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Thomas Fresh was Liverpool's first public health officer, having been appointed Inspector of Nuisances by the Health of Towns Committee on 4 September 1844, more than two years before the celebrated appointment of Duncan as Britain's first Medical Officer of Health and Newlands as the first Borough Engineer. Even before that, Fresh was the officer responsible for environmental health interventions. He is often cited as the first environmental health practitioner. Although he gained a national reputation for his work, Fresh was undervalued at the time and his life and work have been underreported since. He had an eventful personal life. He was married three times and widowed twice. In his youth he spent four months on remand before being acquitted. He was a talented entrepreneur: he created a building society, a model farm and a residential settlement that today bears his name. However, he took on financial commitments that were beyond his means, resulting in his sudden and premature departure from public life.

References and notes

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Ashton J. The History of Public Health in Liverpool: upwards and onwards, pendulum or helix? In: The Poor Law and After. Liverpool Medical History Society and the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire; 1999, p.51. In John Ashton's introduction to the reprint of Frazer's Duncan of Liverpool (Preston; Carnegie, 1997, p2), he goes so far as to describe the trio as 'a partnership'... 'almost a cabal'!.
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Various papers in the Fresh file in the Cumbria Archive, including: Letter from Frederick James (son-in-law) to T Fresh Senior, ref Z2643-29-1/2/3, Solicitor's detailed accounts refs: Z643-11-1, Z643-18-1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 & Z643-30/1/2, Notice to Quit from Jane Stephenson (Sister of Fresh Senior) ref Z643-26-8, Note re Hunter and Jane Stephenson ref Z643-14-15, Demand from Mary Woodburn ref Z643-2-1; accessed at Cumbria Archive and Local Studies Centre, Barrow.
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Thomas Fresh (1803-1861), Inspector of Nuisances, Liverpool's first public health officer - Norman Parkinson, 2013

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Thomas Fresh was Liverpool's first public health officer, having been appointed Inspector of Nuisances by the Health of Towns Committee on 4 September 1844, more than two years before the celebrated appointment of Duncan as Britain's first Medical Officer of Health and Newlands as the first Borough Engineer.

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1844 - Thomas Fresh appointed Inspector of Nuisances
1847 Dr Duncan appointed Medical Officer
1848 James Newlands appointed Municipal Engineer

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The work of Chadwick (and others) lead to the creation of the Public Health Act 1848

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'Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain'.

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'Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain'.

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Although Public Health measures have existed throughout history, for many Public Health really starts with Chadwick's 'Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain' in 1842

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Winslow 1920 cited  Gatseva, P.D., Argirova, M. Public health: the science of promoting health. J Public Health 19, 205–206 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-011-0412-8

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"Public health, the art and science of preventing disease prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental, sanitation, personal hygiene, control of infectious diseases, and organisation of health services. " (Winslow, 1920)