THC Science

Memorial to Sir Joseph Bazalgette on Victoria Embankment

Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (28 March 1819 – 15 March 1891) was one of the great English civil engineers of the Victorian era. As the chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation of a sewer network for central London, which helped relieve the city from cholera epidemics, while beginning the clean-up of the River Thames, which had reached a nadir with "The Great Stink" of 1858.

Beginnings

Joseph Bazalgette was born in Enfield, London, England, the son of a captain in the Royal Navy and grandson of a French immigrant. He began his career working on railway projects, articled to noted engineer Sir John MacNeill and gaining sufficient experience (some in Northern Ireland) in land drainage and reclamation works for him to set up his own London consulting practice in 1842. By the time he married, in 1845, Bazalgette was deeply involved in the expansion of the railway network, working so hard that he suffered a nervous breakdown two years later.

While he was recovering, London's shortlived Metropolitan Commission of Sewers ordered that all cesspits should be closed and that house drains should connect to sewers and empty into the Thames. As a result, a cholera epidemic (1848-49) then killed 14,137 Londoners.

Bazalgette was appointed assistant surveyor to the Commission in 1849, taking over as Engineer in 1852, after his predecessor died of "harassing fatigues and anxieties." Soon after, another cholera epidemic struck, in 1853, killing 10,738. Medical opinion at the time held that cholera was caused by foul air: a so-called miasma. Dr John Snow had earlier advanced a different explanation, which we now know to be correct: cholera was spread by contaminated water. His view was not generally accepted.

Championed by fellow engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Bazalgette was appointed chief engineer of the Commission's successor, the Metropolitan Board of Works, in 1856 (a post he retained until the MBW was abolished and replaced by the London County Council in 1889). In 1858, the year of the Great Stink, Parliament passed an enabling act, in spite of the colossal expense of the project, and Bazalgette's proposals to revolutionise London's sewerage system began to be implemented. The expectation was that enclosed sewers would eliminate the stink ('miasma'), and thus reduce the incidence of cholera.

Sewer works

File:Abbey Mills Pumping Station2.jpg

The old Abbey Mills Pumping Station

At the time, the Thames was little more than an open sewer, devoid of any fish or other wildlife, and an obvious health hazard to Londoners. Bazalgette's solution (similar to a proposal made by painter John Martin 25 years earlier) was to construct 83 miles of underground brick main sewers to intercept sewage outflows, and 1100 miles of street sewers, to intercept the raw sewage which up until then flowed freely through the streets and thoroughfares of London. The outflows were diverted downstream where they were dumped, untreated, into the Thames. Extensive sewage treatment facilities were only built decades later.

The scheme involved major pumping stations at Deptford (1864) and at Crossness (1865) on the Erith marshes, both on the south side of the Thames, and at Abbey Mills (in the River Lea valley, 1868) and on the Chelsea Embankment (close to Grosvenor Bridge; 1875), north of the river.

The system was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1865, although the whole project was not actually completed for another ten years.

Bazalgette's foresight may be seen in the diameter of the sewers. When planning the network he took the most dense population, gave every person the most generous allowance of sewage production and came up with a diameter of pipe needed. He then said 'Well, we're only going to do this once and there's always the unforeseen.' and doubled the diameter to be used. Every Londoner should be grateful for this foresight as the unforeseen was the tower block. If had used his original, smaller pipe diameter the sewer would have overflowed in the 1960s. As is they are still in use to this day.

The effect of the new sewer system was to reduce cholera not only in places that no longer stank, but wherever water supplies ceased to be contaminated by sewage. The basic premise of this expensive project was wrong, as so often happens, but the end result was much better than expected, which is a rare occurrence. (The River Thames now contains several smaller varieties of fish, including trout; it is also safe to swim in - for those willing to brave the frigid waters and able to find a stretch without undertow!).

Awards

Bazalgette was knighted in 1875, and elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1888.

