ABSTRACT
England was inching along into change without paying much heed to the direction or rate of change. In the early ‘eighties Ireland, Egypt, and European affairs tended to sidetrack social issues in England. The realignment of parties over the Home Rule issue, the political eclipse of Sir Charles Dilke, and the defection of Chamberlain were further deterrents to consideration of social questions. The sanitary reforms achieved by Birmingham set new standards for the nation and showed what results could be accomplished by forthright social planning. In Birmingham, by the end of the ‘eighties, municipal ownership had been extended to include parks and gardens, museums, art galleries, libraries, baths, washhouses, technical schools, cattle markets, street railways, concert halls, piers, harbors, dispensaries, hospitals, and artisans’ dwellings. Extension of municipal powers inevitably brought questions about what kind of a government was going to exercise these powers.
