The Source

Abstract

From the 1830s onwards the female body came to be medicalized, not merely as a sexed body but as a diseased body – a space where disease could and did fester. This shift fitted in well to the newly emergent spirit of environmental and preventative medicine. Around this same time, public health was rapidly becoming an issue for the government. The publication of the 1831 Census with its mortality rates had caused some disquiet. The establishment of the Register-General in 1837 created further concern as it meant that for the first time reliable statistics were available on public health. An epidemic of cholera had struck the metropolis of London, with devastating results. These factors all worked together to confront the people of Britain with the appalling conditions that existed in their towns.¹