Memorials

He lived for some years at 17 Hamilton Terrace, St John's Wood, north London, where there is now a blue plaque in his honour.

He later moved to Morden, then in 1873, with his wife, six sons and four daughters, to Arthur Road in Wimbledon, where he died in 1891, being buried in nearby St Mary's churchyard.

A formal monument (see photo above) on the riverside of the Victoria Embankment in central London commemorates Bazalgette's genius.

A living fictionalised tribute to the genius, the work and the ideals of Sir Joseph Bazalgette can be found in the historic Victorian novel "The Worms of Euston Square" by William Sutton. This portrays Sir Joseph Bazalgette in a heroic light as a man with an innate social conscience who employs his skills to improve the city that he loves and who plays an active role in rehousing those whose homes were demolished during the enormous work of construction.

Other works

Albert Embankment (1869)
Victoria Embankment (1870)
Chelsea Embankment (1874)
Putney Bridge (1886)
Albert Bridge (1884; modifications)
Hammersmith Bridge (1887)
The Woolwich Ferry (1889)
Battersea Bridge (1890)
Charing Cross Road
Garrick Street
Northumberland Avenue
Shaftesbury Avenue
early plans for the Blackwall Tunnel (1897)
proposal for what later became Tower Bridge

Notable descendants

Peter Bazalgette (great-great-grandson).
Ian Bazalgette (great grandson)

External links

References

The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victorian Capital - Stephen Halliday Stroud, Gloucestershire : Sutton Pub., c1999 ISBN 0-7509-1975-2

Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (1819-1891): Engineer to the Metropolitan Board of Works - D P Smith: Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 1986-87 Vol 58.

London in the Nineteenth Century: A Human Awful Wonder of God - Jerry White, London : Jonathan Cape 2006.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 [[Image:Abbey_Mills_Pumping_Station2.jpg|right|thumb|The old Abbey Mills Pumping Station]]
 At the time, the [[Thames]] was little more than an open sewer, devoid of any fish or other wildlife, and an obvious health hazard to Londoners. Bazalgette's solution (similar to a proposal made by painter [[John Martin (painter)|John Martin]] 25 years earlier) was to construct 83 miles of underground [[brick]] main sewers to intercept sewage outflows, and 1100 miles of street [[sewer]]s, to intercept the raw sewage which up until then flowed freely through the streets and thoroughfares of London. The outflows were diverted downstream where they were dumped, untreated, into the Thames. Extensive [[sewage treatment]] facilities were only built decades later.
 The scheme involved major [[pumping station]]s at [[Deptford]] ([[1864]]) and at [[Crossness Pumping Station|Crossness]] ([[1865]]) on the [[Erith]] marshes, both on the south side of the Thames, and at [[Abbey Mills Pumping Station|Abbey Mills]] (in the [[River Lea]] valley, [[1868]]) and on the [[Chelsea Embankment]] (close to [[Grosvenor Bridge]]; [[1875]]), north of the river.
 The system was opened by the [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Prince of Wales]] in [[1865]], although the whole project was not actually completed for another ten years.
+Bazalgette's foresight may be seen in the diameter of the sewers. When planning the network he took the most dense population, gave every person the most generous allowance of sewage production and came up with a diameter of pipe needed. He then said 'Well, we're only going to do this once and there's always the unforeseen.' and doubled the diameter to be used. Every Londoner should be grateful for this foresight as the unforeseen was the tower block. If had used his original, smaller pipe diameter the sewer would have overflowed in the 1960s. As is they are still in use to this day.
 The effect of the new sewer system was to reduce [[cholera]] not only in places that no longer stank, but wherever water supplies ceased to be contaminated by sewage. The basic premise of this expensive project was wrong, as so often happens, but the end result was much better than expected, which is a rare occurrence. (The River Thames now contains several smaller varieties of fish, including [[trout]]; it is also safe to swim in - for those willing to brave the frigid waters and able to find a stretch without [[undertow]]!).