The paper explains why death rates in India began falling in the early twentieth century. While many scholars link this decline to better nutrition and famine relief, or indirectly to food, the paper argues that these explanations are incomplete. Most deaths during famines were caused by diseases that spread from natural habitats to human hosts due to environmental disturbances triggered by hydrological droughts. The idea of ‘environmental reservoirs’, where microbes live before infecting humans, is relevant to understanding the impact of tropical climate on human lives. Mortality rates dropped as public health strategies began to reflect a unified understanding of disease patterns shaped by environmental factors.
This research investigates reasons for the passage of legislation that limited female factory work hours during industrialisation in the British settler colony of Victoria. Textual analysis of multi-source primary data (Royal Commission reports, parliamentary debates, and bills/statutes) shows the following. By the 1870s, male craft-tailoring was fragmented into cutting, tailoring and pressing. Females took up tailoring which required long hours of work to meet deadlines. Young girls trained in factories for up to two years. Factory-based tailoring fitted round their household roles and could be taken up later in life if needed. Work could be carried out at home because payment was piece-rate and materials were portable. Factories, however, sub-contracted most slop production to small workshops. Many trainees took up such jobs if not retained by the factory. They received a fixed weekly pay-rate but sewed for long hours when needed. Although patriarchal views were widespread, there was no evidence that legislation came about because unions attempted to restrict females’ work hours in male solidarity with employers. The Factory Acts of 1873 and 1885 achieved passage because humanitarian and political reformers supported regulation while employer opposition was overcome by the exclusion of provisions regarding work taken home and small workshops.
