A new, free exhibition at SW1 Gallery,
12 Cardinal Walk
Cardinal Place SW1E 5JE
5 Jan – 28 Jan, 2012
Gallery opening hours: Tues-Fri 12-6pm, Sat 12-4pm, Sun-closed
Kicking up a stink!
This new exhibition vividly brings to life the story of cholera in Victorian London and illustrates how key London figures helped to identify the cause of this catastrophic disease. The subsequent construction of Victorian London’s sewage system, which keeps today’s water supply clean and safe, is displayed in a colourful and novel way.
Thanks to a £47,100 grant from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and a £13,500 grant from Thames Water, rare watercolours, documents, prints and photographs drawn from Westminster City Archives will be displayed, as part of a larger education project, at the prestigious SW1 Gallery for one month only.
The exhibition will reveal the crucial work of Dr. John Snow and the Rev Henry Whitehead, who succeeded in isolating the cause of the cholera outbreak in Soho in 1854, and confirmed that the disease was indeed waterborne and not airborne as everyone thought. In the mid- 1800’s the area between Victoria Street and the river was ripe for the disease to take hold. The state of the streets in SW1 led Cardinal Wiseman to use the word ‘slum’ for the very first time to describe the areas depravity, including the rancid smell that emanated from the Thames and the sewers. The author Charles Dickens used his popular campaigning magazine, ‘Household Words’ to name this area the Devil’s Acre in an effort to shame the authorities into taking action to deal with its squalor and disease. As we enter 2012, the bicentenary of Dickens birth, the exhibition will not only reveal how the ‘Devil’s Acre,’ coped with the cholera epidemics but also how at this time its sickly streets provided the inspiration for one of Dickens’s most famous characters, Fagin from Oliver Twist.
The exhibition illustrates how the completion of Joseph Bazalgette’s Embankment sewer system in 1871 finally brought Londoners protection from further outbreaks of cholera. Original plans of the system, signed by Bazalgette himself, will feature alongside information on contemporary issues that Thames Water face in their plans to upgrade the Bazalgette system with the Thames Tideway Tunnel. Continuing this contemporary theme will be a section highlighting the work of international charity WaterAid, who tackle modern day outbreaks of cholera across the globe.
Two new short animated films will also be screened during the exhibition. The first film is by young animator Andrew Kinnear of Ravensbourne College and is based loosely on Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol.’ The second film, ‘The Ghosts of Old Father Thames’ was made by families and pupils at Soho Parish School.
Artist Liza Campbell delivered art workshops to a group of women from the Church Street area, many of whom originally came from Bangladesh. The sessions explored life in Westminster during the cholera outbreaks and discussed contemporary health issues related to the water supply in countries like Bangladesh today. The artworks merge Victorian London and the developing world , producing a vibrant and colourful interpretation. The artworks will be on display at the exhibition.
Schools & Resources
- Local schools, visiting the SW1 Gallery in January, will use the exhibition as a source of reference, as they participate in a series of drama workshops, where they will play out the story of Dr John Snow.
- ‘The Ghosts of Old Father Thames’ will be screened for the first time at the exhibition before being distributed free of charge to eight local schools participating in the project later in 2012.
- The website (produced by volunteers and interns at Westminster Archives) featuring all the stories relating to ‘Cholera and the Thames’ will go live in January 2012. Visit www.choleraandthethames.co.uk
- The exhibition comes at the end of a number of events held in 2011 that helped mark the 120th anniversary of the death of engineer Joseph Bazalgette, creator of the London sewage system. The London sewer system designed for the use of three million Londoners over a century ago still serves its eight million citizens today.
- In May 2012, Westminster and Bexley Primary Schools will visit the recently renovated Crossness Pumping Station to see for themselves Bazalgette’s engineering accomplishment.
Peter Daniel, Education and Interpretation Officer at City of Westminster Archives Centre, said: “This exhibition will allow people of all ages to view material that has never been made public before and which will allow them to understand how their city suffered until a breakthrough was made in the heart of Westminster by Dr John Snow that ensured that generations of Londoners avoided death from a disease that still ravages parts of the world to this day”.
Notes to editors:
Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage for present and future generations to take part in, learn from and enjoy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported 33,900 projects, allocating £4.4billion across the UK, with £868 million of that in London.
SW1 Gallery
12 Cardinal Walk
Roof Garden Level
Cardinal Place
(Off Victoria Street)
London SW1E 5JE
Further information:
Vicky Wilford, HLF Press Office: 020 7591 6046 / 07973 401 937 or vickyw@hlf.org.uk| or Phil Cooper: 07889 949 173.
Peter Daniel, Westminster Archives: 020 7641 5180
For images please contact Camilla Bergman, Westminster Archives camillaabergman@gmail.com|
Image above: ‘The Devil’s Acre’ from the illustrated book London: A Pilgrimage by Gustave Doré 1872
