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© The Society for the Social History of Medicine 2005, all rights reserved
Evil Necessaries and Abominable Erections: Public Conveniences and Private Interests in the Scottish City, 1830–1870
Department of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. E-mail: d.c.brunton{at}open.ac.uk
This study of the provision of public conveniences in four large Scottish burghs explores the governance of public space. Conveniences were the responsibility of local government and were erected to bring moral and environmental order to city streets by providing a confined and private area for urination and defecation. Yet private citizens had an acknowledged right to demand the erection or removal of conveniences in order to bring the condition of public space into line with that of adjacent homes, businesses, and institutions. The burgh authorities therefore had to balance the interests of the wider population against those of individual residents and businessmen when attempting to introduce this sanitary reform.
Keywords: public convenience; police commissioners; Edinburgh; Glasgow; Aberdeen; Leith; public space; sanitary reform; private interests
1 S. Sturdy (ed.), Medicine, Health and the Public Sphere in Britain, 1600–2000 (London, 2002).
2 V. Harding, ‘Space, Property, and Propriety in Urban England’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 32 (2002), 549–69.
3 M. J. Daunton, House and Home in the Victorian City. Working-Class Housing 1850–1914 (London, 1983), pp. 11–37; J. K. Walton, ‘Towns and Consumerism’, in M. Daunton (ed.), The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, 3 vols, vol. III 1840–1950 (Cambridge, 2000), 715–44; D. A. Reid, ‘Playing and Praying’, idem, 745–807, pp. 758–800; J. Armstrong, ‘From Shillibeer to Buchanan: Transport and the Urban Environment’, idem, 229–57.
4 See, for example, G. Kearns, ‘Cholera, Nuisances and Environmental Management in Islington 1830–55’, in W. F. Bynum and R. Porter (eds), Living and Dying in London (London, 1991), 94–125; C. Hamlin, ‘Public Sphere to Public Health: The Transformation of "Nuisance"’, in Sturdy (ed.), Medicine, Health and the Public Sphere, 189–204; C. Hamlin, ‘Environmental Sensibility in Edinburgh, 1839–1840: The "Fetid Irrigation" Controversy’, Journal of Urban History, 20 (1994), 311–39.
5 L. Wright, Clean and Decent. The Fascinating History of the Bathroom and Water Closet (London, 1960), pp. 50–1; H. Murray, Where to Go in York. The History of Public Conveniences in the City of York (York, 2000), pp. 5–29.
6 Edinburgh City Archives, Leith Police Commissioners' Minutes (hereafter Leith PCM), 16 February 1832, SL 80/1/9.
7 Edinburgh City Archives, Edinburgh Police Commissioners' Minutes, Cleaning Committee Minutes (hereafter Edinburgh CCM), 15 August 1844, ED 9/3/4.
8 Edinburgh CCM, 27 June 1842, ED 9/3/4.
9 R. Tyzack, ‘"No Mean City"? The Growth of Civic Consciousness in Aberdeen with particular reference to the Work of the Police Commissioners’, in T. Brotherstone and D. J. Withrington (eds), The City and its Worlds. Aspects of Aberdeen's History since 1794 (Glasgow, 1996), 15–67; K. Carson and H. Idzikowska, ‘The Social Production of Scottish Policing’, in D. Hay and F. Snyder (eds), Policing and Prosecution in Britain 1750–1850 (Oxford, 1989), 267–97, pp. 270–9.
10 ‘An Act for Better Paving, Cleansing, Lighting, Watching and Improving the Streets, Lanes and other Public Places and Passages within the city of Aberdeen’, 10 Geo. IV, Cap. xli, cl. CXLV; ‘An Act for Altering and Amending certain Acts for Regulating the Police of the City of Edinburgh’, 2 Gul. IV, Cap. lxxxvii, cl.XLIV; ‘An Act to Consolidate, Amend and Extend the Provisions of Several Acts for the Better Paving, Watching, Lighting and Cleansing, and for Regulating the Police of the City of Glasgow’, 6 & 7 Vict., Cap. xcix, cl. CLVII; ‘An Act to Provide for the Municipal and Police Government of the Burgh of Leith’, 11 & 12 Vict., Cap. cxxiii, cl. CLXVIII.
