ABSTRACT
In the early 1970s, with the triumph of rehabilitation as a method of procedure, it became customary to talk of a century of slum clearance. The years 1875-1975 do indeed neatly enclose the main period of clearance and associated redevelopment, although in other respects the story of the slum and its treatment might be started in the 1840s or perhaps the 1860s. Even beginning in 1875, however, it is evident that 1918 is a point well advanced in the history of the movement. This is important because the story of slums and redevelopment is one in which the historical element, the shaping of new policies in relation to an inherited set of preoccupations and constraints, is essential to any understanding. It is for this reason that a chapter has been included on developments preceding 1918. It is not intended to be a review of previous work, but simply to recall some of the main themes that are important in the inheritance of problems and remedies from the Victorian and Edwardian periods.
