When London Stank

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The ‘Great Stink’ - when the stench of untreated human and industrial waste was amplified by a particularly hot Summer - reached a peak on 15th July, 1858, when members of Parliament lead by Benjamin Disraeli rushed through an emergency cleanup bill, kickstarting a transformative revamp of London’s sewage system.

Prior to this, waste from factories, slaughterhouses, and households accumulated on the capital’s riverbanks, creating a thick, malodorous crust. Most Londoners believed that bad air caused illness, rather than the poisoned water itself - a misunderstanding which initially led people to simply cover their noses to avoid the stench.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal the desperate methods attempted by MPs in order to prevent the stench from entering the Palace of Westminster; marvel at the architectural ambition of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, chief engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works; and explain why the ‘miasma theory’ had gone unchallenged for centuries…

Further Reading:

• ‘Too hot? In 1858 a heatwave turned London into a stinking sewer’ (BBC News, 2018): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45009749

• ‘London's Great Stink’ (Historic UK): https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Londons-Great-Stink/

• ‘Bazalgette: Saviour of the Great Stink’ (): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k8AnhNkN04

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