Brick-making had been a local seasonal craft industry since the
early 1800s, but now there was an increasing demand for bricks to
build homes for Victorian Peterborough's growing
population. With the new method, mass production could take
place very cheaply, and the efficiency of the railways meant that
the brick yards could supply even the London builders. The
brick-making industry grew rapidly, with some small yards and some
very large ones, but by the mid 1920s they were nearly all
controlled by the London Brick Company.
The health and welfare of Peterborough's
citizens was improved by local charities and an enlightened
gentry. In 1816 a public dispensary opened, providing free
medical treatment for those who could not afford to pay a
doctor. Rural patients were accommodated at the newly built
infirmary in Priestgate, the first modern city hospital. Dr TJ
Walker, the new infirmary's surgeon from 1862 to 1906, was the
first Peterborian to be made a freeman of Peterborough in
recognition of his contribution to the city.
Under the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the very poor and the
very sick were no longer given help to stay in their own homes, but
had to be cared for in a workhouse by the local Poor Union. The Act
segregated men, women and children, and the Peterborough Board of
Guardians quickly realised that Wordey's workhouse, now almost a
hundred years old, would be unsuitable. A new workhouse was built
on Thorpe Road, and remained in use until the system was abolished
in 1930.
The Improvement Commissioners had done what they could to
develop the city, but in 1874 it became a municipal borough, able
to elect a Council of six aldermen and 18 councillors who would
agree and finance major developments. The Council bought the
'Chamber over the Cross' from the Feoffees, and renamed it the
Guildhall. Within five years, they constructed a new water and
sewage system, reorganised the police service and began the long
struggle to bring electric lighting to the city.
At around this time, a large number of new schools opened in the
city, joining those already established in the early 1800s. Some of
these were founded by Church groups to provide education for the
families of ordinary working people, while others were privately
run for children of the better-off.