In the sweltering summer of 1858 the stink of sewage from the oulluted Thames was so offensive that it drove Members of Parliament from the chamber of the House of Commons. Sewage from over two million Londoners was carried to and fro by the tides. "The Times" called the crisis "The Great Stink". Parliament had to act - drastic measures were required to clean the Thames and to improve London's primitive system of sanitation. The engineer entrusted by Parliament with this enormous task was Sir Joseph Bazalgette, and this book is an account of his life and work. The author traces Bazalgette's origins in revolutionary France, the confusing sanitation system that he inherited from medieval and Tudor times and his battle with politicians, bureaucrats and huge engineering problems to transform the face and health of the world's largest city.
- ISBN10 0750919752
- ISBN13 9780750919753
- Publish Date 20 May 1999
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 5 May 2011
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher The History Press Ltd
- Imprint Sutton Publishing Ltd
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 224
- Language English