1858 LONDON HOLDS ITS NOSE AGAINST THE GREAT STINK
The Thames had been home to the capital’s waste for centuries, so imagine how bad the smell must have got for the government to act
What do you get if you mix an industrialised capital city struggling with antiquated drainage, a river clogged by sewage and effluence dumped by a population on the rise, and an atypically hot and dry summer that could cook the tons of waste into a putrid stench? "The people of London found out in 1858 – and they dubbed it the ‘Great Stink’.