nith, this antiquated and ineffective system was
superseded in Willenhall, as in many other places, by an elected Highway
Board, charged with the duty of looking after all highways and common
streets, ancient bridges, ditches, and watercourses. In a dilettante
sort of way this Board was also a sanitary body.

In 1734 Willenhall is recorded to have suffered from a plague called the
"Bloody flux," which carried away its victims in a very few hours after
the seizure. It is stated in the Parish Registers that there were buried
in this year 82 persons, which was 67 in excess of the previous year.
The population then was under 1,000.

Cholera and other epidemic scourges having made it apparent that beyond
preserving the peace and mending the roads, the paramount duty of local
self-government was to protect the people's health, Willenhall in 1854
showed itself alive to this fact by adopting the new Public Health Acts
and calling into being its first Local Board.

Nothing can convey an idea of the material blessings which resulted from
this better than a glance at the vital statistics relating to Willenhall.
The death-rate per thousand--

From 1845 to 1851 was 29
,, 1851 ,, 1860 ,, 26.8
,, 1861 ,, 1870 ,, 23.8
,, 1891 ,, 1900 ,, 20.2
,, 1901 ,, 1906 ,, 16.9

It was not till 1866, however, that the Board appointed its first medical
officer of health, Dr. Parke. He was shortly afterwards succeeded by Mr.
William Henry Hartill, and upon his death, in 1888, the present medical
officer of heath, Dr. J. T. Hartill, was appointed. The chief executive
officers in succession have been Mr. E. Wilcox (who was not a solicitor),
Mr. John Clark, and the present clerk, Mr. Rowland Tildesley, appointed
in 1894.

In the meantime the population, particularly in the newer outlying
districts, had been growing rapidly. The population of Willenhall at the
first national census in 1801 was only 3,143, and the growth in the early
decades was slow, as these figures disclose:

In 1811 the population was 3,523
,, 1821 3,965
,, 1831 5,834
,, 1841 8,695
,, 1851 11,933
,, 1861 17,256

With the growth thus becoming so rapid, it was thought desirable, in
1872, to erect Short Heath into a separate Sanitary Authority. The area
allotted to the Short Heath Board of Hea