Thomas Fresh was Liverpool’s first public health officer, having been appointed Inspector of Nuisances by the Health of Towns Committee on 4 September 1844, more than two years before the celebrated appointment of Duncan as Britain’s first Medical Officer of Health and Newlands as the first Borough Engineer. Even before that, Fresh was the officer responsible for environmental health interventions. He is often cited as the first environmental health practitioner. Although he gained a national reputation for his work, Fresh was undervalued at the time and his life and work have been underreported since. He had an eventful personal life. He was married three times and widowed twice. In his youth he spent four months on remand before being acquitted. He was a talented entrepreneur: he created a building society, a model farm and a residential settlement that today bears his name. However, he took on financial commitments that were beyond his means, resulting in his sudden and premature departure from public life.
Eastwood M. Liverpool: a town ahead of its time. In: Brown C and Savage C (eds) For the Common Good: 150 years of Public Health. EHJ : Environmental Health Journal 1998; 91; 6; SUPP/1; 5.
2.
YorkeBYorkeRPine trees and asparagus: the development of a cultural landscape. In: LewisJStanistreetE (eds). Sand and sea, Sefton’s coastal heritage, Bootle: Sefton Council, 2008, pp. 96–114.
3.
YorkeR. Thomas Fresh: inspector of nuisances. Journal of the Liverpool History Society2009; 8: 16–24.
4.
The Formby Civic Society event at the Freshfield Hotel in Freshfield was attended by over 90 people who enjoyed an asparagus supper, while actor David Davies portrayed Thomas Fresh. Reported at: Dilworth K. Mr Fresh of Freshfield celebrated at Formby. Formby Times, 25 September 2008.
5.
HopeEW. Health at the gateway: problems and obligations of a Seaport city, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1931.
6.
CarterD. A history of the environmental health officer. Environmental Health Journal1983; 91: 71–76.
7.
HandysidesS. All the history you can remember. Communicable Disease and Public Health1999; 2: 230–232.
8.
SlaneyRA. Select committee report on the health of towns, London: British Parliamentary Papers, 1840.
9.
Great Britain. The 1846 Liverpool Sanatory Act. ‘Sanatory’ was the contemporary spelling. Some authors seem to suggest that sanitary reform started in Liverpool with this Act but other towns and Liverpool had been moving in this direction for some years, notably in Liverpool, with two other private Acts the 1842 Liverpool Building Act and the 1842 Liverpool Improvement Act, and the focus provided by the establishment of the Health of Towns Committee.
10.
Great Britain. The 1845 Burnley Improvement Act.
11.
Great Britain. The 1846 Southport Improvement Act.
12.
Bennett W. History of Burnley. Burnley: Burnley Corporation, 1946;3:356. The Burnley Improvement Act received Royal Assent on 26 June 1846. While it did not create a statutory post, it gave statutory power of entry to an Inspector of Nuisances. Bennett claims that Joseph Sutcliffe was the first to be appointed to Burnley’s ‘most important and much needed office of Inspector of Nuisances’ in 1853 while Carter (1983) states that the town’s first inspector was Christopher Slater in 1856.
13.
The Southport Improvement Act received Royal Assent on 18 June 1846. It provides for the appointment of an Inspector of Nuisances. The Minutes of the Southport Improvement Commissioners are not available so we do not know whether there was a statutory appointment before Liverpool’s.
14.
Great Britain. The 1848 Public Health Act, S.37.
15.
Great Britain. The 1872 Public Health Act, S.10.
16.
Yorke op. cit. Ref. 3, p.18 and Carter Ref 6, p.176.
17.
Wilkinson GH. A report of the proceedings of a court inquiry into the existing state of the city of Liverpool, London: HM Government, 1833.
18.
Cockcroft WE. From cutlasses to computers: the police force in Liverpool 1836–1989. Seaford, UK: SB Publications, 1991, p.3, et seq.
19.
His investigation of a criminal case of poisoning is reported in: Lancashire Lent Assizes of 2 April 1839. Liverpool Mercury. 5 April 1839; Issue 1456.
20.
Later he was also Superintendent of Alms Houses, and Superintendent of Scavengers (ie refuse removal and street cleaning).
21.
Liverpool Mercury. 6 April 1861; Issue 4103.
22.
ChaveS. The rise and fall of the medical officer of health. Community Medicine1980; 2: 36–45.
FreshT. Sanitary operations in the nuisance department 1/1/1847 to 31/3/1851, Liverpool: Harris & Co, 1851.
26.
Great Britain. The 1842 Liverpool Improvement Act.
27.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 3 June 1844 (originals of all Council and Committee Minutes and reports were accessed at Liverpool Record Office, Liverpool Libraries).
28.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 26 August 1844.
29.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Watch Committee, 31 August 1844.
30.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Borough Council, 4 September 1844.