11 P. Kearney, The Glasgow Cludgie. A History of Glasgow's Public Conveniences (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1985), pp. 14–16; Glasgow City Archives, ‘List of Public Urinals’, Master of Works Memoranda, pp. 102–6, D-OPW 1.2.
12 J. Stevenson, Report on the Necessity of Latrine Accommodation for Women in the Metropolis (London, 1879), p. 12.
13 Letter of Mr. J. W. Bazalgette on the Establishment of Public Conveniences throughout the Metropolis (London, 1849), p. 1.
14 J. Winter, London's Teeming Streets 1830–1914, (London, 1993) p. 101; Stevenson, Report on Latrine Accommodation, p. 18; P. Corfield, ‘Walking the City Streets: The Urban Odyssey in Eighteenth-Century England’, Journal of Urban History, 16 (1990), 132–74, p. 154.
15 Mitchell Library, Glasgow Police Commissioners' Minutes (hereafter Glasgow PCM), 31 August 1846, E 1.1.22.
16 Mitchell Library, Glasgow Police Commissioners' Minutes, Police and Statute Labour Committee (hereafter Glasgow PSLC), 1 July 1850, E 1.2.4.
17 Glasgow PSLC, 1 July 1850, 11 August 1851, E 1.2.4.
18 Stevenson, Report on Latrine Accommodation, p. 10.
19 Edinburgh CCM, 29 December 1848, ED 9/3/5; Glasgow PCM, 31 August 1846, E 1.1.22.
20 Leith PCM, 14 July 1865, SL 80/4/14.
21 Glasgow PSLC, 1 July 1850, E 1.2.4; ibid.,14 July 1860, E 1.2.11; Edinburgh City Archives, Edinburgh Police Committee, Cleaning and Lighting Committee Minutes (hereafter Edinburgh CLCM), 18 March 1861, SL 46/1/1; ibid., 14 June 1875, SL 46/1/3.
22 Stevenson, Report on Latrine Accommodation, p. 13.
23 ‘An Act to Consolidate, Amend and Extend the Provision of Several Acts for the better Paving, Watching, Lighting and Cleansing, and for Regulating the Police of the City of Glasgow’, 6 & 7 Vict., Cap. xcix, cls. CCXXXIV, CCXLII.
24 Tabular Return as to Crimes, Offences and Controversies, and to cases of Drunkeness (Edinburgh, 1858).
25 Aberdeen City Archives, Aberdeen Police Commissioners Minutes (hereafter Aberdeen PCM), 21 January 1861, vol. 9; Edinburgh CCM, 3 November 1854, ED 9/3/7; Leith PCM, 3 January 1844, SL 80/4/10.
26 Edinburgh City Archives, Leith Police Commissioners' Minutes, Committee Minutes (hereafter Leith PCCM), 24 October 1865, SL 80/4/14; Edinburgh CCM, 21 July 1843, ED 9/3/4.
27 Glasgow PSLC, 17 October 1853, E 1.2.5; ibid., 22 January 1855, E 1.2.6; Leith PCCM, 10 September 1853, SL 80/4/11; ibid., 13 July 1870, SL 80/4/18; Edinburgh CLCM, 7 October 1870, 9 December 1872, SL 46/1/2.
28 Edinburgh CCM, 20 September 1850, 22 January 1852, ED 9/3/6; Edinburgh CLCM, 18 June 1861, SL 46/1/1.
29 Edinburgh CCM, 18 August 1854, ED 9/3/7; Glasgow PSLC, 6 March 1854, E 1.2.5.
30 Edinburgh CCM, 28 September 1842, ED 9/3/4.
31 Aberdeen PCM, 15 November 1847, vol. 8.
32 J. Walkowitz, City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London (London, 1994), pp. 18–22, 26–8; C. Otter, ‘Making Liberalism Durable: Vision and Civility in the Late Victorian City’, Social History, 27 (2002), 1–15, pp. 2–4.
