Thursday 20 December 2012

Bazalgette's Job Application

Joseph Bazalgette would achieve lasting fame as the civil engineer who designed London's sewers. The document below is part of his 1849 job application for the post of Assistant Surveyor to the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers. (The MCS was the ultimately rather ineffectual body established at the urging of Edwin Chadwick in 1848, to resolve the sewer problem. It would be replaced by the more productive Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855, for whom Bazalgette would finally become chief engineer, and set London's sewerage to rights.)

Bazalgette chose to frame this application with a plan for improving the sanitation of the capital - not with sewers, but with public toilets. Sadly, he did not get the job. The vision of a capital replete with Bazalgette's dainty classical conveniences, situated at careful intervals throughout the city, is a marvellous one. Perhaps the happenny charge for toilet paper was not to Chadwick's liking.



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LETTER OF MR BAZALGETTE, C.E.,
ON
ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCES.
[Printed by Order of Court, 22nd March, 1849.]

24 GREAT GEORGE STREET, WESTMINSTER,
March, 1849.

DEAR SIR,

With a view to forward my application to the Commissioners of Sewers for the appointment of Assistant Surveyor under the Commission I have already placed in your hands the testimonials in my favour given by gentlemen whose opinions on engineering matters would command general confidence; but as I take it for granted that the Commissioners would be desirous of forming their own opinion as to the propriety of complying with my application, I shall feel obliged by your submitting to them this paper, with the accompanying plans, at the earliest proper opportunity.
     The subject which I have selected is one which appears to be of very great importance to the inhabitants of a large city, and the effectual carrying out of a scheme for affording to those who traverse its streets relief from frequent personal inconvenience and occasional pain, if not physical injury, would secure to the Commissioners the good-will of a large portion of its inhabitants. The recent sanitary inquiries are throwing so much light on many of the subjects now brought within the jurisdiction of the Commissioners, that I cannot presume to offer the following suggestions as perfect; but they may, perhaps, serve as a groundwork for  improvement. With this view I have considered the subject of establishing public water-closets and urinals throughout the metropolis, and will proceed with a description of the system proposed.
 
THEIR SITUATION.
 
Upon the accompanying map (*Wyld's Map of London) I have marked the positions in which I would propose to erect some of these buildings at first, leaving it for time to develope where their more extended adoption is required.
    At present there are but few urinals (mostly of a very primitive and insufficient kind) in existence, and as I conceive that the most profitable and effective management of such places would be accomplished by the combination of water-closets and urinals in one building, I have considered this city as at present destitute of any such accommodation, and have generally selected the foci of the main thoroughfares for their situation, and have placed them at such distances that, at the farthest, a man would have but a short walk to reach any one of them, varying this according to the density and character of the surrounding population and traffic through the streets.
    There is no map in existence large enough to define the exact spot where these buildings could be placed : and indeed the position of each one must be the result of particular local inquiry and treaty. The accompanying plan will suffice to show that these establishments can be arranged to occupy an exceedingly small space, in almost any position, so as to be at once conspicuous and inoffensive, or even ornamental if required.
 
THEIR CONSTRUCTION.
 
Plan, section, and elevation A represent one of these buildings at the side of a street containing a private and two public water-closets, and four urinals, with an office for the person in charge, as hereafter described. The surrounding walls are of brickwork, either solid or hollow ; the flooring and partitions of slate, supported upon iron girders placed across the top of a tank, excavated to receive the urine; to be lined with brickwork, and cased with tarrass cement or asphalte, furnished with a manhole, discharge pipe for pumping the urine into water-carts, and a waste pipe into the other drains. The closets and urinals to be covered by cisterns of slate or earthenware, which at the same time would serve the purposes of roofing and cleansing, to be supplied by the Commissioners or a Water Company, and furnished with a waste pipe connecting with the pans ; so that during any overflow from rains, &c., a constant scouring of the pans and pipes would occur, in addition to the flow of water arising from the use of the water-closets. The urinals should be cleansed by a copious flow of water from the tank down the wall into the drains every night and morning, or oftener if necessary ; the communication with the tank being first closed, so that the bulk of the fluid to be carted away should not be increased. The fittings of the private water-closet to be superior to those of the public; to be covered, as well as the keeper's office, with slate roofing : the remainder of the area to be left open, to admit light and air.
     Figures B, C, and D, on the plan represent plans of buildings of similar construction arranged to suit other situations most likely to arise in carrying out this system, such as the corner of a public building or the side of a churchyard.

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THEIR MANAGEMENT.
  
With a population among whom are some prone to commit breaches of good order and decorum it is difficult, to propose any plan which shall in itself be sufficient without taking into consideration its after management ; and as such management would form an important item of profit, it is proposed to farm these establishments like turnpikes, requiring the tenant to be constantly at his post within certain hours (after which the doors of the closets should be locked), and holding him responsible for the cleanliness and order of his charge. His situation would be such as to command a view of every one entering; the profit would arise from the sale of papers and the hire of private water-closets to those persons preferring them to the free use of the public ones, at a fixed rate of charge, and the receipt of fines in cases of nuisance or misdemeanour, which would give him a direct interest in maintaining good order and decorum.
     It is proposed to construct four large reservoirs situated in the north, east, south, and west suburbs of the metropolis, carefully constructed so as to avoid any possible annoyance, into which the urine should from time to time be deposited, and where it would be increased in value as a manure by fermentation, from whence it could be conveniently distributed to the surrounding farmers and market-gardeners, to be diluted and applied by them as required. The admixture of water adding so materially to the cost of carriage, the dilution of the urine has been avoided, believing that whilst contained in a close tank there would be little or no evaporation or escape of the ammonia; and it having been ascertained that gypsum in the proportion of one quarter to one eighth per cent. fixes the ammonia, it is proposed to use this material in the suburban reservoirs.
     Taking the contents of each town reservoir as shown in design A at 658 cubic feet, and assuming the constant use of the urinals for six hours per day, this reservoir would require emptying every two months into one of the suburban reservoirs, each of these receiving the contents of one-fourth, or fifteen, of the town reservoirs. Retaining it for six months, they would require to be sixty feet long, fifty feet wide,
and ten feet deep, containing 30,000 cubic feet.

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THEIR PROFIT.
 
This would arise from two sources, viz,, their management and the sale of the contents of the tank, to ascertain the probable amount and value of which I have made the following observations. At a urinal at the Royal Exchange, accommodating three persons at one time, there were counted from
 
10 to 10 30 A.M.  50 persons
1 30 to 2 P.M       90 persons {this being the greatest number the place could accommodate in the time occupied}
7 30 to 8 P.M.       61 persons

At the back of the Bank, with accommodation for two persons at one was time, the number observed from  2 to 2 30 P.M  was sixty, being the greatest  number the place could accommodate.
    At the back of the National Gallery, with accommodation for four persons at one time, the number observed was
  
From 9 30 to 10 A.M. 28 persons.
12 to 12 30 P.M.     86 persons
7 45 to 8 15 P.M.   80 Persons

At the Mansion-house, with accommodation for two persons at one tine, the numbers were

From 9 30 to 10 A.M. 26 persons.
2 to 2 30 P.M.    54 persons
8 to 8 30 P.M.    35 persons

At the corner of Hyde Park, with accommodation for four persons, the number observed was

From 10 to 10 30 A.M 50 persons.
7 45 to 8 15 P.M. 46 persons

In estimating the size of the reservoir, a continuance of the greatest possible traffic (as shown by the above observations) is assumed for twelve hours per day ; and taking the average deposit of urine at half-a-pint per individual (ascertained upon medical authority), the four urinals would produce twenty-six cubic feet per diem. A reservoir of the area shown upon the plans, five feet deep, would require emptying every twenty-five days. It is probable, however, that this is taking an extreme view of the case, and that with the extended accommodation afforded by these conveniences, the reservoir would contain the fluid for double that time.
    Taking this more moderate view of the case, and assuming that each urinal is only occupied four hours each day, we have four hundred and eighty pints per day. The average quantity of urine discharged by each individual in the twenty-four hours being three pints, the accumulation of this deposit has been valued by Professor Johnson at six shillings per annum for each person. We lave, then, as the value of the produce of the four urinals, forty-eight pounds per annum. This sum appears large, and it is possible that but a small portion, or even no part of it, would at once be realised. It would probably be necessary to establish its value by conveying it to the farmers and market-gardeners at prices scarcely remunerating for the outlay and plant for removing. This would require an agent, whose business it should be to secure its extended trial in comparison with other manures. If, however, such authority as that of Professor Johnson, supported by others, is to be relied upon and the scheme properly worked, there can be no doubt that the result must eventually prove a decidedly profitable speculation.
    In proof of this, the experiments made by M. Maxime Paulet, described in his work " Theorie et Pratique des Engrais," shoving the following results, are offered, the weights and measures used by M. Paulet being reduced to the English standard.
    M. Paulet takes the quantity of azote (nitrogen) contained by the manure as determining its value, and assumes as a standard of comparison farm-yard manure, which contains four per mille of azote, 35.288 lbs. of azote being required to manure one acre of land.

This would require of—

Good farm-yard manure 8820 lbs.
Human urine not having undergone fermentation - 4939 lbs.
Poudrette of Montfaucon - - - - 1,985 lbs.
Mixed human excrements and blood from the abattoirs - 1175 lbs.
Bones- - - - - - -  173 lbs.
Guano, average taken from two specimens - - 452 lbs.
Urine in a state of fermentation, and imperfectly dried, from the public urinals - - - - 205 lbs.

The comparison between this latter and good firm-yard manure being as one to forty-three; bones, one to two and four-fifths; and guano, as one to two and one-fifth.

Assuming that only 60 people use the waterclosets in 24 hours, two-thirds of them purchasing paper at one halfpenny each - £0 1 8 per day
One-third pay 2d. each for a private water-closet - 0 3 4
[total] 0 5 0
Or per annum - - - - 91 5 0
Deduct keeper's wages, 25s. per week - 65 0 0
Leaving a clear profit from this source of - 26 5 0
To which may be added fines.

In the following estimate of the cost of constructions of these buildings I have assumed the use of the best materials at the current prices of the day; but considering the improvements and economy now in progress through the efforts of this Commission and others, I have no doubt that they will be constructed at a smaller
cost.

ESTIMATE OF URINALS &c.

