OCR GCSE History B Key Terms

A set of 17 printed instructions issued by Elizabeth I's Privy Council to standardise the response to plague outbreaks across England.

An act that broke the London Guild of Distillers' monopoly and encouraged domestic distilling, leading to the Gin Craze.

The turning point legislation that successfully curbed the Gin Craze by banning small shop sales, restricting licenses, and using harsh punishments.

A severe pollution event where the smell of untreated sewage in the River Thames forced the national government to fund London's sewer system.

The 'transition' stage of national public health reform that compelled local authorities to inspect for 'nuisances', defined overcrowding, and required house connections to main sewers.

Food illegally mixed with cheaper, harmful substances (like chalk in milk or sand in sugar) to increase a seller's profit.

Mixing food with harmful substances (e.g., chalk in bread) to increase profit.

An economy based primarily on agriculture and land cultivation.

Forcing a minority group to adopt the customs and lifestyle of the dominant culture.

Terraced houses built sharing a rear wall and two side walls, joined on three sides with only one source of light and no through-ventilation.

A legal right allowing members of the clergy to be tried in more lenient Church courts rather than secular royal courts.

Weekly printed statistics listing the number of deaths and their causes, acting as an early warning system for plague outbreaks.

The study of human skeletal remains from archaeological sites to understand past health, diet, and disease.

A back-to-back house built directly against a factory wall or large building, offering no rear access.

A national body established by the 1848 Public Health Act to oversee sanitary improvements across the country.

Industrial-scale farms of 10,000 or more acres that used machinery and migrant labor.

A public water pump in Soho, London, which John Snow famously identified as the source of a localized cholera outbreak in 1854, proving the disease was water-borne.

Painful, pus-filled swellings in the lymph nodes (typically in the groin and armpits), which were the characteristic symptom of the plague.

Damp, underground rooms rented out as living spaces for entire families in overcrowded industrial cities.

The process of bringing local administration and decision-making under the control of a central national body.

A deep hole or brick-lined chamber used for the collection of human sewage, often located under houses or in gardens.

Brick-lined or unlined pits used to collect human waste from privies, often built to be porous to allow liquids to drain into the soil.

Industrial-era underground sewage pits that frequently overflowed and leaked into surrounding cellars and water wells.

A formal document issued by the King granting a town legal rights, such as the right to hold markets or to self-govern.

A chemical disinfectant used by early health boards to treat sewers and eliminate foul odors, mistakenly believed to stop cholera.

A deadly waterborne disease that arrived in Britain in 1831, causing severe vomiting, diarrhoea, and rapid dehydration.

A large tank or reservoir used for storing water at the head or end of a conduit system.

The mid-Victorian social philosophy that local government had a moral duty to improve the environment and health of its citizens.

A motivator for local elites to improve their town's appearance and status through building projects and infrastructure.

The conflict between Native American communal views of land and white settlers' views of land as a commodity for individual ownership.