People’s city gallery: 1850s – 1940s
These activities are designed to help you take a closer look at how people lived in London during the 19th century and what affected their health.Work either in pairs or groups of four.
SECTION ONE – Poverty and death
To find the answers to these questions you will need to pass the taxi and Selfridges lift and study the objects in the case to the left of the water pump. Here you will see lots of photographs of poor people living in London.
1. Find the wax face in a jar.
i) This shows the symptoms of what disease?
ii) Who was most at risk from catching it?
iii) Do you think this disease just affected the poor? Why?
2. Find the memorial card for 1899.
i) Do you think these children were from a poor or wealthy background? Why?
ii) What was the main cause of death for both rich and poor children?
iii) What other common causes of death were there for poor children?
iv) In the1850s approximately how many Londoners died from lack of food each year?
Public health through timePeople’s city gallery: 1850s – 1940s
3. What objects (evidence) can you find in this case to show that new knowledge about the causes of disease was improving public health by the 1880s.
i)Sign for council run wash houses
ii)
iii)
iv)
2. Living conditions was one of the main hazards leading to disease and premature death among the poor in 19th century London, name two more?
i)
ii)
3. Pick the photograph that stands out most to you in this case. Describe what you see and what it shows you about public health at the time.
SECTION TWO – Struggle
For this section you will need to go to the struggle section and explore the giantCharles Booth’s map of London poverty.
1. Read the panel text. Name four diseases that affected the rich as well as the poor. Do you know what caused each of them? If so, write the cause next to the disease.
a) b)
c)d)
2. Move inside the alcove.
i) What was the aim of Booth’s map?
ii) How might it have helped to improve conditions for the poor?
Public health through timePeople’s city gallery: 1850s – 1940s
3. Use the interactive screen for the following:
i) Find either your area, or an area you have heard of, by moving the screen.
What colour are most of the streets?
Area:______Colour: ______
ii) What does that tell you about the people that lived there in 1886?
iii) Move across the map and press one of the i symbols. What area have you
chosen? Write down 3 things you found out about it.
4. Tick which of the followingyou think had the biggest impact on improving public health:
Government taking responsibilityIncreased wealth
Pasteur’s germ theory Snow discovering of the cause of cholera
Explain why you think that:
(NB There is no right or wrong answer, just your ability to argue convincingly)
Public health through timePeople’s city gallery: 1850s – 1940s
SECTION THREE – The water pump
You will find the answers to the following by using the water pump interactive.
1. Finish the following sentences:
i) Poor Londoners were referred to as ‘The Great ………………………’
ii) Poo was taken by ‘nightmen’ to the …………………………….and
spread…………………………………………………………………..
iii) In ……… the ‘Great ………..’ arose from out of the Thames. The government
asked ………………………….. to build an underground sewage system. By
1865, ………………………………………………………………………………..
2. In 1854, Jon Snow made a breakthrough in proving that there was a link between an outbreak of cholera and water coming from a pump in Broad Street. In the space below sketch a warning sign for people to avoid using this water pump and telling them why. Remember many people using the pump would not have been able to read at this time and germs were not discovered until 1861.
Public health through timePeople’s city gallery: 1850s – 1940s
SECTION FOUR – Life through art
Find the picture of The Crossing Sweeper by William Powell Frith.
1. Which two writers also helped London to ‘develop a social conscience’
at this time?
i)
ii)
2. Study the pictures and look at the stories in the book.
i) What is meant by ‘develop a social conscience’?
ii) How was this achieved by writers and artists such as these?
3. How important do you think writers and artists were in helping to bring about improvements in public health?
a) Very importantb) quite importantc) not important at all
Why?
Public health through timePeople’s city gallery: 1850s – 1940s
SECTION FIVE – Victorian Walk
For this section you will need to take a walk around the Victorian shopping street.
1. Life wasn’t all bad in the nineteenth century - if you had money! Find evidence to suggest that life (and health) was different for people with money in the following areas:
Food / Leisure time / HygieneToys in the toy shop show that wealthier children were playing rather than working
2. Find evidence that by the late 1890s Joseph Lister’s new methods of sterilisation had changed working practices on the high street.
Clue: Go to the shop between unhealthy habits and fine dining, look at the wall and note the signing.