The Centrality of Locality: The Local State, Local Democracy, and Local Consciousness in Late-Victorian and Edwardian Britain

Abstract

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‘In constant fear of some dire epidemic breaking out’: Rural responses to infectious and epidemic disease, 1870–1920

“…21 Given the powerful libertarian rhetoric constructed around local authority, and the historic antipathy to central government in Wales, many rural Welsh authorities claimed they were in a better position to understand outbreaks and their causes than an outsider. 22 Likewise, the Board framed many questions of rural sanitation as purely of local concern, encouraging rural authorities to take responsibility. In market towns, villages, and hamlets, responsibility for managing disease outbreaks therefore rested with rural authorities and their sanitary officials.…”