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| 1873 |
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| Judicial reforms. The law consolidated piecemeal reforms throughout the 19th century, combined the common law and equity courts, and rationalized the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal. The law also eliminated the House of Lords' judicial role, but an amending act (1876) reversed this provision. | 1 |
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| 1875 |
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| The Public Health Act gave the Local Government Board the right to obtain court orders forcing local authorities to fulfill sanitary obligations. It also enabled local authorities to build isolation hospitals if they deemed it necessary. | 2 |
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| Aug. 3 |
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| The Employers and Workmen Act facilitated trade union bargaining and the use of strikes. Trade unions helped secure these acts through a combination of national associations, bids for reformism and respectability, and the utilization of the TUC. Although trade unions still organized only one-tenth of the workforce and largely ignored the unskilled and women, their importance increased steadily. | 3 |
| Wages continued to improve, albeit unevenly. Wages in England remained higher than those on the Continent. Improved wages did not eliminate poverty or unilaterally improve the standard of living. Around one-seventh of the population received an inadequate wage. The Great Depression (1873–79) also struck rural workers because the declining agricultural prices meant a decline in wages in agriculture, while prices for other merchandise did not decline. | 4 |
| White collar unionism did make some progress in the late 19th century. The National Union of Elementary Teachers (1870), the Postmen's Federation (1891), and the Tax Clerks' Association (1892) were products of such efforts, but their unions remained distinct from the working-class unions. | 5 |
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