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www.gcu.ac.uk/cshhh

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© Glasgow Caledonian University 2012

THE HEALTH OF A CITY: GLASGOW 1860s-1960s

SUNDAY 17 JUNE 2012, 12PM-4PM AT THE PEOPLE’S PALACE, GLASGOW GREEN

The Centre is a collaborative research group involving historians and students from Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Strathclyde. Our activities focus on the way in which medicine, medical science, and healthcare systems have developed over time and have come to shape our contemporary experience.

www.gcu.ac.uk/cshhh

The Health of a City: Glasgow 1860s-1960s, has been produced in

collaboration with The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow;

Glasgow Caledonian University Research Collections and Glasgow Museums, as part

of the Glasgow Science Festival 2012.

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THE CENTRE FOR THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF HEALTH AND HEALTHCARE, GLASGOW

Join us in the People’s Palace as we explore various efforts to improve the health of Glasgow families from the 1860s until the 1960s.

Head over to the community gallery where we display hidden treasures from local archives that shed light on the history of Glasgow’s health. Join historian David Black as we screen health promotion films from the last seventy years.

Younger visitors wanting to experience firsthand how Glasgow women used to do their laundry are invited to join us in the People’s Palace Steamie, and can follow our Health of the City trails through the museum.

The period from 1905-1914 became known as the ‘Welfare Revolution’ and demonstrated a move towards individual public health provision rather than collective projects. Ante-natal care for mothers, nutritional advice, Milk Depots, and Health Visitors’ Associations, were among the initiatives which developed from the original concern for infant health.

Following the Second World War, new estates were built to ease the housing shortage and in 1957 a mass x-ray campaign was launched to identify tuberculosis cases. While some efforts were more successful than others, they all sought to address the dominant public health concerns of the time.

In 1860, Glasgow faced a number of barriers to securing the health of its citizens. Rapid population growth had led to overcrowding in inner city areas which, combined with poor sanitation, fuelled epidemics of typhus and cholera and contributed to high infant mortality rates.

In an effort to eradicate cholera outbreaks, the city established a water supply from Loch Katrine in 1859. Dr William Tennant Gairdner was appointed the first Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow and built a fever hospital in 1865. His successor, Dr. James Burn Russell, turned his attention to the health problems posed by overcrowded housing conditions. Efforts were made to curb housing problems by restricting the number of inhabitants resident within properties and engaging on a slum clearance programme. A number of parks were built or expanded to provide green space and recreational facilities.

,PUBLIC HEALTH IN GLASGOW, C. 1860-1960