Article on 19th-century water activism highlighted in BBC History
A journal article on water supply in 19th-century Britain by a Birkbeck academic and his PhD student is being highlighted in the October issue of BBC History Magazine.
Article on 19th-century water activism highlighted in BBC History
A journal article on water supply in 19th-century Britain by a Birkbeck academic and his PhD student is being highlighted in the October issue of BBC History Magazine, in its regular column highlighting the best stories from academic journals.
The article, 'Liquid Politics: Water and the Politics of Everyday Life in the Modern City', by Professor Frank Trentmann and Dr Vanessa Taylor, originally appeared in the Oxford University Press journal Past and Present. It addresses an issue that will resonate with modern consumers: the high prices charged by the water companies and their reluctance to reduce charges when supplies were affected by burst pipes caused by winter frosts and drought-filled summers.
This was a period when activism was well-organised, with the Water Consumers' Defence League being founded in 1883 and the successful legal action by a London barrister Archibald Dobbs, who disagreed with his property's rateable value as decreed by his local water company and took on the powerful companies, aiming for public ownership of the capital's water supply. The campaigns changed expectations of urban living and helped bring about greater public control of waterworks.
The authors explain: "The story of water in the creation of urban networks is well known for its feats of engineering, for its relationship to public health and cleanliness, and for its battles over municipalisation. But it also represents a chapter in the transformation of politics. New technologies, habits and sensibilities did not evolve in a smooth, symbiotic fashion. Piped hot water made possible new private routines in the home; but, at the same time, it was a source of political mobilisation, leading middle-class ratepayers to assert their rights as householders and citizens."
Issued: 13 September 2011