Excavation, 49 yards at 2s. £4 18 0
Brickwork, 1 10/11 rods reduced work 11l. 10s     21 19 0
Cement lining to tank, 43 yards at 2s 6d    5 7 6
Tile paving, coping to ditto     4 4 0
Iron girders, 6cwt at 10s    3 0 0
Slate paving, at per foot super 1s 4d.     6 17 6
Slate partitions, cisterns, &c. at 1s 8d    14 14 5
Weather boarding and lining to office    6 18 8
Bringing on water     5 0 0
Roofing, flooring, doors, windows, pans, drains, and fittings, complete, taken out in detail    23 3 9
Total   £96 2 10

Having seen a liquid manure cart, built for a gentleman at Banstead in Surrey, containing 505 gallons, being about eighty-one cubic feet, or (taking urine as equal in weight to salt water, at sixty-seven pounds to the cubic foot) 2½ tons, which is one-eighth part of the town reservoir; therefore, assuming that each of these carts would on the average make two journeys per day from the town to the suburban reservoirs, it would take one cart four days to empty each town reservoir, which, if required every two months, would give regular employment to one cart and three horses for each suburban reservoir.
    According to Professor Johnson's standard of the value of urine, it is worth 9s. 2d. per ton ; and one of these carts would contain about 23s. worth of urine.

GENERAL ESTIMATE

Construction of 60 urinals £6000
Ditto 4 suburban reservoirs and stables 4000
Purchase of 6 water carts at 30l. each 180
Purchase of 12 horses and harness at 30l. 360
Purchase of pumps, hose, &c. 160
Total 10,700
Contingencies, 10 per cent. 1,070
Total: £11,770

Annual Working Expenses
Keep of 12 horses at 10s each per week £312
Wages of 8 men at 20s each per week 416
Wear and tear of horses, carts &c. taken at 20 per cent £144
Supervision, offices, printing &c. 728
Total £1,600

In the above estimate, provision is made for removing the produce of the urinals taken at six hours per day; but in estimating their produce as worth 48l. per annum, it has been calculated at only four hours per day; which is, in fact, deducting one-third from the revenue which might be realised without addition to the estimated capital and working expenses.

Taking, therefore, the produce of sixty urinals at 48l. per annum each  £2,880
From which deduct working expenses - - - 1,600
There is left a balance of profit of - - - £1,280
being more than 10 per cent. upon the capital of 11,770l from this source alone.
    Until, however, the attention of manufacturers, dyers, farmers, and gardeners has been called, and a free demand established for this article, there is a source of revenue to be derived from the use and management alone of these establishments as before shown, yielding 26l. 5s. each per annum  .... £1,575
Deduct 10 per cent. for wear and tear - - £600
Deduct for management, &c. - - - 375
 975
Leaving a profit of - - - - £600
or 5 per cent, upon a capital of 12,000l. upon the worst view of the case; showing the speculation, therefore, a safe one.

    Upon the map of London I have marked the situations for about sixty of these buildings, considering that the carrying out this scheme, including the construction of the four suburban reservoirs and the purchase of water-carts, would require a capital of from ten to twelve thousand pounds. Should the Commissioners approve of the plan and give it their support, I have no doubt of being able to find a few individuals who would be willing to undertake the scheme as speculation at their own expense, under the general supervision of the Commission; the. Commissioners giving power to build upon the spots selected, assuming that the buildings would generally be erected on land already devoted to the public, and that, for the sake of securing a great public benefit, the Commissioners would not find any serious impediment offered by other authorities; the Company sharing the profit with the Commission, after realising say ten per cent. upon the outlay, or  some similar arrangement to be the subject of future decision.

     I am, &c
          J.W.BAZALGETTE
                Mem. Inst. C.E.

A Letter to Edwin Chadwick

Richard Kelsey was the City of London Surveyor, who felt himself much maligned by both the comments of John Roe (his equivalent in Holborn) and Edwin Chadwick's sarcastic commentary, recorded in Chadwick's famous 1842 report on sanitation. He believed, probably quite rightly, that Chadwick was angling to centralise the ancient Commissions of Sewers and using very selective evidence to go about it. This is his forty page response, written direct to Chadwick. For those of you interested in sewers and lost rivers (well, the Walbrook) there is some useful information. For those of you with more normal enthusiasms, skip the sewers and just enjoy some of the language, particularly the beginning and end - "There, dog! each your undeserved crust, and be thankful!"