31.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 25 November 1844.
32.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 7 July 1846.
33.
Ashton J. The History of Public Health in Liverpool: upwards and onwards, pendulum or helix? In: The Poor Law and After. Liverpool Medical History Society and the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire; 1999, p.51. In John Ashton’s introduction to the reprint of Frazer’s Duncan of Liverpool (Preston; Carnegie, 1997, p2), he goes so far as to describe the trio as ‘a partnership’… ‘almost a cabal’!.
34.
LewisRA. Edwin Chadwick and the public health movement 1832–1854, London: Longmans, 1952, pp. 55–55.
35.
FlinnM. Report on The sanitary condition of the labouring population of Great Britain by Edwin Chadwick 1842, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1965, pp. 285–285.
36.
Ibid: Dr Currie's report to Chadwick, p.215.
37.
DuncanWH. Report to the health committee of the Borough of Liverpool on the health of the town 1847–1848–1849–1850, and on other matters within his department, Liverpool: Harris and Co, 1851.
38.
See for example, the introduction by Audrey Coney to Rawlinson R. The Ormskirk Board of Health Report, 1850. Preston: Lancashire County Books; 1991. The report itself is a sobering contemporary account of sanitary conditions in the small rural town of Ormskirk, 10 miles to the North East of Liverpool.
39.
See Ref. 42, for example.
40.
Eastwood M, op.cit. Ref. 1, p.5.
41.
While Fresh's staff dealt with conditions in lodging houses, all police officers were authorised to inspect lodging houses at night, mainly to ensure good order.
42.
JohnsonR. A century of progress, the history of the institution of environmental health officers, 1883–1983, London: Institution of Environmental Health Officers, 1983, pp. 43–43.
43.
FrazerW. Duncan of Liverpool, London: Hamish Hamilton Medical Books, 1947, pp. 54–54.
44.
Fresh T, op. cit. Ref. 25.
45.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 25 November 1847.
46.
Fresh T, op. cit. Ref. 25.
47.
Borough of Liverpool.Minutes of the Health Committee, 27 January 1859.
48.
Hope EW, op. cit. Ref. 5, p.154.
49.
MidwinterEC. Old Liverpool, Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1971, pp. 112–113.
Though he gave written observations to the Privy Council on the future role of the ‘(Medical) Officer of Health'. See Brockington C F. Public Health in the Nineteenth Century. Edinburgh and London: E and S Livingstone, 1965, p.141.
53.
Richardson Sir BW. 1892, quoted in Johnson R, op. cit. Ref. 42, p.3.
54.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of Health Committee, 4/5th January 1847.
55.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 1 February 1847.
56.
Frazer W, op. cit. Ref. 43, p.46.
57.
Sanatory Reform in Liverpool. Liverpool Mercury. 14 May 1850; Issue 2193.
58.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 10 March 1859.
59.
Frazer W, op. cit. Ref. 43, p.119.
60.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 11 January 1847.
61.
Liverpool Mercury, op. cit. Ref. 57.
62.
Borough of Liverpool.Minutes of the Watch Committee, 25 February and 17 June 1843.
63.
In 1859 Mr Tyson, an Assistant Town Clerk, was reported to be 77 years of age and ‘incapacitated’; he was demoted and allowed to continue on light duties at a much reduced salary. Tyson was involved in the ‘loans and securities to each other’ episode.
64.
Higgins R. Recommendations to the sub-committee to investigate the staffing of the nuisance department. Borough of Liverpool, 1859.
65.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 23 June 1859.
66.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committtee, 12 July1847.
67.
Fresh T, op.cit Ref. 25.
68.
Diocese of Lancaster. Parish Records of the Lonsdale Hundred (North); 1803 Accessed at Lancashire County Records Office, Preston.
69.
BainesE. History, directory, and gazetteer of the county Palatine of Lancaster, with a variety of commercial & statistical information II, Liverpool: Wm. Wales & Co, 1825, pp. 655–655.
70.
Fresh T (grandfather). Last will and testament of Thomas Fresh the elder, London: HM Courts Service Probate Department, 1806.
71.
Fresh T (father) Will of Thomas Fresh senior of Newbarns. Accessed at Cumbria Archive and Local Studies Centre, Barrow; ref Z643-28, 1835.
72.
Letter from T Fresh Junior to T Fresh Senior. 1827. Accessed at Cumbria Archive and Local Studies Centre, Barrow; ref Z643-23-3.
73.
Letter from T Fresh Junior to T Fresh Senior. 1826. Accessed at Cumbria Archive and Local Studies Centre, Barrow; ref Z643-19.
74.