33 Glasgow PCM, 31 August 1846, E 1.1.22; Edinburgh CCM, 27 September 1853, ED 9/3/6.
34 Glasgow PSLC, 19 December 1859, E 1.2.9; Edinburgh CCM, 21 February 1856, ED 9/3/7.
35 Edinburgh CLCM, 25 October 1871, SL 46/1/2.
36 Edinburgh CCM, 12 December 1851, ED 9/3/6.
37 Edinburgh CLCM, 21 July 1884, SL 46/1/4.
38 Edinburgh CLCM, 28 March 1864, SL 46/1/2; ibid., 21 February 1876, SL 46/1/3; Leith PCCM, 18 February 1857, SL 80/4/12.
39 Glasgow PCM, 23 August 1852, E 1.2.5.
40 Edinburgh CCM, 30 October 1841, ED 9/3/4.
41 See, for example, Edinburgh CCM, 30 October 1841, ED 9/3/4; ibid., 21 September 1852, ED 9/3/6; Edinburgh CLCM, 22 January 1866, SL 46/1/2; Glasgow PSLC, 6 July 1849, E 1.2.3; ibid., 1 March 1858, E 1.2.7; Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Glasgow Police Board Minutes (hereafter Glasgow PBM), 5 February 1866, E 1.3.3.
42 G. Warren, Vanishing Street Furniture (Newton Abbott, 1978).
43 Edinburgh CLCM, 18 July 1870, SL 46/1/2.
44 Glasgow PSLC, 1 July 1850, E 1.2.4.
45 Edinburgh CCM, 30 March 1844, ED 9/3/4; ibid., 1 June 1854, ED 9/3/7; Glasgow PSLC, 7 October 1850, E 1.2.4; Aberdeen PCM, 14 September 1857, vol. 9.
46 Edinburgh CCM, 24 August 1842, ED 9/3/4; Edinburgh CLCM, 7 October 1870, SL 46/11/2; Glasgow PSLC, 22 January 1849, E 1.2.3; ibid., 5 April 1852, E 1.2.4; Leith PCCM, 13 July 1868, SL 80/4/17.
47 Edinburgh CCM, 7 July 1842, ED 9/3/4; Glasgow PSLC, 1 July 1850, E 1.2.4.
48 Edinburgh CLCM, 19 January 1863, SL 46/1/1; ibid., 20 March 1873, SL 46/1/2; ibid., 21 June 1886, SL 46/1/4.
49 Aberdeen PCM, 5 December 1853, vol. 8; Leith PCM, 27 July 1838, SL 80/4/9; ibid., 15 December 1856, SL 80/4/12.
50 Glasgow PSLC, 1 July 1850, E 1.2.4; Edinburgh CCM, 15 November 1855, ED 9/3/7.
51 Glasgow PCM, 4 October 1852, E1.2.5.
52 Leith PCM, 4 November 1867, SL 80/4/17; Edinburgh CCM, 7 October 1840, ED 9/3/4.
53 Edinburgh City Archives, Edinburgh Police Commissioners' Minutes (hereafter Edinburgh PCM), 10 October 1853, ED 9/1/12.
54 Glasgow PCM, 31 August 1846, E1.2.22; Glasgow PSLC, 28 March 1859, E 1.2.8; Edinburgh CLCM, 12 May 1875, SL 46/1/3.
55 Edinburgh CCM, 16 November 1842, 30 March 1844, ED 9/3/4.
56 Glasgow PSLC, 17 June 1861, E 1.2.10.
57 Edinburgh PCM, 8 January 1849, ED 9/1/11.
58 Edinburgh CCM, 12 December 1849, ED 9/3/6.
59 Glasgow PSLC, 23 August 1852, E 1.2.5.
60 See, for example, Glasgow PSLC, 8 June 1857, E 1.2.7; Edinburgh CCM, 17 September 1845, ED 9/3/5.
61 Leith PCCM, 11 September 1855, SL 80/4/12.
62 Aberdeen PCM, 15 October 1860, vol. 9; Leith PCCM, 16 September 1853, SL 80/4/11; ibid., 8 February 1855, SL 80/4/12; Glasgow PBM, 23 January 1865, E 1.3.2; Edinburgh CCM, 29 April 1851, ED 9/3/6.