My attention having been directed to a Report upon the Sanitary condition of the Labouring classes, drawn up by you, presented by the Poor Law Commissioners, and, by the Rt Hon the Secretary of State, laid before both Houses of Parliament in July 1842. I have carefully read it and, while as a member of Society, I can admire the able manner in which so momentous a subject has been arranged; yet, as an individual whose professional character has, under Providence, hitherto been his means of subsistence, I feel myself deeply injured; and injury the more deeply, because that, unless you will devise some method of making this my defence co-extensive with an accusation which has been spread over the whole realm, I am left without redress.
Although I may feel that there is a tone in your remarks which none of the circumstances justify, I yet must acquit you of any deliberate intention to injure me personally, because that you do not know me, and because that you must have been misled by assertions upon which you too readily relied. Still I do feel that, as my good friend Mr. Tite, and Mr. Thomas Piper Junior did me the honour of saying that, if you wanted any information as to the City Sewers, I was best qualified to give it you; and telling me that I might expect to be called upon by you; it is exceedingly unfortunate for me that you did not avail yourself of that opportunity, which would have saved me from wanton or malignant injury, and you from the painful sense (doubly painful to a man of station and of honourable feeling) of having been made the instrument of wrong.
If it were a common case, I could not expect you to devote time to read this paper: but I have been injured and by your instrumentality. That, I doubt not, must give me a claim upon your time, your attention and your justice: and, I trust you will not disappoint my expectation by throwing it aside for another day.
In page 317 of the Report is this passage: "as regards the appointment of Surveyors to the Commissioners of Sewers, I would observe that, in my opinion, very few of them are properly qualified by education or otherwise to perform the important duties entrusted to them, in an effective and proper manner.
In page 55 you say, Mr. Roe "is perhaps the only officer having the experience and qualifications of a Civil Engineer."
And in page 317, this is followed up thus "but in the structural arrangement, in only one commission do any of the works executed approach the existing state of Science.". "In that one, the Holborn and Finsbury trust, they happened to obtain a Surveyor, having science and practical experience as an Engineer, whose advice was acted upon and that officer effected the only considerable improvements of a Scientific character that have been made in the Sewerage of the Metropolis.
As to the general defamation of the Metropolitan Surveyors of Sewers, conveyed in your words, the names and works of such men as Joseph Swift, Edward Plimsoll, John Newman, James Walker (I recite them alphabetically) are sufficient to refuse this imputation sought to be cast upon them. Had they only been Lady's maids, they must be this time, by the very nature of their land, have perforce been converted into Civil Engineers; but they are and were educated, and will remain well known and highly  respected as Architects and Engineers, and not one word which I could use would either add to or diminish their repute: It is therefore sufficient that I, who am but a pigmy, should defend myself; and in so doing justify my masters.
With respect to my qualifications: I lay claim to no higher professional epithet than that of Surveyor.
I do not call myself an Architect, yet was I brought up in an Architect's office. During four years I prepared most of the construction drawings of an extensive public building. I have perpetrated a little Architecture and, if report be true, George the Fourth said "I am much obliged to one of my subjects for setting up so pretty an object for one to look at."  In three successive years I obtained rewards for my Architectural compositions, the last constituting a Gold Medal, Life Student of the Royal Academy.
I do not call myself a Civil Engineer, although it so happens I have had to amend the work of a Civil Engineer of no mean repute, whose name I will not mention, only because that I cannot but suppose he had been egregiously deceived by his workmen. But I will ask you, Sir, to hear what my Sewers works say for themselves.
Immediately that there was a prospect of obtaining an outlet to the Thames at London Bridge, my master and predecessor in office, proposed its construction. It was carried from the then margin of the River and branched towards Gracechurch Street and Cannon Street, with the intention of taking the then only open road to intersect the Town ditch at Bishopsgate, which line would have required a depth of at least fifty feet at the high level of Cornhill. Upon his retirement in November 1832, I was unanimusly chosen to fill his place. It became needful to carry the mouth of this Sewer out to the intended new line of embankment, in front of the new Adelaide Hotel. I knew that I had the eyes of Engineers upon me. I laid my plan, after my own fashion. I carried forward my work one hundred and thirty four feet in length, into the River, and that in deepish water, and having to cut through the Standings of old London bridge, and to contend against the Stream through three arches, without a coffer dam, and while the Gentlemen, in mere frolic, were running down to the shore, daily looking for my failure; got myself out of danger and finished it. That it has not been done very unskilfully, or very unsoundly, is somewhat attested by the state of the buildings which have been placed upon it.
Immediately that ti was decided to form a Street up to the Mansion House, I took my resolution to abandon my predecessor's intended main line, and to strike at once into the hollow ground of Moorfields. Acting upon my advice the Commissioners authorized me so to do. It was no very plain sailing, under and through old foundations at a depth of more than forty feet, but it was done. My next line was in Princes Street. There I encountered one of the most formidable obstacles I ever wish to meet, in bog land to a depth of thirty two feet, full of piling and decayed vegetable matter reduced to a state approximating to clay, mixed with still discernible grass and roots. The drainage of this soil and its consequent compression under the weight of the buildings, severely fractured the Clerk's residence at Grocer's Hall, and the Company sued the Commission. After lengthened litigation it was decided, upon argument before the Judges, in favour of the Commissioners, because their work was necessary to be done, and they had done it in "a skilful, proper and workmanlike manner, in all respects." This work was executing [sic] by tunnelling but as a large portion of the Bank of England stood upon the same kind of soil, and its planking and sleepering were rotten, and their land full of water, the Directors under the advice of Mr. Cockerell, and Sir Robert Smirke, and Mr. George Rennie, requested it might be open-cut. I felt that open cutting was of the two attended with more risk: but the Commission deferring to the desire of the Bank, directed me so to do. The manner in which I proposed to effect this was submitted to those Gentlemen; and in allusion to it, Sir Robert is reported to have said, "He is building a wall of brass".
Completing this, I next ran along Moorgate Street and at its head intercepted the County waters coming from the City road. Allowing the work to rest some months so as to let the boggy ground under Finsbury Circus get gradually dry, I next passed along London wall into Broad Street, there intersecting the Town ditch. Thence I deepened the bed of the Ditch into Bishopsgate Street, and so provided an additional discharge for the County waters from Bishopsgate without and gave relief to the Irongate Sewer.
After a  further pause for the additional drying of the bog; at the express request of the Holborn and Finsbury Commission, and unaided by them, it was directed to be continued to Queen Square in Elder Street at as great a depth as possible to catch their West Long Alley Sewer. Beyond that point they asked nothing. I, however, thought that was not the fit place to stop at, and therefore carried it on to Wilson Street and up to the limit of the City Commission, and there finished it at a depth of twenty feet, being eleven feet eleven inches below the former level.
It may be said that all this exhibits no proof of Engineering ability. True Sir. But when I tell you that my attempt to give to the land, as far as I could, an ample equivalent for the long destroyed and forgotten streamlet named "the Walbrook" was attended by this (to me) highly gratifying result; that my water bed not only cut but eighteen inches above the ancient water bed of the Walbrook where  it had crossed Princes Street; but at Little Moorgate it ranged only two inches aboev the floor of a Roman Culvert, the mouth of which I haced [?]  out and found it cut to the slope of the ditch of the massive fortification of which it was an accessory (this ruin was probably earlier than the time of Antoninus) and at Rose and Crown Court up to the queen Square it fell somewhat below the shingly bed of the ancient stream, long buried in the accumulated bog land: I cannot but fancy you will allow there must be some little engineering qualification in a man, whose untaught judgment as to what was fittest to be done, led him so nicely to hit the proper level for the drainage of a country as to coincide with that of Nature.
I know that this is egotistical. My accuser forces me to be so. But the accusation of unskillfulness comes with an ill grace frrom an Officer of that Commission which has benefitted so largely by my work as, if common report speak truly, to be able now to obtain a drainage twelve feet in depth for the low land at Holloway, in preparation for which a Sewer has already been driven by them as far as to Old Street road.
I rest my claim not to the epithet Civil Engineer; that I neither affect nor covet; for I have always called myself by the title of my office only, and seek no other; but I do claim to be exempted from the censure of not possessing so much of the qualification of a Civil engineer as fits me for that office; judgment to plan, and ability to execute what I have planned so as fully to ensure the attachment of my masters' object: and I rest my claim upon this work especially, because the discovery of ancient water beds indisputably prove it to have been correctly devised
I have executed several lines of Sewage besides this. I do not however appeal to them as proofs of my judgment because that in them there are none of the everlasting marks of Nature to corroborate me. Let the person who seeks to defame me put his finger of  censure upon either, and I am prepared to defend it, certain that, if I have erred, it is generally on the side of depth, and capacity, and stability.
In page 374, Mr. Roe having said that his Commissioners "now adopt a series of levels suited for the lowest outlets of the surrounding districts" being asked 'Have you heard of any alterations made in the surrounding districts on the same principle' answers "I have heard of none as adopted generally. The City have lowered some of their outlets."
In page 309, you caustically observe that "The Surveyor of the City Sewers speaks in a tone of grievance and oppression, that the waters of the County would run into the municipal jurisdiction" &c
And in page 310 "It need scarcely be pointed out that this municipal division had until they chose to drain operated as a barrier to all the water described, which was kept back to the injury of the County" &c.
I am persuaded you could not have adopted these sarcastic expressions had you not been quite in the dark as to the facts: and your right feeling will lead you to regret having so done. The facts are simply these.
The City, within the ancient walls, fell from a general central ridge all ways into its ditch and into the River Thames, and into Turnmill brook, being only cut through by the depressed track of the Walbrook. The line of Bishopsgate Street without falls bodily northward, so as that Spital Square is about level with Eastcheap: while Aldgate High Street falls wholly Eastward. With such a formation of surface it is quite clear that no portion of the land to the Northward and Eastward would have drained naturally into the City, but the waters must have flowed from it. Artificially they have been thrown into the City by the Bishopsgate Street Sewer whose current is the contrary of that of the surface; and, if justice and any body of men have any community of feeling, Justice would have told the Commissioners of Holborn and Finsbury that too much water ought not to have been poured into an outlet afford to them in kindness: and I fancy you will see that it is a little unfair in you to attempt at holding me up to ridicule as if I were to silly as to complain of water taking its natural course, downward.
With respect to the watercourse of the Walbrook, it is very different. That was a natural water bed. The dust of ages has long slumbered over the causes which destroyed this once beautiful streamlet. That it was intentionally obstructed there can be no doubt; and my strong impression is, that it was so obstructed at a time co-eval with if not anterior to Roman conquest (for most Roman relics lie high above its bed) for the express purpose of spreading its water over the land, as a protection. The bog was thus formed; and because that the whole water could not be for ever retained a trench was left to carry off that which was superfluous. This trench became the common Sewer and was only fourteen feet below the present surface in Princes Street, to its paved bottom, while the water bed of the natural stream was at the same point thirty two feet three inches below the present surface.
So far had the County been injured but unknown centuries before Commissioners of Sewers existed. In process of time, as London increased, more waters were thrown into these wretched Sewers than they could contain.
The Commissioners of the City knew it and were desirous of alleviating the evil. In 1773 4&5 they carried a new line of Sewer from Dowgate dock to Cripplegate Church, at as great as depth I doubt not as they dared to go. It was the utmost remedy they could then apply, and, anxious as they were to effect a perfect cure, your own knowledge of the narrow irregular streets and alleys formerly lying between London wall and the Thames must shew you that to carry a capacious Sewer that way was as nearly impossible as any thing of the kind could be. In 1804 they sought for an outlet at the Old London Bridge; but could they have passed between Saint Magnus Church and the Bridge, who would have dared to cut a deep and wide trench in front of the Monument!
Notwithstanding this, the buildings and drainage of the County greatly increased; and, realizing the fable of the Wolf and the Lamb, the County Commissioners of former days vituperated those of the City for flooding them.
Immediately that the hand of improvement began to work my predecessor eagerly seizing the first opportunity commenced an adequate Main line. I conducted it into Moorfields. Having effected that, and obtained effectual relief there the Commissioners acting upon my advice and without waiting to be asked, ran along Red Cross Street, and to the City boundary in Golden lane, offering an outlet fifteen feet nine inches in depth. Passing thence along Bridgwater Gardens and Fan Street with one line, and along the upper end of Aldersgate Street to the Bars with another, they not only presented the Holborn and Finsbury Commission with two outlets each sixteen feet in depth, but allowed every one who chose it, whether in the City or not, to have drainage into their Sewer. At Leather Lane they opened another line up to the City boundary thirteen feet deep, and had the County wished it they might have had eighteen feet. At Glasshouse Yard Aldersgate Street, another branch was carried up to the boundary at Sixteen feet in depth. Of all these the Holborn and Finsbury Commission have availed themselves; and in return they have carried a branch from the Fleet ditch to the City boundary in West Street.
It cannot be very indecorous to ask if it be quite fair of Mr. Roe to slur these liberal works over in the words "the City have lowered several of their outlets". And, had not your mind been poisoned, you never could have used the sneering expression "until they chose to drain." In fact, they not merely "chose to drain" they anxiously sought for and embraced the earliest time at which improved drainage was possible, and having relieved themselves, at once tendered a helping hand to their suffering neighbours.
Again, Sir, at the suggestion of their incompetent Surveyor, the City Commission rebuilt the line of Sewer in Holborn, but instead of merely renewing the "Old Bourne" some seven feet in depth, their new level was taken at a depth of eighteen feet. The adjacent Commission when applied to at the time said they wanted not additional depth, had they asked for thirty or forty feet, they would have had it.
Eastward - the City Commission carried as deep at Sewer as they could to Whitechapel bars, where it is fifteen feet ten inches deep and subsequently in conjunction with the Tower Hamlets Commission passed through the whole length of Petticoat Lane and Sandy's Row, thus draining a sad place, which before was almost utterly destitute. Indeed, wherever there was a point at which their Sewers could be made beneficial there did they work, and made a gratuitous and unrequested and, as it now turns out, ill-requited offer of aid.
Nor have their confined their exertions to the boundaries. The Sewage line has been made complete, including new and old Sewers from Temple bar, and along the River to Tower Hill. Another line has been completed from Saint Paul's Church Yard nearly to Tower Hill. Another has been finished from Holborn Bars to Whitechapel bars. That from Aldersate Street in an irregular line to Aldgate has been carried out. Various lines from North to South have been built; and although one cannot yet say that not a Street, or Court, or Alley in the City is without drainage; there is fair ground for hope that much time will not elapse before it can be said.
