Bazalgette - the man who took sewage off London's streets

Much of his system survives to the present day.

Bazalgette was the grandson of a French Protestant immigrant and became Chief Engineer at the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1856. He took up his role at the time of growing concern at the living conditions of Londoners, and a series of serious health problems.

In 1848, and then again in 1853, cholera epidemics killed tens of thousands of Londoners.

Though Dr John Snow had already advanced the explanation, which is now known to be correct, that the cholera was spread by contaminated water, his view was not generally accepted. However, it was obvious to most people that the stinking open sewer that was the Thames at the time, and into which household wastes flowed, could not be conducive to health.

The fact that the Houses of Parliament overlook the Thames rather concentrated the minds of decision-makers, and in 1858, the year of the "Great Stink", Parliament passed an act that enabled the funding of Bazalgette’s ambitious plans for a network of 82 miles of enclosed underground brick main sewers to handle sewage outflows, and 1,100 miles of street sewers, to intercept the raw sewage which up until then flowed freely through the streets and thoroughfares of London.

The project was completed in 1875, and Bazalgette’s foresight even provided for a massive increase in the London population in future years, without overloading the sewerage system.

Further reading

• How Bazalgette built London's first super-sewer - Museum of London
• The Story of London’s Sewer System - Historic England
• Main Drainage of London's sewers - sub-urban