'In no town in the kingdom do the extremes of cleanliness and squalor exist more than in Brighton'
Dr William Kebbell, 1848.

From the mid 1700s, Brighton became famous for its sea-water cure. But its slums were breeding-grounds for cholera, typhoid and smallpox.

The town became over-crowded in the 1840s and 50s. Few Victorians could afford doctors. Charities set up 'dispensaries' to provide free advice and medicine. Hospitals, funded by wealthy benefactors, struggled to meet demand. State medical help was only available to paupers in Brighton Workhouse (now Brighton General Hospital). The situation was transformed by the National Health Service Act in 1946. However, no new public hospitals have been built in the town for over 100 years.

	Intestinal Infections Caution Card, Brighton County Borough Mental Hospital, 1919.

In 1845, a new law required every county to build a mental asylum. Brighton Council was keen, perhaps wanting to keep people with mental health problems off the streets. The asylum opened in the countryside near Haywards Heath. Its progressive regime of work, education and leisure activities eventually suffered from over-crowding. From the late 1960s, policy shifted to 'care in the community', and St Francis Hospital (as it became) closed in 1995.

See objects on display in the Health section of Exploring Brighton gallery