Filthy urban living conditions cause various public…

Filthy urban living conditions cause various public health threats, including the spread of many diseases such as cholera and typhus.

Reformers want to resolve sanitary problems, because sewage is flowing down the street daily, including the presence of sewage in living quarters.

Many factors have delayed reform, however, such as the fact that to perform a clean up, the government will need money, and this will have to come from factory owners, who are not keen to pay, and this has further delayed reform.

Reformers eventually help to counteract the government's laissez-faire attitude, and a public health Act is introduced in 1875.

Home Secretary Richard Cross is responsible for drafting the legislation, and will receive much good will from trades union groups in the consequent years for "humanising the toil of the working man"

The Act requires all new residential construction to include running water and an internal drainage system

This act also leads to the government prohibiting the construction of shoddy housing by building contractors.