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Part four – What was health and medicine like in the 19th century?

Part four – What was health and medicine like in the 19th century?

n the 19th century, work changed for most of the population with shift working made possible by gas light, a new adherence to fixed hours of work and a fierce concentration upon a smaller number of tasks whilst at work. Ruth explains all of this – as well as the slow movement towards protection for workers that took place over the course of the 19th century.

Published: December 11, 2024 at 2:02 PM

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Victorian healthcare | HistoryExtra Academy video lecture. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

In week four of our course on Victorian Britain, Ruth Goodman explores the great strides in healthcare that took place in the 19th century – from the move towards clean water supplies and improved waste disposal, to antiseptics in hospitals and in the home and the impact of germ theory on life expectancy
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"An enlightened turn": how medicine (and the vaccination) developed in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

With industrialisation making living conditions worse in the cities, the improvements to hospital provision, surgery and the care of the poor needed to gain apace. Emma Slattery Williams explores how healthcare in 18th-century Britain changed, and the pioneering preventative treatments that helped combat a killer disease
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An appointment at the house of death: the horror of the early Victorian hospital. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dr Lindsey Fitzharris describes the horrors of the early Victorian hospital, where lice and lethal infections flourished, the air was filled with the smell of vomit and rotting flesh, and all too few of those who went under the surgeon’s knife lived to tell the tale
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Victorian medicine: why the 19th century was a time of seismic medical change

The 19th century paved the way for many of the modern medical practices that continue to benefit us today…
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From murder bottles to arsenic wallpaper: 5 hidden killers in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Victorian era is often romanticised as a time of progress, with technological advancements and societal changes reshaping how people lived and worked. But Victorian Britain was also full of hidden dangers that threatened the health and safety of its inhabitants – and the domestic sphere was rife with hazards that could kill or seriously harm. Here, we round up five hidden killers in the Victorian home…
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Week four quiz: medicine and health in Victorian Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Test your knowledge on medicine and health in Victorian Britain with our quiz...

See more Part four – What was health and medicine like in the 19th century?

Part four – What was health and medicine like in the 19th century?

Victorian medicine: why the 19th century was a time of seismic medical change