Having, I trust, shewn that upon the question of the fittest level for drainage a given tract of land, the Surveyor to the City Commission is not grievously wanting in skill; and that as an officer, and as a Citizen (in the largest sense of the word) he has constantly kept an open eye for any chance of benefitting not merely the City but all the lands adjacent: I address myself to those exclusive claims for improvements set up by Mr. Roe, the truth of which alone could justify your observation that the Holborn and Finsbury Commission have "effected the only considerable improvements of a scientific character, that have been made in the Sewers of the Metropolis".
In pages 57 and 376 Mr. Roe says "The prevalent practice is to join Sewers at angles, frequently at right angles." "The Commissioners of the Holborn and Finsbury divisions agreed to require that the curves in Sewers passing from one Street to another shall be formed with a radius of not less than twenty feet." the which radius I take to be that which describes what he terms "the true curve."
As this is question of dates, it is to be observed Mr. Roe says, page 373, that he had acted as Surveyor of Sewers "nearly four years" but the date of his examination is not given.
In the confined streets of the City of London there is very little opportunity for obtaining any curve, but we can see what the Commissioners officers, and their predecessors have done in this small way.
In 1668 the mouth of the Sewer in Fleet Street was built in a waved line: and that of Fetter Lane started off at a very acute angle, better than any curve.
In 1692, the curve of the Sewer in King Street Cheapside at the junction with Cateaton Street was struck by a radius of eighteen feet.
In 1769 and 1806 the communication of the Sewers of Threadneedle Street and Cornhill with the trench line were formed the one with a  curve of nineteen feet radius, the other with a large sweep cutting in at an acute angle.
In 1774 the Sewer from Charlotte row into the Poultry was built to a radius of nineteen feet, that from the Poulty into the Old Jewry with a radius of fourteen feet six inches, that from the Old Jewry into Coleman Street in a waved line formed by two radii of eighteen feet and thirty four feet and in 1775 that from Coleman Street into Fore Street has a curve of eleven feet six inches radius.
In 1783 the Main Sewer of Aldersate street was turned into the end of Little Britain with a quadrant of thirteen feet radius. At the end of Long Lane in Smithfield the Sewer sweeps to a forty two feet radius, that in Snow Hill to a eighty feet radius, and a much older line in Snow Hill is curved to a fifty six feet radius.
In 1794 the Sewer from South Street into South Place was turned with a quadrant curve of twenty five feet radius, and in 1814 the connexion of the Sewer in Elder Street with the Sewer from South Street out into it at a sharp angle.
Nor has practice slept:
In 1831 were the branches formed at the head of the main trunk of King William Street, in plan like the bite of a leech, the three angles being equal and meeting in the centre.
In 1835, the head of the Sewer in Aldgate High Street was branched with two curves of thirty feet and thirty seven feet radius, sweeping towards Petticoat Lane and Somersett Steet.
In 1836, at the head of Red Cross Street, the branches were swept in a similar way by radii of eighteen feet six inches and twenty eight feet towards Beech Street and Barbican.
Indeed, Sir, I should weary you if I were to state every instance of curved junctions. Suffice it to say that in all the line from London Bridge up to Wilson Street Moorfields, in that throughout Cheapside into Newgate Street and Saint Martin's-le-Grand, and in every other Sewer built by me, have the junctions been made ni curved lines wherever it has been in any way practicable.
Mr. Roe well knows the Cutwater [?]  which I formed to throw the water in equal quantities into the double line of Sewer in Farringdon Street. Mr. Donaldson and Mr. Angell, both architects of no mean rank, were pleased to term it my beautiful work. I fancied it to be little more than an every day affair, and in this and all other similar things felt but the pleasure of the eye in contemplating a nicely flowing line, little thinking it to be an achievement in Civil Engineering: and I dare venture to say my poor predecessors thought no more of their great and good deeds.
Again, as to the claim to the origination of a new sectional form for Sewers:
In page 378 are given cuts of the "Westminster Sewer" and of the new, egg shaped Sewers of the Holborn and Finsbury divisions; and in page 373 Mr. Roe says "In the City they have built some of their Sewers in a form nearly similar to those adopted in the Holborn and Finsbury divisions; that is, approaching to semicircular." "Most new Sewers are making an approach to the better form by having segments."
The inference intended to be conveyed necessarily being that the City and other places have stolen without acknowledgement Mr. Roe's invention of form four or five years old.
If memory serve me rightly, some French Architect or 'Ingenieur' several years back wrote an essay recommending egg-shaped Sewers; and it also happens that the facts and dates in respect to the City and other Sewers are sorely against his claim.
In 1756 Mr. George Dance directed the first Sewer built by the Commissioners for the City, in Aldermanbury Postern. This indeed was built with a flat bottom but
In 1775 and 1778 the Sewer of Bishopsgate Street without was built with a semicircular top and bottom and in 1795 a Mr. Stevens Totton claimed "satisfaction to be made him as the first proposer of a plan for constructing Sewers, barrelled at bottom in the nature of a reverse arch." because that the  City Commission had so built the sewer in this street. Upon enquriy, it was however ascertained that Mr. George Wyatt, being appointed Surveyor, in 1768; in 1769 a drain was allowed to be made across the Minories, upon condition that it be made with a circular bottom. Mr. Jacomb, in 1769 also had leave to build a sewer in Dowgate, with a concave bottom, as had the Inhabitants of Snow Hill upon like condition; and, as in 1756, Ware published his "Compleat body of Architecture" giving sections of Sewer and drains built with inverted arches as executed in the Horse Guards, it was presumed that George Wyatt and other Surveyors must have been fully acquainted with the advantages of such construction; and Mr Stevens Tottons claim was rejected.
In 1777 the Sewer on the west side of the then Quarters of Moorfields was built under the direction of George Wyatt and in 1779 it was continued up to Tindals burial ground (now Bunhill Fields). This Sewer has straight sides and a semicircular top and bottom.
In 1782 the Main Sewer of Smithfield was built, in part circular in part in Ellipsis.
In 1783, the Sewer in Aldersgate Street was built with inclined sides; that is, it is a close approximation to the Egg shape!
The Old Town ditch Sewer under Newgate is ciruclar.
George Wyatt abnd his successor Nathaniel Wright built all their Sewers with semicircular bottoms, many of them set in Tarras: and so did his successor Samuel Acton, until, in the last years of his holding office, and when in consequence of his ill health, I had more of the controul [?] in my own hands.
In 1829 the Main Sewer from London Bridge was began. This is an ellipsis ten feet high and eight feet wide. My main reason for making it elliptical was that it had to pass beneath the land piers of the Bridge, where the greatest strength was required. It was a beautiful form and I continued it only varying in size up to Londno wall, where it is eight feet three inches high, and six feet nine inches wide.
In 1832 the Sewers of Pauls Wharf, Bennets Hill, Godliman Street, Little Carter Lane, Old Change and Watling Street and Great Knight rider Street were all built elliptical.
In 1833, the Sewer along Holborn was rebuilt. It is elliptical and hard by the Sewers Office in Hatton Garden.
I should have continued to build them in that form, but I found that owing to the very regularity of its curvature rendering it difficult for the eye readily to detect any variation in its dimensions, while filled with workmen and centering, my Clerks of the Works were open to deception. I reverted to the Egg shaped with bevelled sides because that, the top and bottom being semicircular could not be varied much, and the most careless or cunning workman could not well leave out a whole course of bricks in the side wall, without direct detection.
I however built the Fleet ditch Sewer in New Farringdon Street elliptical and horizontal; but by gradually flattening the invert as I approached the County acquired my Current.
But my predecessors and myself have no exclusive credit in all this. An unfortunate Surveyor of Sewers, but nevertheless, one before whose talents and gentlemanly principle Ditraction [sic] herself would stand dumb; in 1849 built many hundred yarsd of elliptical Sewers, five feet three inches high and four feet six inches wide, in the Surrey division; from the River Thames near to Battle Bridge Stairs through the Maze, Western Street, and Snows fields to the Borough High Street, and thence to Stone's end, under circumstances of such trying difficulty that he was obliged to form a large portion of the invert in Cast Iron; and I shrewdly suspect that every new Sewer in that whole division has a semicircular invert.
In the teeth of all this, Mr. Roe says, page 373, " as far as I am informed they are built with upright walls. I know none but the New Sewers in Holborn and Finsbury divisions that are built with curved sides."
In page 376 Mr. Roe says "Under the prevalent system the gullies and shoots are formed so as to retain deposit, on the principle that it is cheaper to get the deposit out of those than out of the Sewers." but that the Holborn and Finsbury Commissioners "have also adopted a new description of Gulley and Shoot which I proposed to them, for the purpose of conveying the whole of the deposit into the sewers".
In the whole City there is but one Gulley the refuse from which is prevented getting at once into the Sewer. That is in Rose Street Newgate Market. There were two others in Gracechurch Street which had cesspools and vertical gratings, to intercept the broken hay upon the Coach stand, and one in Aldgate High Street. But these were so repeatedly choake that they have been destroyed.
I, following with some amendment, as I conceive, the example of my predecessors, ever have formed the gullies and shoots so as at once to discharge the water from the Streets into the Sewers. There is not, nor ever has been the slightest intentional obstacles in the way. But it is really somewhat amusing as regards Mr. Roe's claim to great credit for this one of "the only considerable improvements of a scientific character" that the City Commissioners and their stolid Surveyor were most loudly and indecently reprobated by Doctor Birkbeck, for their dogged obstinacy in not forming cesspools, at the head of every gulley shoot.
I have placed his flaps in more than a thousand gullies to keep the stench away from the houses, and ventilating grates in the manholes to allow the escape of inflammable gas from the Sewers.
Whenever an old carriageway has to be repaved, the Commissioners insert new gullies wherever they may be needed and in layign down a new Sewer, the gullies are generally placed in pairs at every hundred or hundred and fifty feet in length, and my Masters do this, because they are Commissioners of Pavements, as well as Commissioners of Sewers. I feel very doubtful if so much can be said of even the Holborn and Finsbury divisions in respect to their systematic provision for surface drainage.
Having so far set square these claims to credit for structural improvements and "put the saddle upon the right horse" I may almost strive to felicitate myself with the hope that as those are termed "considerable improvements" and "of a scientific character" and that as they are clearly shewn, if not assuredly to have originated in, to have been so fostered for very many years by the City Commission, as to have become their own, by adoption, some little ray of the scientific halo may be accorded them; or that, at the least, they may be exempted from the reproach of supineness.
Mr. Roe makes however one true claim and that is to systematically cleansing Sewers by them with water. Not that it is altogether new. It had, before his time, been done surreptitiously by Contractors for cleansing the Sewers; who, having had their easing measured to them as it lay in the Sewer, were interested to escape the cost of the hoisting and cartage and cared little where the soil went to, if they could get rid of it. In this way, some thirty or forty loads of soil were flushed into the Sewer of Bishopsgate Street from Norton Folgate, directly after it had been cleansed: and after strikin the dams of the East and West Long Alley Sewers, when the new line in Moorfields was built; the whole line of Eldon Street had swept into it broken pottery, stones and other refuse, to nearly eighteen inches in depth, which had to be cleared out at the cost of the City.
All the mechanism and the adoption of that openly, and as a principle, which was before done by stealth is I dare say his own; but as to the question of its adoption, it may be worth consideration whether it be morally right for the Holborn and Finsbury Commission to flood their sulliage down upon the City, and for the City to flood down both that and their own into the Thames.
The pollution of the Thames has long been no unjust theme of reprobation, and was the stalking horse of Mr. Martin's intended Joint Stock Company for its prevention; and his scheme was recommended by the highest names in the land.
There is nothing unpraiseworthy in rightly seeking whatever credit a person is rightfully entitled to; and had there not been an attempt wrongfully to destroy the reupte of, and to hold up every other Surveyor of Sewers to contempt, the other claims to the origination of improvements would have been left to find their own level.
However, as among others, I have been cried down as unfit to hold my office, I must in justice to myself, and in justification of those Gentlemen who appointed me and have confided in me, offer some other proof that the works entrusted to me have not been very unskilfully performed.
When, acting in the capacity of Surveyor of the Pavements (although then only Surveyor's Clerk) I found it necessary to exert myself in remodelling the management of that part of my duties, I first made a plan of every Street which had to be re-paved (and there are more than fifty miles of public way within the City). In consequence of my so doing, I was enabled quietly to correct all irregularities of width and level which had crept in, and they were reduced to rightliness and order.
My Master first advised the Commission to use that which has been termed Cubed Granite. He was pleased to consult with me thereon. I carried out his ideas adding some few of my own, and have been gratified to see this systematic mode of procedure spread into other parts of the Metropolis.
My predecessor had deemed it impossible to ferret out and obtain accurate plans of all the Sewers. When I became Surveyor; with the very zealous and able assistance of my Inspector William Saulter, the elder; I after years of research and labour conjointly with him laid before the Commission forty one sheets of antiquarian paper covered with accurate plans of all the Sewers in the City, together with  a condensed history of each, its age, dimensions, depth, and direction of current: and a general plan of the city with its Sewers has been printed for each Commissioner's use.
As it does not legitimately grow out of this my defence, I will not trouble you now with remarks upon some of the suggestions of Captain Vetch as to pavements and subways, or Mr. Roe and Mr. Stables upon ventilation of Sewers and other matters. When the fit time shall come, I can shew that all the subjects of these suggestions have been tried, or considered and rejected by my Masters, as inapplicable to the existing City; and your proposition of uniting the care of Sewers and roads under one jurisdiction is nothing new: It has for many years been the case in the City. Indeed, somehow or other, the experience of the City has in more things than one, set an example to other than Citizens.
Believing that I have succeeded in shewing, That the Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London have, through a long series of years, been alive to the duties of their trust:
That they ever seized the earliest opportunity for effecting improvements.
That, without their Surveyors presumptuously applying to themselves the, often impudently assumed and much prostituted title of Civil Engineer, they have conducted their works with judgment and foresight, and success:
That they have done as much, if not more, in proportion than any other Commission for the improvement of the health and advantages of the Metropolis:
That they have anxiously and carefully sought for, and at length happily accomplished a complete system of deep Sewage, adapted for their own purposes and largely contributing to the welfare of all the adjacent lands, more especially those under the Holborn and Finsbury Commission.
That, instead of Mr. Roe having originated three of "the only considerable improvements of a scientific character that have been made in the Sewerage of the Metropolis" that is curving Sewers at their junctions: building Sewers with semi-circular bottoms and making egg-shaped sewers: and forming gullies and shoots so as not to retain deposit: all these had been in use, in the City, some long before he was born and others long before he became a Surveyor of Sewers.
I now ask you, with some confidence, to accord me the common justice between man and man of doing your utmost to remove the slanderous imputations cast upon me and my employees. I ask it because you have traduced my character: I ask it because you have striven to deprive me of my daily bread.
It is quite true that, while you seek to get all power into one iron gripe [sic]; you say that the present Surveyors should retain all thei emoluments. But is it nothing, Sir, to blast a man's repute; to stigmatise him with incompetency; by the very act of a putting 'a Nurse' in to keep him from mischief-doing; and after having crushed and degraded and insulted him, to render the insult still more bitter by saying "There, dog! each your undeserved crust, and be thankful!"
I trust, Sir, you will not do so. You will do justice for the wrong of which you have unwillingly been made the instrument; and you will duly value the man who has sought to aggrandize himself y the destruction of others.
I have the honour to be,
Sir,
        Your very obedient Servant,
                Richard Kelsey

