‘To brighten the aspect of our streets and increase the health and enjoyment of our city’: The National Health Society and urban green space in late-nineteenth century London

Abstract

Drawing upon the published annual reports of the National Health Society (established in 1871) and its intimate relationship with the Metropolitan Public Gardens and Playgrounds Association, this paper will explore the discourses expressed by the sanitarians and health professionals represented by the Society in relation to the parks movement in London in the 1870s and 1880s. By analysing this particular aspect of the Society, the connections between medical professionals, sanitarians and philanthropic members of the upper classes in relation to the urban parks movement will be explored. Notions of health as a state achieved through the dual combination of the physical environment and the behaviour of the individual will also be discussed, building on the work of recent commentators such as Nancy Tomes, H.L. Malchow, Felix Driver, Martin Gaskell and Peter Thorsheim. Finally, the inter-relationships between the temperance movement, the National Health Society, and the idea of urban green spaces as places of health will be drawn out. This approach will demonstrate the important influence of named medical practitioners, and their approaches regarding health and disease, on the design of the urban fabric in which the majority of Britons now live.