Seminar 6: Municipal Utilities

Key Texts

Bill Luckin, ‘Pollution in the city’ in M Daunton (ed.), The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, vol 3

Robert Millward, ‘The political economy of urban utilities’, in M Daunton (ed.), The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, vol 3

A S Wohl, Endangered Lives

· Define pollution

· What was the impact of environmental pollution in 19th century cities?

· How did local authorities and the government seek to deal with urban pollution?

· How were the public utilities controlled in the 19th century?

· Compare the patterns of ownership of gas, electricity and water utilities.

P Brimblecombe, The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in London since Medieval Times

D A Chatterton, ‘State control of public utilities in the 19th century: the London gas industry’, Business History, 1977

A E Dingle, ‘“The monster nuisance of all” landowners, alkali manufacturers and air pollution’, Economic History Review, 1982

N Goddard, ‘“A mine of wealth"? The Victorians and the agricultural value of sewage’, Journal of Historical Geography, 1996

C Hamlin, ‘Providence and putrefecation: Victorian sanitation and the natural theology of health and disease’, Victorian Studies, 1984-5

C Hamlin, ‘Muddling in Bumbledom: on the enormity of large sanitary improvements in four British towns’, Victorian Studies, 1988-9

L Hannah, Electricity before Nationalisation

Anne Hardy, The Epidemic Streets: Infectious Disease and the Rise of Preventive Medicine 1856-1900

A Hardy, ‘Parish pump to private pipes: London’s water supply in the 19th century’ in W F Bynum and R Porter (eds), Living and Dying in London

J A Hassan, ‘The growth and impact of the British water industry in the 19th century’, Economic History Review, 1985

Bill Luckin, ‘“The Heart and Home of Horror”: Great London Fogs of the 19th century’, Social History, 2003

James Winter, London’s Teeming Streets