63 Leith PCCM, 27 January 1851, SL 80/4/11.
64 Leith PCCM, 8 February 1855, SL 80/4/12; Edinburgh CCM, 17 August 1842, ED 9/3/4.
65 D. Brunton, ‘Policy, Powers and Practice: The Public Response to Public Health in the Scottish City’, in Sturdy (ed.), Medicine, Health and the Public Sphere, 171–88, pp. 176–8.
66 Wright, Clean and Decent, pp. 164–237; A. Corbin, The Foul and the Fragrant (Leamington Spa, 1986), pp. 142–221; N. Tomes, The Gospel of Germs: Men, Women, and the Microbe in American Life (London, 1998), pp. 23–87.
67 Leith PCCM, 11 September 1855, SL 80/4/12.
68 Leith PCCM, 20 April 1863, SL 80/4/13; ibid., 20 June 1865, SL 80/4/14.
69 Edinburgh CCM, 12 June 1847, ED 9/3/5; Edinburgh CLCM, 24 September 1866, SL 46/11/2.
70 M. Sigsworth and M. Worboys, ‘The Public's View of Public Health in Mid-Victorian Britain’, Urban History, 21 (1994), 237–50.
71 Edinburgh CCM, 28 September 1842, ED 9/3/4.
72 See, for example, Leith PCCM, 12 November 1846, SL 80/4/10; Edinburgh CCM, 28 July 1841, 25 October 1842, ED 9/3/4; ibid., 1 December 1855, ED 9/3/7.
73 Edinburgh CCM, 28 December 1843, ED 9/3/4.
74 Edinburgh CCM, 9 October 1845, ED 9/3/5.
75 Aberdeen PCM, 16 August 1847, vol. 8; Glasgow PSLC, 18 October 1852, E 1.2.5; ibid., 30 October 1854, E 1.2.6.
76 See, for example, Edinburgh CCM, 5 October 1852, ED 9/3/6; ibid., 29 August 1873, SL 46/1/2; Glasgow PSLC, 14 February 1859, E 1.2.8; Glasgow PBM, 29 June 1863, E 1.3.1; Leith PCCM, 2 January 1845, SL 80/4/10.
77 See, for example, Edinburgh CCM, 28 September 1842, ED 9/3/4; ibid., 7 March 1853, ED 9/3/6; Edinburgh CLCM, 26 June 1877, SL 46/1/3.
78 See, for example, Aberdeen PCM, 2 February 1846, vol. 8; Edinburgh CCM, 3 February 1847, ED 9/3/5; ibid., 9 March 1852, ED 9/3/6; Edinburgh CLCM, 23 August 1871, SL 46/1/2; ibid., 1 October 1883, SL 46/1/4.
79 Glasgow PBM, 6 October 1862, E 1.3.1.
80 Aberdeen PCM, 19 April 1847, vol. 8; ibid., 15 October 1860, vol. 9.
81 Glasgow PSLC, 21 January 1856, E 1.2.6.
82 Leith PCCM, 20 June 1865, SL 80/4/14.
83 See, for example, Glasgow PSLC, 26 August 1861, E 1.2.10; Glasgow PBM, 9 March 1863, E 1.3.1; Edinburgh CCM, 11 May 1869, 16 December 1870, SL 46/1/2.
84 Glasgow PSLC, 29 November 1852, 4 April 1853, E 1.2.5; Edinburgh CCM, 5 September 1854, ED 9/3/7; Edinburgh CLCM, 5 May 1873, SL 46/1/2; ibid., 1 April 1876, SL 46/1/3.
85 D. Fraser, Urban Politics in Victorian England. The Structure of Politics in Victorian Cities (Leicester, 1976).
86 C. Hamlin, Public Health and Social Justice in the Age of Chadwick. Britain, 1800–1854 (Cambridge, 1998), pp. 72–83, 132–42.
87 P. Laxton, ‘Fighting for Public Health: Dr Duncan and his Adversaries, 1847–63’, in S. Sheard and H. Power (eds), Body and City. Histories of Urban Public Health (Aldershot, 2000), p. 75.