In 1750 our country, Great Britain, began its industrial revolution. The country was changed forever. Before 1750, most people had lived in the countryside and worked in a family business but in 1750 people flocked into towns to get jobs. New machinery had been invented and the richer classes used this as a way to make lots of money by setting up factories filled with these machines. It was out with the old and in with the new. New machinery, new materials and new discoveries.
Although there were many positives to the industrial revolution such as the improved transport system around the country, the quicker manufacturing, the new inventions and the new discoveries, there were also many negatives. These included the living conditions of most of the people living in towns, the working conditions of the poorer classes, child labour and the deterioration of public health. But, was the impact on public health the worst effect of the industrial revolution?
Firstly, although public health deteriorated during the industrial revolution so did many other things including living conditions of poorer families. Many country people rapidly began to move to the towns to avoid unemployment. Due to the speed the people were moving, there were not enough houses for everybody. Factory owners had to build houses near to their factories where their employees could live. These houses were built very hastily and they were in a bad condition. The factory workers were very cramped and you could find up to eight people living in one room of a house. This meant that workers had to share beds and some had to go without. The toilets were placed at the ends of the streets and they were shared by everybody on that street. The toilets were very dirty as like the houses they had been built hastily so did not flush properly and were never cleaned. Therefore, the toilets were unhygienic which