Various papers in the Fresh file in the Cumbria Archive, including: Letter from Frederick James (son-in-law) to T Fresh Senior, ref Z2643-29-1/2/3, Solicitor’s detailed accounts refs: Z643-11-1, Z643-18-1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 & Z643-30/1/2, Notice to Quit from Jane Stephenson (Sister of Fresh Senior) ref Z643-26-8, Note re Hunter and Jane Stephenson ref Z643-14-15, Demand from Mary Woodburn ref Z643-2-1; accessed at Cumbria Archive and Local Studies Centre, Barrow.
75.
FreshT. Last will and testament and grant of probate of Thomas Fresh junior, London: HM Courts Service Probate Department, 1847.
76.
Marriages and Deaths. Liverpool Mercury. 10 December 1824; Issue 707.
77.
Fresh T. op. cit. Ref. 75.
78.
National Library of Wales (personal communication). Civil cases: Cyfarthfa no. 27. 29 July 1834 Crawshay V. Fresh (outstanding balance) Cyfarthfa no. 46. 6 November 1830 Crawshay V. Fresh Snr. (shipment delay).
79.
Fresh T. op. cit. Ref. 75.
80.
Glamorgan Court Great Sessions. The Cambrian. 27 April 1827.
81.
Glamorgan Spring Great Sessions 27; 33:193. In: England and Wales Criminal Registers 1791–1892. The Generations Network Inc, accessed via Ancestry.com.
82.
Parish Records of the Church of St Nicholas and Our Lady, Liverpool. Accessed at Lancashire County Records Office, Preston.
83.
Liverpool Mercury, op.cit. Ref. 19.
84.
Office for National Statistics. 1841 Census. Accessed via Ancestry.co.uk, The census was undertaken on Sunday 6 June. They must have moved to St. Mary's Lane after that date but before entries were gathered for Gore's Directory.
85.
GoreJ. The Liverpool directory for the year 1841, Liverpool: Gore, 1841.
86.
GoreJ. The Liverpool directory for the year 1848, Liverpool: Gore, 1848.
87.
Office for National Statistics. 1851 Census. Accessed via Ancestry.co.uk.
88.
Gore J. The Liverpool directory for the year 1851. Liverpool: Gore, 1951. This gives his office address but not his home address.
89.
Yorke B and Yorke R, op. cit. Ref. 2.
90.
Yorke R, op. cit. Ref. 3. 20–24.
91.
Yorke R. Formby Civic Society: personal communications, 2011. In the ‘Freshfield' section I have drawn very heavily on Reg Yorke's paper and on information and insights gained from our discussions. cf Acknowledgments.
92.
Court of Passage, Action for Commission.Liverpool Mercury. 7 January 1859; Issue 3399.
93.
Agreement between T Fresh (Snr) and Mark Russel. 1828. Accessed at Cumbria Archive and Local Studies Centre, Barrow; ref Z643-24-1.
94.
Borough of Liverpool, op. cit. Ref. 66.
95.
Hawthorne N. The English notebooks. Boston: Osgood, 1876, at 15 December 1856.
96.
MidwinterEC. Social administration in Lancashire 1830–1860: poor law, public health and police, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1969, pp. 95–95.
97.
Brockington C F, op. cit. Ref 52.
98.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 17 April 1851.
99.
Inspector Fresh of Liverpool and the Government. Soulby's Ulverston Advertiser, 22 February 1855.
100.
The Sanitary Commission for the East. Liverpool Mercury. 23 February 1855; Issue 2666.
101.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 7 April 1859.
102.
GoreJ. The Liverpool directory for the year 1857, Liverpool: Gore, 1857.
103.
GoreJ. The Liverpool directory for the year 1859, Liverpool: Gore, 1859.
104.
Liverpool Mercury, op.cit. Ref. 92.
105.
Eastwood M, op. cit. Ref. 1, p.5, also unpublished draft, and personal communications.
106.
Yorke R, op. cit. Ref. 3, p.18.
107.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of Borough Council, 6 April 1859.
108.
Health Committee. Liverpool Mercury. 8 April 1859; Issue 3477.
109.
The Corporate Officials. Liverpool Mercury. 1 April 1859; Issue 3471.
110.
The Second Tradesman's Building Society (Classified Advertisement). Liverpool Mercury. 31 August 1855; Issue 2719.
111.
Borough of Liverpool, op. cit. Ref. 107.
112.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 7 April 1859.
113.
Health Committee. Liverpool Mercury. 8 April 1859; Issue 3477.
114.
Sales by Auction, Classified Advertisements. Liverpool Mercury. 18 March 1859; Issue 3459. This was a notice of the forthcoming auction.
115.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 14 April 1859.
116.
Health Committee. Liverpool Mercury. 13 May 1859; Issue 3507.
117.
Borough of Liverpool. Report of a sub-committee on the staffing of the nuisance department. Borough of Liverpool, 1859.
118.
Borough of Liverpool. Minutes of the Health Committee, 23 June 1859.