Surveyor to the Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London and Liberties Thereof
73 Chiswell Street
September 5th 1842






Tuesday 18 December 2012

Sewer Gas

The Victorians remained convinced that gas from sewers caused disease, for most of the nineteenth century. I include this letter, however, not because it tells us much about Victorian sanitation, but because I like the tone:

Sir – I am afraid that complaints like that of your correspondent “L” would fill your generous columns if you allowed them to.
    I am the father of three small brats and live in a lovely locality on the South-Western Railway, but I live ni a semi-detached stuccoed villa, and suffer nuisances inconceivable. When I first took the house the cesspool and the well were in peaceful communion. The analysis of both was the same. Then I had the well closed and water laid on from waterworks. Still I was not happy. Illness appeared and a little cousin died next door of typhoid. Then we have the houses examined and lo! The only vent for the sewage gas was up the closet into the middle of the house. The place had to be pulled about and in my horror of the expenditure I weakly applied to my landlord to help me. He laughed, said I had a repairing lease, that he had no children and never drank water. These last two, I can quite believe.
Now, Sir, until the law steps in and compels landlords to make their houses fit to live in (we cannot expect them to care for our comfort), compels them to put proper drainage and supply water, speculating builders will still pile up fortunes and multiply their iniquities for the benefit of the plumber first and the undertaker afterwards.
    I am,Sir, yours faithfully,
            NINETEEN MILES DOWN THE LINE


The Times, 5 October 1876

Monday 17 December 2012

The Omnibus Subway Company

Another great idea for London transport that never came to pass. Well, perhaps not quite 'great' but we love the name:

I beg to report that I have examined the Plans and Schedule deposited by the Omnibus Subway Company. This Company proposes constructing a Subway starting at the Royal Exchange, passing through Cheapside, the North Side of St. Paul's, Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street, the Strand, Charing Cross, and Parliament Street, to the Houses of Parliament, having stations at every quarter of a mile upon its length; it is to be constructed at but a moderate depth beneath the streets, so as not to be interfere with the Gas amd Water pipes and will be in thhe centre of the Roadway to avoid interference with the vaults and cellars.

The widths of the carriages will be only sufficient to carry two persons abreast in the 2nd class carraiges, - and two line sof rails will be laid; trains are proposed to run every four minutes, and the time occupied in going from the Exchange to Charing Crosss will be about 16 minutes, including stoppages: the internal surfaces of the subways will be perfectly white and they will be lighted throughout with gas.

The system of traction proposed is that of an endless rope worked by stationary engines at the Termini; - locomotives with their heat and smoke will therefore not traverse the subways.

The project carried out will involve the reconstruction of the whole of the sewers throughout the entire length of the subway within the City as well as that of many othes in collateral streets and would cause during its construction much temporary inconvenience: the means of access; area of the public way to be astracted, if any; the effect of the scheme upon the general traffic at certain points; the ventilation of the subways, if on to the public ways; and general question of the appropriation of a large space of the soil beneath the highways, with other points require much additional explanation and the careful attention of the Commission before its decision can be safely given upon the scheme.

Pending that investigation it seems to me that it would be unwise in any way to damp the enterprise by denial of your sanction further than may be absolutely needful to enable you to retain your power of protectionb of the public rights; for alttohugh the project is startling at first sight, yet upon consideration it will be found to be worthy of close attention and if successful in the first case, it is a system capable of direct extension tto all parts of London to the public advantage; and considering the annual increase in the closely inhabited areaof the metropolis, the gigantic traffic which now almost stagnates in its main thoroughfares, the impediemtnns which beset their improvement, the poor instalments of increased street accommodation which are given only after years of discussion and consideration, insalments which but retard and must ultimately rendre nobler measures still more costly than they now would be, it would be in every respect a matter of congratulation if by commercial enterprisses relief could be obtained in the way proposed.

William Haywood, 24th January 1859

Thursday 13 December 2012

Here's a very short story I wrote last year, which was - peculiarly enough - placed in an art exhibition. It's about London and time travel.





JUST PASSING THROUGH



‘I think I shall go and sit on the Embankment,’ said Herbert George Smith, as he left the dusty office.
Relieved to be out in the open air, he walked down Milford Lane and settled on one of the familiar benches. He rested his briefcase against the cast-iron Sphinx and gazed at the dreary Thames. There was nothing particularly interesting in watching the dirty brown water – the occasional steamboat might chug past – but it gave him something to do whilst he ate his sandwiches.
It was a warm, summer’s day and, after he had eaten and taken a sip or two from his flask, he felt rather tired. He was loath to go back to the office before the lunch-hour was out; but did not possess the energy or discipline to take a walk round Temple Gardens.
Instead, he lolled back in the warm embrace of the sun and closed his eyes. It occurred to him that – if anyone were to walk past – they might think he was drunk.
He fell asleep, listening to the thunderous rattle of iron-shod wheels on the road behind him, and the steady clip-clop of horses’ hooves dragging them along.


*****


Herbert felt a sinking sensation and awoke with a start. He was glad to find that he was still on the bench; but his relief turned to amazement. The scene before him had altered. The change presented itself to him subtly at first – a growing sense of disquiet – without any specific information permeating his conscious mind. Then it became stronger, as he experienced sudden flashes of confusion.
The bridge had gone!
Waterloo Bridge had been destroyed – how was it possible? – and a strange edifice of plain, unadorned concrete stood in its place, stone balustrades replaced by a set of white railings.
His eyes rested upon the southern shore of the Thames. The small fleet of coal-barges moored by the bridge – they, too, had vanished. The timber-yards and warehouses; the narrow wharves and the shot-tower of the great lead-works – all had been transformed.
It was, in truth, a neat and tidy transformation, a mirror of the embankment on which he was sitting. It was an improvement: a neat stone river-wall; iron lamps; trees in full leaf. At first, he wondered if some callous youths had somehow carried him, sleeping, across the bridge and he was merely looking at where he had begun. But no – that was the impossibility of it – the distinctive bend in the river –  he had not moved.
He tapped the Sphinx’s head to reassure himself that he was not dreaming; but he did not feel reassured.
The noise of the traffic forced him to cautiously turn around. A stream of automative vehicles – each and every one utterly unfamiliar, forged from coloured sheets of shining metal – were crawling along the road behind him. He looked about the Embankment, anxiously, desparate for some unchanging starting-point to grasp reality. The bench, at least, was identical – and the green lawns of the Temple – reassuringly untouched by whatever strange power had somehow intervened in the lives of men.
He wondered if he had gone mad.

