In the mid-to-late 1800 period great change was occuring within the areas of public health and sanitary reform. The UK passed the Public Health Act of 1875 on August 11, 1875, the following year the Sanitary Institute was established (1876) which was renamed the Royal Sanitary Institute in 1904. In 1955, the name was changed to Royal Society of Health. [1, 2]
“During its first fifty years, the (Royal) Sanitary Institute became the leading public health organization both in the United Kingdom and the rest of the world.”
Begining in 1856 the British Public Health Medical Society was established which in 1892 was incorporated as the British Institute of Public Health, and in 1897 when Queen Victoria became the patron, the name was changed to Royal Institute of Public Health. In 1937, it merged with the Institute of Hygiene which was established in 1903.
Then in October of 2008 the two institutes: the Royal Institute of Public Health (RIPH) and the Royal Society of Health (RSH) merged to be come the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) to be “an independent campaigning and educational charity dedicated to improving and protecting the health of people… both in the United Kingdom and around the world.” [3]
Still in operation today it he longest-established public health organisation in the United Kingdom. It is incorporated by Royal Charter said to be “completely independent of government and of any special interest.” [4]