, first of all, Dr. Charles Singer, whose stimulating encouragement much aided me in PREFACE xi bringing my task to a conclusion. Dr. Singer read through nearly the whole of the medical chapters and gave me much helpful advice and criticism. I owe thanks to Professor Bowley and Professor Cannan for similar help in regard to the statistical chapters and to Colonel James in regard to the section on malaria. I should like to thank my former fellow student, Mrs. George, author of London Life in the XVIIIth Century, for many useful references. Mrs. George’s work and my own overlapped at certain points and, working quite separately, indeed unaware of each other's activities, we arrived at almost identical con¬ clusions. I have also to thank my friend Mrs. Ormsby for reading a considerable portion of my MS. and for valuable suggestions as to method of presentation. Finally, I have to record how much I owe to the late Professor Lilian Knowles, under whom I served my apprenticeship in Economic History. She allowed me to draw unreservedly upon her wide knowledge while her trenchant criticism enabled me to purge this book of some of its original imperfections. It is a personal grief to me that she will never see the completed work, in the inception of which she took such a keen and sympathetic interest. M. C. Buer. The University, Reading. CHAPTER I Introduction When the historian of two thousand years hence chronicles the history of the world during the two hundred years ending 1900 he will surely find one of its most significant facts to be the increase in numbers and dominance of the European races. Not only did the population of Europe itself increase many fold during that period but European races have also peopled two great continents and one small one ; they have further partly peopled and almost entirely dominated another great continent and partially dominated the remaining one. Though the peoples of western Europe have spread over many vast waste spaces of the world, yet their civilization has become more and more urban ; for in ever)7 community of western European race town dwellers form a large and increasing pro¬ portion of the whole. To the political and economic problems of the great nation and the great empire are added the peculiar economic and social difficulties of the great city. To the problems due to absolute size, both of nations and cities, must be added those due to rapidity of growth. Though the classical economists may have been wrong in much of their detailed argument and conclusions their alarm at the rapid growth of population was not nearly so foolish as many lesser minds have thought. It was a new problem, but so short is the memory of mankind that many persons are now terribly alarmed at the idea of a population that is not increasing rapidly. It is the primary object of this study to endeavour to elucidate the main causes of the rapid growth of population in England in the 18th and early 19th centuries, with special reference to the period 1750-1815. This enquiry is, perhaps, unduly narrow in time and place, but it deals with the time and place in which the rapid growth of population had its origin.