*****

He did not move; not at first. Then, at last, he stepped over to the stone wall and peered over the edge, looking down at the unchanging river.
The sudden movement was too ambitious. He felt slightly queasy and returned hurriedly to his seat. At the same moment, a woman sat down beside him.
She was a young woman – no more than twenty one or two years old – but dressed in a black costume which utterly dumbfounded him. The trousers were the most peculiar aspect – straight silken masculine trousers as might be worn by a junior clerk, her legs shamefully delineated.
It was not – he thought to himself – remotely decent. Not on the Embankment.
He looked at her and wondered if she was some breed of actress, come from rehearsal at the Gaiety or Lyceum.
Or was she something worse?
He studied her discreet decolletage – milk-white breasts just visible beneath a cream-coloured blouse – her arms concealed by a masculine jacket. He stared at her face – a painted face – painted!
No decent woman painted. He wondered how she dared sit next to him.
Did she have no fear of the police?
‘Can I help you?’ said the young woman.
The strange girl was rather beautiful. He felt ashamed of himself, staring at her.
‘I beg your pardon – I am quite lost –’


*****

Herbert George Smith returned home in an instant of nausea and migraine, lights popping in his head.
He pondered the incident for many years. He would, in time, marry and have two daughters. But neither his wedding day, nor the birth of his children, remained so startling and vivid in his imagination.
In his dotage, as the bombs fell on the East, and his family struggled to get him to the shelter, they were mystified by the phrase he repeated to himself.
‘I think I shall go and sit on the Embankment.’

   

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Traffic Returns

Ludgate Hill traffic on March 10 and 11, 1843, from 6am to 6pm
1233 Cabs and Gigs
1169 Omnibuses and stages
1385 One horse carts
373 Two horse private carriages and hackney coaches
302 Waggons, three horses and upwards
247 Other vehicles
161 Saddle horses
72 Hand-trucks
Note on the Gain of Power by Levelling the Surface of the Streets of Populous Districts, 1843

16 January, from 6 in morning to 12 at night by the Pantheon
1507 Light carts and sundries
935 Four wheel carriages
890 omnibuses
752 four-wheel hackney carriages
621 two-wheel hackney carriages
372 Waggons and drays
347 Gentlemen's two wheel carriages
91 stage coaches
The Champion and Weekly Herald 19 May 1839

Oxford Street, 8 May 1871, eastbound traffic
4468 cabs
1428 carriages
1222 omnibuses
1138 carts
674 vans
372 waggons
Traffic of Oxford Street, Times, 17 July 1872

Monday 3 December 2012

Idea for Cycle Lanes in London

MATTERS MUNICIPAL.

Sir,—At a time when so much interest is centred in Municipal affairs by reason of the London County Council Elections and the proposed Incorporation of certain parts of London, may I be allowed to make a few suggestions to those whom it may concern for the greater convenience and accommodation of the public? The removal of all unsightly obstructions, such as sand boxes, street orderly boxes, &c., by the substitution of square boxes sunk on a level at the edge of the pavement, with a sliding lid and a slanting bottom to facilitate the use of the shovel. The construction of a bicycle track in roads made of wood blocks, at no additional cost whatever, by laying a line of, say, two blocks parallel with the pavement. On the same principle as the whitewashing of the edge of railway platforms, this would act as a warning to foot passengers not to step off the pavement without previously looking for the approach of bicycles. In time the cyclist would keep to his track and the vehicles to the middle of the road as might be convenient. To provide proper lavatory accommodation at all railway stations, with access direct from the street. Abandon all pillar post boxes for wall boxes, and every railway stationin particular to have a wall-box. To provide an "arm" clock at all railway stations. The boon would be enormous and many lives might be saved, as so many people with weak hearts run for a train which has gone and afterwards succumb to the effects of the exertion. To provide newspaper kiosks, to license their tenants, and to put down the present deafening brawl of "Special." These itinerant newnendon, however, should have the preference in the allotment of kiosks. To provide for the more efficient control of processions with brass bands, and to give the same power to the occupier as he now posseses with regard to the ordinary street piano.organ. To provide for the express delivery of small parcels and letters by trams and omnibuses, after the plan adopted in Brussels.—Yours, &c.,
Feb. 28    OLLA PODRIDA

Morning Post, 1 March 1898

Friday 30 November 2012

Law and Profit

THE GALLERIES AT THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT. The person who has hithero rented the galleries from the Sheriffs at the rate of £21 per session, refused, at the last session, to continue to pay that sum any longer, alledging that it exceeded the receipts. The Sheriffs took the opportunity thus offered in making new regulations, which came into operation on Monday last, and now a uniform charge of 1s. each for admission is established. They have been occasions when half a guinea, and even a guinea, has been demanded. The receipts in the Old Court gallery on Monday amounted to 2s.; in the New Court gallery to 9s.; the Old Court gallery on Tuesday yielded 18s.; and on Thursday £2 10s. The money-takers receive 7s. a day.

Illustrated London News, 6 January 1849

Thursday 29 November 2012

Counting Urinals in the City of London

I found this marvellous table yesterday, showing the location of every urinal in the City of London, 1849. I know. I need help.

I have now mapped it, too.

View Public Urinals in City of London, 1849 in a larger map



Situation of Urinal Description of Premises in which Urinal is attached If be Commissioners of Sewers If by a Publican If by other persons Persons having charge of urinals If communicating with sewer If water laid on If closed or open at night No of persons
urinal will accommodate at one time
1. Acorn Street, Bishopsgate Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
2. Bucklesbury against Public House in Ch. Yd. -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
3. Botolph Alley Public House -- yes -- Publican yes yes open 1
4. Bury Street Dead Wall of Warehouse yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
5. Bride Lane Under Church Yard yes -- -- Commission yes yes open 4
6. Bath Street Warehouse Yard yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
7. Boars Head Court Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
8. Bristow Street Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
9. Black Swan Alley, St. Paul's Church Yard Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
10. Bear Alley Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
11. Bridgwater Place Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
12. Britannia Place Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
13. Castle Court, Lawrence Lane Dead Wall yse -- -- Commission yes no open 1
14. Coopers Row Under Railway yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
15. Church Court, Fenchurch Street Public House -- yes Publican yes yes open 1
16. Cree Church Lane Dead Wall, Public House yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
17. Cross Key Square Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
18. Dove Court, Old Jewry Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
19. Dolphin Court, Fleet St. Dead Wall, Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
20. Excise Office, Bishopsgate St. Excise Office -- -- Excise Office Excise yes no closed 5
21. Fyefoot Lane Warehouse Wall yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
22. Fitcherts Court, Noble Street Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
23. Freeman's Court, Cheapside Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
24. Fleur de lis Court Dead Wall yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
25. Farringdon Market In Market -- -- Market office Markets Committee yes no open 1
26. Fleet Prison Dead wall of street -- -- City Lands Committee City Lands Committee yes yes open 4
27. French Ordinary Court Railway arch yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
28. George Yard, Snowhill Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
29. Guildhall Yard (front) Guildhall -- -- City Lands Committee City Lands Committee yse yes open 2
30. Guildhall Yard (back) Guildhall -- -- City Lands Committee City Lands Committee yes yes closed 2
31. Great Swan alley Blank Wall yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
32. Hanging Sword alley Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
33. Heneage Lane Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
34. Houndsditch Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
35. Jacobs Well Passage Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
36. King's Head Court, Pudding Lane Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
37. Leadenhall Buildings Public House yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
38. Leadenhall Market Dead Wall -- yes Markets Committee Markets Committee yes no open 4
39. London House Yard Dead Wall -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
40. Lothbury Bank of England -- yes Gov. and Co. Bank of England Bank yes no closed 2
41. Mansion house Place Under Mansion House -- yes City Lands Committee City Lands Committee yes yes open 2
42. Montague Court Little Britain Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
43. Mitre Square Church Wall yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
44. Northumberland Alley Wall of warehouse yes -- -- Commission no no open 1
45. Newgate Market by shambles -- yes Markets Committee Markets Committee yes yes open 3
46. Norwich Court Fetter Lane Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
47. New Union Street Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
48. Old Bailey In carriageway yes -- -- Commission yes yes closed 6
49. Pitchers Court Dead Wall yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
50.Printing House Yard Wall yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
51. Princes St. Sparrow Corner Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
52. Seething Lane Warehouse Wall yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
53. St. Dunstans Alley Public House yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
54. Smithfield Market Sheep pens -- -- Markets Committee Markets Committee yes no open 4
55. Shoe Lane Church Yard wall yes -- -- Commission yes no open 2
56. St. Dunstans Court, Fleet Street Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
57. Ship Yard, Little Bridge Street Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
58. Sun Court, Cloth Fair Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
59. St. Paul's Cathedral Church Yard -- -- Dean and Chapt. St. Paul's Dean and Chapt. St. Paul's yes no closed 4
60. Star Court, Bread Street hill Wall of Warehouse -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
61. Sugar Loaf Court, Garlick Hill Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
62. Temple Lane Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
63. Three Falcon Court Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
64. Talbot Court Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
65. Thames Street East side London Bridge yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
66. Thames Street West side London Bridge yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
67. Thames Street Calverts Tap House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 2
68. Threadneedle Street Royal Exchange -- -- Gresham Committee Gresham Committee yes yes open 3
69. Vine Street Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
70. White Lion Court, Tower Street Public House yes -- -- Commission yes no open 1
71.  Waterman's Alley Public House -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
72. Wilderness Lane Public House -- yes -- Publican no no open 1
73. White Street Cripplegate Dead Wall -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1
74. Waterside by Swan Lane Warehouse Wall -- yes -- Publican yes no open 1


Total Number of Urinals By whom erected If communicating with sewer If water laid on If closed or open at night Number of persons urinal will accommodate
yes no yes no yes no
22 Commissioners of Sewers 21 1 2 20 21 1 31
9 Corporation Committees 9 6 3 7 2 28
1 Bank of England 1 1 1 2
1 Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's 1 1 1 4
1 Excise Office 1 1 1 5
40 Publicans 17 23 2 38 40 41
[74 [total] Totals: 50 24 10 64 68 6 111

Here's the context, a bit long and tedious, but we learn that the first public water-closet in London was actually in Poultry, in c.1830 ... anyone beat that?

[166]

To the Honourable Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London
Sewers Office, Guildhall, March 5 1850

"Public Urinals"

Gentlemen,
    I have taken the first available time to complete a Report, which was commenced twelve months ago, and which I now have the honor to submit to you, upon the subject of Public Urinals.

