Studies in the Politics of Environmental Protection: The Historical Roots of the British Clean Air Act,1956: II. The Appeal to Public Opinion over Domestic Smoke,1880–1892

This is the second of three article about the campaign to abate smoke in the cities of England which began early in the 19th century and culminated in the Clean Air Act, 1956. By the 1880s it had become evident that a major cause of the severe ‘pea soup’ fogs in London was smoke from domestic fires which were not covered by any law to abate smoke. A succession of severe fogs, coupled with the publication of mortality rates which turned out to be as severe as those caused by cholera, stimulated the creation of a smoke abatement lobby. Thi essay describes the work of that lobby and the sustained efforts (ten attempts in nine years) to put a smoke-abatement Bill through parliament.

The choice before Londoners was either to change from open fires to closed stoves burning anthracite or coke, as the social price to pay for cleaner air; or to continue to enjoy the ‘pokeable, companionable’ open grate, at the cost of fogs which caused death and illness and paralysed transport. In the 1880s the technology for smoke control was already available; it was social resistance to it which prevented its application. The anti-smoke lobby failed to get more effective laws through parliament; but it did valuable service in keeping the issue before the public and lifting social norms for the environment toward the ‘threshold level’ which, two generations later, made stricter smoke abatement laws acceptable.