April 2017

History hangout
Clean bill of health
deadly proximity of raw sewage
mixing with fresh water. It was
an impassioned depiction
motivating serious reaction.
He also identified the balance
between clean and fetid air
prevailing in typical buildings
that were inhabited in those
days.
He wrote: ”It might be useful if
those who have the making of
laws would visit such places to
glance at the thousands who
are crushed together and study
the circumstances under which
they are placed.
Stephen Selby pays tribute to the men
whose ingenuity brought clean water
and good health to Hackney
Hackney was a country village
on the outskirts of London until
150 years ago when work began
to develop the area into a vast
housing estate. Shoreditch and
Islington were already becoming
overcrowded – and the push for
building new homes became
an unstoppable feature of life.
Nothing has changed!
But in the days of our ancestors
their legacy was far worse –
too many poor people being
squeezed into cramped
conditions meant disease and
premature death were almost
inescapable. Lack of regular
nutritious food didn’t help but
premature demise was mostly
caused by lack of sanitation.
Cholera was common. In 1848-
49 it became an epidemic which
killed 14,137 people of all ages.
This was followed by another
outbreak which killed 10,378.
The basic solution was probably
first inspired by a journalist
named George Godwin
(1813-88). This bright and
most observant young man in
his early 20s is still unheard
of today but could probably
have won a Nobel Prize for his
contribution to prolonging life.
From unexpected beginnings,
writing for the Builder magazine,
Godwin produced a series
of articles which eventually
became a single publication
called Town Swamps and Social
Bridges.
This writer ventured below
ground to expose the
"The cubic space afforded is
less than 150ft per head. It
has been proved that each
person consumes about 14ft
of cubic air per hour. But when
the oxygen is not replaced
through lack of windows, the
air becomes charged with
poisonous matter."
Goodwin was not alone
in providing his detailed
observations establishing
the framework for future civil
engineering. Joseph Bazalgette
conceived the idea of a vast
sewerage system in central
London. This was eventually
built below the present Thames
embankment from 1865 and
took ten years to finish.
London had previously grown,
fulfilling housing needs without
any idea of the consequences
until it was too late. Livestock,
whether for butchery or cows
for milking, jostled amongst the
crowds as an everyday event.
People lived in rooms above the
animals and became unaware
of the stench that people today
would wince at.
12 LOVEEAST