    The subject is one of very considerable importance, for its is a question of comfort to the large throng of human beings who daily traverse the streets of the City of London.
    It is a subject in which every man must be interested, for there are few, I apprehend, who have not occasionally experienced the inconvenience of those urinals which exist, and the frequent inconvenience of their absence, I speak of the metropolis generally; and I believe the medical profession could recount many instances where (for nature will not be thwarted with impunity) serious and long continued illness has resulted from the want of them.
     I submit also that it is a question of decency, for although a man of delicate mind may have a repugnance to use situations which, from their publicity and otherwise, are manifestly unfit for such a purpose, yet it is impossible to traverse the streets if the metropolis without its being obvious that such is not the condition of every person's feeling; and I believe that to the want of  such public conveniences, much outrage is committed against deceny, cleanliness and morality -  for which nuder existing circumstances it must be allowed there is some show of excuse; but for which there could be none, if in proper situations a sufficient number of Public Urinals were erected.
    Indeed, I believe their necessity is indisputable and will be admitted by all, for it needs but slight observation to perceive how inadequate to the wants of the population are the present number in existence even in the City of London, which is in this respect as may be seen from the appendix already provided with a [167] considerable number and the principal if not the only difficulty attendant upon the erection of a sufficient number is the choice of situations.
    I have deemed it expedient in the first place to direct your attention to the urinals at present existing within the City, and to make suggestions with the view of rendering them as perfect as circumstances will permit, before commencing the consideration of the erection of additional ones.
    In pursuance of this, I have collated and arranged in a tabular form, a state of the whole of the Public Urinals at present existing within the City of London, shewing their situation, extent of accommodation, drainage, water supply, and such other information as I thought might be useful, and beg herewith to submit the same.
    The Urinals upon the Bridges being beyond your jurisdiction I have not included in the list.
    By the tabulated statement it will be seen that the total number of urinals within the City is 74, and the total number of persons that can be accommodated by them at one time is 111. This number includes all that can be generally used by the public and are accessible from the street, without going through private property to arrive at them, whether trhey have been erected by public bodies, private persons, or by this Commission.
    Strictly speaking, perhaps those alone are Public Urinals which have been erected by this Commission, and dedicated by them to the public use; but as it was my wish to ascertain what accommodation actually existed to which the public could have access at all times, and as those erected by the public bodies and private persons upon the public way are accessible naerly at all times to the public, I have included them in the list submitted, as they certainly form a large portion of the total amount of general accommodation.
    For the same reason I ahve included in the list the urinals in St. Paul's Church Yard, in the Court Yard of the Excise Office, and in the land at the back of the Guildhall, in as much as all of them are accessible to the public during the businses hours of the day, and are extensively used.
    By far the largest portion included in this total number been erected by publicans against their own permises, and scarcely deserve the name of urinals, for the most part they each consist simply of one screen stone, which generally fulfills the office of its designation very imperfectly, and they are almost universally deficient in drainage and water supply. they have principally been placed in their present situations, not because such situations were those which were the best that could have been selected for the use of the general public, but most frequently because the publican found that by erecting them he prevented far greater nuisance against his own premises; but in some cases, indeed, because it was evident that the public considered the situation appropriate, treated it accoridngly, and they therefore quickly became places of habitual resort.
   Out of this total number of 74 Urinals, 22 have been erected by this Commission in various public situations; 40 by Publicans, generally against their own premises; 9 by various Committees of the Corporation; 1 by the Company of the Bank of England; 1 by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's; and 1 bvy the Commissioners of Excise.
    Of the 22 which have been erected by the Commission and are under its immediate control, 21 are drained into the public sewer,1 is undrained, 2 have water supply, 20 have none.
    I have but to suggest in reference to thse, that the 1 which is undrained should at once be made to communicate with the public sewers, and that a constant water supply be at once given to the 20 which have it not.
    [168] Of the 8 erected by the Committees of the COrporation in the markets and other places, all are drained into the Sewers, and but 3 have no water. I beg to suggest that their attention be drawn to the expediency of providing water to the same forthwith.
    The one erected by the Bank of England is drained but has no water supply, but is well attended too, kept properly clean, and is a great public accommodation; another one near the same spot (for the erection of which a suitable situation exists adjacently) would be an additional boon to the public and one much needed in that situation. I beg to suggest that respresentation be made to the Company of the bank to this effect, and also as to the expediency of their providing a water supply to the one already in existence.
    The Urinals in St. Paul's Church Yard are drained, but water is not laid on to them; the Urinals are however but little known, they are removed some distance from the line of traffic, and little used, slight inconvenience therefore arises from the want of water; but I think it desirable that water should be supplied to them and beg to suggest that the attention of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's be drawn to the same.
    The Urinal in the Court Yard of the Excise Office is drained but it is not supplied with water; it is however frequently washed and kept in every respect in good condition, but a constant supply of water is nevertheless desirable.
    Of the remaining number of 40 which are attached to public houses, 17 are drained, and 23 are undrained; but two have water supply, 38 have no water supply. Drainage and water supply which are so needful to the other urinals are doubly so to those attached to Public House, for they are much used, and are for the most part in situations where from their publicity the want of such appliances is most severely felt, and I therefore beg to suggest that such should be at once made imperative.
    I now arrive at a point far more difficult of disposal, viz. the recommendation of additional urinals, and the situations where they should be erected; this is indeed a difficulty owing to an almost universal repugnance among persons to have them in their own vicinities; for those who, as a principle, would advocate their erection frequently have the greatest objection to their being placed near to them, even although in some cases their walls are daily defiled for want of them.
    The difficulty attending their establishment is increased by the necessary limitation to the privacy of such public conveniences for to be of use they must be easy of access, and be readily found, and to prevent improper usage of them they require to be under the general eye of the public as well as of the guardians of the peace and decency.
    Their necessity, however, being conceded, and those conditions as to choice of situation and structure being imperative, all that remains to be done is to select impartially such situations as will give the greatest general benefit to the public at the same time striving in their selection and construction to give as little individual or local annoyance as possible.
     I have not thought it needful at present to particularise places for their erection, as until the adoption of the general principle suggested in my report, such appeared to me to be premature. I will however submit such classes of situations as by their nature appear to me to be those in which they might be erected with advantage to the public and with as little offence as possible.
    Firstly The vicinities of cabstands appear to me to be suitable for their erection, as the cabs themselves will form upon one side a species of screen, and as there is always a certain amount [169] of bustle and traffic in connexion with a cab stand, the eye and mind would both be diverted from the associations connected with the urinals; besides which there is much nuisance perpetrated near cab stands by the drivers especially; which at prseent cannot but be highly offensive to the inhabitants in their localities, and which would be obviated by the erection of Urinals adjacent to them.
    The Urinal at the Northern end of the Old Bailey designed by the my predecessor (Mr. Kelsey) furnishes  a good illustration as regards situation and construction of the subject matter reported on; it is I am sure a great public benefit, and I think offensive to no one.
    Secondly I think that public buildings should have them erected within their precincts. A highly convenient Urinal is now in existence within the Court Yard of the Excise Office; and Bartholomew Hospital, the Post Office, Custom House, East India House and public buildings genearlly have for the most part room for similar accommodation. All such buildings owing to the large number of male persons constantly in personal communication with them are situations where they might be placed with the greatest public advantage; and I beg to sugegstion that representation to such effect should be made to the proper authorities by this Commission which I cannot doubt would be favourably received, and be acted upon in all cases where special circumstances might not interfere to prevent.
    Thirdly Whenever new streets are in course of formation situations might genearlly be found where they could be placed with advantage; and if constructed before the erection of houses in the line of street, no complaint could be lodged of inconvenience or nuisance being brough to the inhabitants of the locality as the reverse would be the case, for the inhabitants would go to the nuisance (if nuisance it was) which I do not apprehend it would necessarily be.
    Fourthly The sides of the Bridges which in some instances have them already; they are however insufficient in number, defective in construction, and capable of much improvement as the locality is highly favourable to the erection of such public conveniences. The Bridges are without the jurisdiction of this Commission, but ithin that of the Corporation and it cannot be for a moment doubted that the Honourable Committee to whom are delegated the care and supervision of the Bridges would at the representation of this Committee perform everything requisite to make them as perfect as their situation admits of.
    There is yet another species of situation where they might be constructed with the greatest advantage viz. upon the sites of the existing church yards, out of which alone I think I could name sufficient situations eminently adapted for such a purpose as would nearly suffice with those already in existence for the portion of the metropolis under your jurisdiction.
    It is much to be desired that the time when intramural interments shall cease is close at hand; when therefore they shall be among the things which were, the surface of the present churchyards might be levelled to proper inclinations. The tombstones might be laid horizontally so as to form paving slabs, which would thus still fulfil their intention of marking the resting places of those gone before us, and the intermediate spaces be filled in with paving, so as to form an uniform, even and non-absorbent surfacel or what appears to me still better, the head stones might be laid as before suggested and the intermediate spaces after having a proper stratum of earth over them, might be planted with various handy plants and shrubs which could be maintained at but a trifling annual expense after the first outlay; indeed, I should thnik the future annual maintenance might be less than the present cost of cultivating the rank unwholesome looking straggling grass which is annualy sown in many of the churchyards; then when these open spaces have become a source of health instead of disease  [170] there appears to me no reasonable objection to the further extensions of their benefits by the allotment of small portions of their sites to the establishment of public urinals.
    Generally, with regard to public urinals, whether now existing or in future to be constructed, their sitse having been carefully selected so as to give the greatest possible public benefit, I propose that they should be constructed in the best manner, that they should be well drained, ventilated, and lighted and have a copious and constant supply of water; their exterior should be as ornamental as circumstances or propriety would admit; they should be as much screened as is safely practical both by their design and by establishing around them pitching blocks for porters &c.; should be carefully inspected and cleansed every day, and in brief everything should be done which can render them a public benefit with as little attendant inconvenience as possible.
    With the existing arrangemenst of Urinals nothing so conduces to their cleanliness and freedom from offence as a constant and copious water supply; whatever argument may be used in favor of a system of cisternage for domestic purposes cannot apply to public urinals, besides which it is almost imposslbe in many cases to fix cisterns and the necesasry apparatus and I am strongly of opinion that water be running through the urinals both night and day, unless other means can be adopted whereby the same effect can be obtained.
    I again refer to the Public Urinals at the Northern end of the Old Bailey erected by this Commission; as an illustration of the type of the class I would erect modified according to circumstances of locality &c. and I believe that upon this model having certain improvements in the material forming their interiors, which frecent introductions would enable to be made, they might be constructed so as to leave very little to be desired.
    I here beg to call to the recollection of your Honorable Court that an Urinal, a fac simile of , and prepared at the same time as that existign at the Northern end of the Old Bailey , was originally intended to have been placed at the Southern end of Farringdon Street, but which for certain reasons was not; this urinal has been every since that period and still is lying at the City Stone Yard, quite ready for immediate erection in any suitable situation.
    It will be pereceived that the forgoing suggestions have reference to Urinals as under existing circumstances in which good drainage and a copious and constant supply of water are treated as absolte essentials to their decency and cleanliness.
    But in advocating the extension of Public Urinals, although obliged to state that which appears to me to be thie proper structural and other arrangements (as necessary under existing conditions) I think it expedient before quitting the subject to allude to that which appeared a more than probable arrangement of them, at some future (perhaps not far distant) period as well as to do my best, by setting before you such information as I am able to expedite and further such future arrangements, believing as I do that it will conduce to the general good.
    Of the value as manure of Human Excreta both solid and liquid when collected in an undiluted and concentrated state, it is now almost superfluous to dilate; very few are now skeptical upon that point, the labors of the great Sir Humphrey Davey and more recently of the illustrious Liebig, of Spengel, Bossingeult, Johnston, Paulet and others have by chemical analyses separated its constituents and shewn theoretically its probably worth; its applicant at Edinboro', Mansfield and Manchester has practically and irrefutably proved its agricultural value; and the large sums which ahve been for a long period annually realised by its convention and sale by the municipalities of some of the Towns upon the Continent are indisputable and well authenticated facts. Paris alone receives 800,000 [171] francs per annum by the sale of the excreta of its population, whislt in Belgium its sale realises £1.17.0 per head per annum; these with other instances sufficiently testify its commercial value when thus collected and disposed of. The sum named also as realised at Paris appears to me as I gather from the Pamphlet of Parent Duchatelet in his work "Hygiene Publique" and from other writers to be realised by the sale of the excreta so unscientifically manipulated in its convention into Manure, that a very large portion of its most valuable ingredients are lost partly by evaporation and by the expulsion and rejection of the liquid fecula.
    The researches of the eminent agricultual chemists named, and of others who have also added their quota to the general fund of knowledge have proved that such mode of manipulation is absolute waste, and that liquid dejecta of human beings is equally valuable as a manure, if not more so than the solid, and that when properly heated and applied it becomes one of the most valuable known fertilising agents.
     The system adopted in England of storing the excreta of the population in Cesspools which bore some analogy to the Continental system of fosses d'aisances inasmuch as both required periodical emptying, the former however being permeable whilst the latter is impermeable. being now exploded in this Country, and the modern system of sewage and removing the exuviae of the population by the agency of running water bidding fair by is rapid extension soon to entirely destroy any similitude between the continental system and our own, will at the same time prevent in this conutry the storage of soil and the power of obtaining human faeces in an undiluted condition, excepting perhaps in the Country or from large establishments under peculiar arrangements.
    Without venturing upon the much debated question of the relative values of liquid and solid manure, I think it will be conceded that even if the value of the former mode of application was proven to be decidedly superior, that even if the whole of the land within a radius of many miles of the metropolis was in proper condition as to drainage to receive it, and the whole of the cultivators of the soil ready to apply it and pay for it (all most important considerations) yet that many years must elapse before the exuviae of this metropolitan population could be profitably applied as a liquid even if the whole of it could ever be; and if we admit thus much, we also must admit that there will always be much waste of them, which if differently collected would be of considerable value.
    Under such circumstances, and with the knowledge of the value and conventability of human faeces when undiluted, it appears to me that effort should be made to save so valuable a fertilising agent from waste wherever it can be effected, without by its retention inflicting injury upon the sanitary condition of the locality, this under modern domestic arrangements alluded to and with recent evidence as to the insaulbrity of thestorage in and removal from premises of human excreta cannot be effected, but it appears to me that it would be perfectly practical to save and remove, without injury of nuisance, the daily deposition from the Public Urinals.
   To form some estimate of the probable deposition from the Public Urinals within the City, I have had observations made of the avearge use of certain of them, which may serve as a basis for present calculation as well as for general refernce should the question be at some future day the subject of consideration or proposal.

