ABSTRACT Infographic showing a timeline of sanitation improvements in a rural English district, 1900 to 1975. This study examines the historical development of sanitation improvements in one English rural district, focusing on how service delivery evolved in relation to national economic growth, legislation and local municipal decisions. Using 75 years of Medical Officer of Health reports, the analysis shows that greywater drainage improvements preceded advances in human waste management. Between 1900 and 1950, the district transitioned from pit latrines to container-based sanitation (CBS). Initially, earth-treated pails were emptied onto gardens, but twice-weekly bucket-latrine collections soon became standard – a universal, free service prioritising the poorest villages. Sewerage first appeared in 1910 for a small number of settlements but only expanded widely after 1950, achieving near-universal coverage by the 1970s. We estimate that the district reached the SDG 6. 2 benchmark of safely managed sanitation around 1950, based on extensive CBS use. This transition occurred alongside economic growth from a GDP per capita of 7, 800 in 1900 to 11, 700 in 1950 (2020 USD), with near-universal sewerage reached at 21, 900 in 1975. The findings show that safely managed rural sanitation can be achieved through phased, long-term transitions and that CBS – now typically viewed as an urban service model – can play an important supportive role.
Franceys et al. (2026) studied this question.