1S] On the death of Titus Salt on 29th December, 1876, the Bradford Observer wrote an article on the man’s achievements.

Titus was perhaps the greatest captain of industry in England not only because he gathered thousands under him but also because, according to the light that was in him, he tried to care for all those thousands. We do not say that he succeeded in realizing all his views or that it is possible to harmonize at present all relations between capital and labour. Upright in business, admirable in his private relations he came without seeking the honour to be admittedly the best representative of the employer class in this part of the country if not the whole kingdom.

2S] Robert Owen, To the Population of the World (1834)

In consequence of the dire effects of this wretched system upon the whole of the human race, the population of Great Britain – the most advanced of modern nations in the acquirement of riches, power and happiness – has created and supports a theory and practice of government which is directly opposed to the real well-being and true interests of every individual member of the empire, whatever may be his station, rank or condition – whether subject or sovereign. And so enormous are the increasing errors of this system now become, that, to uphold it the government is compelled, day by day, to commit acts of the grossest cruelty and injustice, and to call such proceedings laws of justice and of Christian mercy.

3S] The Huddersfield Workhouse Inquiry, report made by the Overseers of the workhouse in June 1848

Of the general treatment of the poor in the workhouse, the Overseers have produced their report that the house is, and has been for a considerable period, crowded out with inmates; that there are forty children occupying one room eight yards by five; that these children sleep four, five, six, seven and even ten, in the one bed; that thirty females live in another room of similar size; and that fifty adult males have to cram in a room seven and a half yards long and six yards wide; that the diet of the establishment has been and still is, insufficient; that four shillings worth of shin of beef, or leg offal, with forty-two pounds of potatoes, have been made to serve for “soup”, for 150 inmates; that the quantity, in gallons, required for this wash, for the household is 27; that three gills of this “soup”, with one fourth of an oaten cake, forms one of the dinners of the establishment; that ten gallons of old milk per day have been made to serve for two meals for an average number of 130 individuals for a quarter of a year together,- being little more that one gill per head per day; that the old women were allowed one quarter of a pound of sugar and half an ounce of tea each, for a week’s consumption; that there is no clothing in stock; that a great proportion of the inmates are obliged to wear their own clothes; that the others have little better than rags to cover them; that instances have been known where the nakedness of even females has not been covered; that there are at present but 65 blankets fit for use in the establishment, to fit up 79 beds; that there are but 108 sheets for these 79 beds, being short of a pair each; that there is in consequence no change of bed linen whatever; that when cleansed the beds have to stripped, and the linen hurried to the wash tub, dried, and put on to the beds again for the same night; and that there are throughout the entire establishment, the most unmistakable signs of bad management, shortsightedness, real extravagance, waste of the ratepayers money, and want of comfort, cleanliness, health and satisfaction amongst the poor.

[4s] Florence Nightingale: Rural Hygiene (1856)

We will now deal with the PRESENT STATE OF RURAL HYGIENE, which is indeed a pitiful and disgusting story, dreadful to tell. A large number of the poor­cottages have been recently condemned as “unfit for human habitation,” but though “unfit” many are still “inhabited,” from lack of other accommodation. In these days of investigation and statistics, where results are described with microscopic exactness and tabulated with mathematical accuracy, we seem to think figures will do instead of facts, and calculation instead of action. We wait to see whether the filth will really trickle into the well, and whether the foul water really will poison the family, and how many will die of it. And then, when enough have died, we think it time to spend some money and some trouble to stop the murders going further, and we enter the results of our “masterly inactivity” neatly in tables. Now let us come to WHAT THE WOMEN HAVE TO DO WITH IT – i.e., how much the cottage mothers, if instructed by instructed women, can remedy or prevent these and other frightful evils. Boys and girls must grow up healthy, with clean minds, and clean bodies, and clean skins. And the first teachings and impressions they have at home must all be pure, and gentle, and firm. It is home that teaches the child after all, more than any other schooling. A child learns before it is three whether it shall obey its mother or not. And before it is seven its character is a good way to being formed.