London Stink

“THE GREAT STINK OF LONDON”
(1858)
Today, we'll discuss how the most apocalyptic odor in history

prompted a citywide transformation. This incident exemplifies the
perils of a lack of long-term planning and creative problem-solving
in the face of tragedy.
To put it simply, London is an astonishing metropolis. By the

1800s, it had already achieved global prominence. The River of
Thames was an important commercial thoroughfare. However,
there was a time bomb lurking in the background. About a million
people called London home during the 1800s, and by 1850, that
number had doubled. The problem of the population’s copiousness
has become critical. Those with lower incomes choose to remain in
densely populated districts close to the Thames River and their
neighbors. With more people comes more garbage and less room.
It was common for the affluent people to have indoor plumbing in
their airy, hilltop mansions. So, how did the impoverished really
feel? Most London homes included a privy during that era. If you
lived in the suburbs, it would be in your backyard; if you were in
the heart of London, it would be in your basement; if you were in
the slums, you would be using a public communal privy. Back
then, the poor inhabitants of London didn't have access to
plumbing or running water, so where would the human waste go?
A cesspool or a cesspit, typically 6 feet deep and enclosed by
bricks, into which human excrement is accumulated. Liquid
garbage would simply seep underground, and the residual solid
garbage, or "night dirt" as it was known in Victorian-era London,
would be collected by some of the most valorous individuals in
history. These are the men of the night, or the men of the dirt.
Nightly, they would have to stoop into the cesspits to empty the
waste. Why, then, do it at night? It’s likely because fewer people
might be sleeping, so the stench wouldn't bother them as much.
Human feces would be collected in baskets and taken to rural
areas where it would be sold to farmers in need of fertilizers.
However, there was a time when the flush toilet was widely
available and cheap, notably to the middle class. GREAT! Problem
solved right? NOPE. They also placed flush toilets directly above
the cesspits, which meant more liquid and solid waste. Since
plumbing wasn’t widely used back then, the cesspits became
repleted with waste of both the liquid and solid variety, and finally
the liquid waste flooded the basements when the bricks gave way.
IMAGINE THAT SMELL. To solve this issue, "plumbers" motivated
only by financial gain, devised the plan to link London's cesspits to
the city's main sewage system. VOILA! Problem solved again,
right? Definitely not. Rainwater, not human waste, was originally
intended to be collected by London's sewage system, and now all
drains into the river Thames. A cholera epidemic struck London in
1832. The prevalent notion at the time was that the outbreak was
caused by "Miasma," which literally translates to "becoming
debilitated because of the awful redolence." It took 20 years and
two more cholera outbreaks for an epidemiologist named Jon
Snow to realize that cholera was linked to drinking water. Then,
how did the original Londoners acquire their water? Yep. The
Thames River in London. The Thames River would be the last
destination for all of society's refuse. Waste from tidally affected
sections of the river may be swept to other parts of London, or it
may just remain in the river. The 30th of June 1858, was the first
day the government took any action. For London, this summer was
the warmest on record. The issue finally reached them at this
point. How? Not only was the smell revolting but it was also
sweltering hot. London smelled like a massive, unflushable, filthy
toilet as the waste in the river rose to the surface and mingled with
the heat. There were reports of individuals puking in the streets
due to the horrendous odor.
The scheduled pleasure trip along the Thames that Queen
Victoria planned to take never happened because she became too
uncomfortable. Most importantly, the smell spread inside the
House of Representatives. The scent was so bad that the
authorities had to leave their meetings. Because the wealthy have
now seen firsthand the struggles faced by the mass of the
population, they have chosen to take action. Joseph Bazalgette, an
engineer, proffered a solution to this problem when he suggested
constructing a sewage system consisting of around a thousand
miles of drains that would eventually feed into 82 miles of sewers
under London. He offered to create parks, promenades, and
aesthetically pleasing paths in order to conceal the sewers. In
current currency terms, that works out to around 17 billion pesos
(about $306 million). The administration, however, was skeptical
by his idea because of its high price tag. Benjamin Disraeli
intervened, procured the government to greenlight the projects,
and handled the bill's political and parliamentary details to ensure
its passage. He conceived up the method of monetary
compensation. Income tax rates will rise by one cent per year for
the next four decades. Ten years and twice the budget later, the
project is finally complete. Disraeli went on to become prime
minister, and Bazalgette was recognized for his role in
revolutionizing civil engineering in the years following the "great
stink." Crucially, the city's sewage system was able to rid London of
cholera and other terrible infections. That is how a horrible smell
gave birth to one of the world's most prominent and beautiful
cities.

London Stink

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

London Stink

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

London Stink

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

“THE GREAT STINK OF LONDON”

Today, we'll discuss how the most apocalyptic odor in history

To put it simply, London is an astonishing metropolis. By the

You might also like