[172]

Table of Observations shewing the number of persons using certain Public Urinals within the City of London, between the hours of 8 o'clock a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.


During 2 hour ending at
Old Bailey Nov.5 1849 accomm. 6 persons
Shoe Lane Nov. 6 1849 accomm. 2 persons
Mansion House, Nov 7 1849 accomm.2 persons
Royal Exchange Nov.8 1849 accomm. 3 persons
Seething Lane, Nov 9 1849 accomm. 1 person)
Bank Nov 1 1849 accomm. 2 persons
Thames St. W. Nov 12 1849 accomm. 1 person
Thames St. E. Nov. 13 1849 accomm. 1 person
Total Number per hour at the Urinal
9 am
 105
 34
 35
 24
 8
 Not open
 32
 61
 299
10
 169
 69
 50
 73
 11
 52
 51
 105
 580
11
 218
 95
 70
 111
 29
 96
 64
 134
 807
12 noon
 250
 113
 109
 161
 42
 117
 91
 108
 991
1 pm
 259
 111
 117
 214
 47
 134
 99
 106
 1087
2
 256
 129
 124
 211
 46
 139
 94
 65
 1084
3
 207
 113
 130
 204
 33
 115
 92
 77
 971
4
 201
 119
 106
 178
 33
 124
 87
 52
 900
5
 180
 16
 92
 166
 31
 105
 91
 89
 861
6
 166
 98
 61
 155
 16
 67
 57
 59
 679
Total with hours ending at 6pm
 2011
 987
 845
 1497
 296
 949
 758
 876
 8269

Summary of Foregoing Observations

Urinal at No. of persons capable of being accommodated at one time Used in ten hours terminating at 6.40pm by persons
1 Old Bailey 6 2011
2 Shoe Lane 2 987
3 Mansion House 2 895
4 Royal Exchange 3 1497
5 Seething Lane 1 296
6 Bank 2 949
7 Thames St.  West of London Bridge 1 758
8 Thames St East of London Bridge 1 879
Total 18 8269

Thus it will be seen that 8 urinals capable of accommodatign 18 people at the same time, were during ten of the busy hours of the day, used by no less than 8269 times.
    Nothing that I could have urged, nothing that I could possibly have set forth to your Honorable Court, as to the advantages of such constructions could have demonstrated their utility plainly as this intelligible fact.
    If we follow up these observations by calculation and assume (which may fairly be done) that during 12 hours per diem there 8 urinals accommodating 18 persons are used at the same average rate given by the observations, namely 46 per accommodation per hour, the number of times they are used per diem will be 9,936; per week 69,552; or per annum 3,616,704.
    Now, the total number of persons capable of being accommodated in the City at the same time as shewn by the appended table of public urinals is 111, but the majority of them are not so much used in a given space of time as those which I have chosen for observation; they are however used for a much longer period than 12 hours per diem but assuming that each of the other urinals are used upon an average for 12 hours per diem and at the average rate only of two thirds of the number of persons shewn by the observations to use the other urinals per hour the number of times they will be used will be per diem of 12 hours 32,224; per week 239,568; per annum 12,457,536.
And thus the total number of times that the whole of the Public Urinals of the City of London amy be assumed to be used is per day of 12 hours 44,160; per week 309,120; per annum 16,074,240.
     [173] Human urine is now used in various manufacturign processes and possesses in that respect a certain value although I am not aware that for such objects money is ever made by its sale; but referring again t othe agricultural value of human excreta, human urine is known to possess soluble mineral constituents not found in the solid faeces. Professor Liebig states that in the culture of certain vegetables it is the most powerful manure known, and for general use I believe it ranks higher than most animal manures; it is capable of being manipulated in various ways, and can always be applied with advantage, whatever its mode of treatment; its monetary value has generally been received as stated by Professor Johnson who assigns six shillings as the usual value, as manure of the urine of each individual. It is probable, however, that this value, assigned by comparison with the prices of the various artificial manures of the day, it may be exceedingly difficult to realise, at all events at present, besides which its cost of conversion and transport must materially tend to reduce this stated value.
    It is no, however, needful for me here to progress further with enquiry into the question of its value beyond stating that at the value assigned by Professor Johnson the annual value of the urine collected to be deposited at the Public Urinals within the City may be estimated at about £2200.
    I think that the estimated usage of the Public Urinals although approximately is still considerably beneath the actual usage and am also of opinion that be the erection of additional ones their usage may in time be double that of their present usage, and that the value of the deposition at them according to the before mentioned would arrivew closely at £4000 per annum.
    I have brought this before your Honorable Court because that I believe persons will be found who would not only take charge of the Urinals free of expense, but would pay you for the right of using the urine; such is no new idea, it has been proposed to you at various times, the last time about 5 years since but the applicant damaged his case by proposign to turn the lamp posts along Cheapside into urinals, in somewhat the same way as those in the Boulevards at Paris with other good intentions, which neither your mind nor the public were prepared to receive, and therefore the consideration dropped; more recently a somewhat similar application has been made to you by Mr. D'Angely, the subject has alos recently been reported upon by one of the Officers of the Metropolitan Commission, who suggests the formation of a company to form Public Urinals.
    Public opinion has changed and is still changing upon this subject and I think that the establishment of additional public urinals would be conferring a great benefit upon the community, and may also become the means of returning to the soil a large quantity of valuable fertilizing matter at present worse than thrown away.
    I believe that public mind is also changing as regards the propriety of constructing Public Water Closets; one was experimentally erected about the year 1830 in the Poultry, but I believe that, as as communal speculation, as well as in every point of view it proved a failure. Continental intercourse of late years has, however, effected I think an attenuation of public feeling upon this point and I am disposed to think that their construction will ultimately taken place and that they will, like urinals, be considered a public benefit.
    I have the honor to be,
           Gentlemen,
                Your most obedient servant,
                      William Haywood,
                           Surveyor