Inspired by its Wash House foundations, The Women's Library is to host an exhibition on the subject of cleanliness; Dirty Linen will run from
Saturday September 28th to Saturday December 21st, entrance is free.
In 1847, the Goulston Square public washhouse opened as a model establishment bringing improved washing and laundry facilities to women in
the East End of London. Now home to The Women's Library, the baths provide a natural starting point for the latest exhibition that explores how
keeping things clean has shaped women's lives.
Complementing the exhibition is Dirty City on Saturday October 12th, a series of talks filth, squalor and the Victorian clean up of London:
Saturday October 12
12pm Gin/Madam Geneva: Cleaning up Hogarth's London
In the eighteenth century gin was new, cheap and strong. Worst of all, it was sold and drunk by women. A governmental campaign to clean up
London included an attack on the drinking habits of London society's underside, one that the artist Hogarth was fascinated by. Patrick Dillon,
author of Madam Geneva, talks about the clean up and what effect the more sober role had on women.
2.30pm The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victoria Metropolis
In the summer of 1858, the stench from the Thames drove MPs from the Palace of Westminster. "The Great Stink", as it was named by the
press, was caused by the collective sewage of two and half million people flowing through the Thames. Based on his book The Great Stink, Dr
Stephen Halliday will describe Bazalgette's contribution of drains, sewers and much more to Victorian and present day London.
4.30pm Charles Dickens's Toilet
Dickens hated dirt; he loathed the grubbiness of the everyday. And yet, Dickens needed dirt. It fuelled his imagination as he wrote about sewage,
decay and degradation. Writer, academic and broadcaster Peggy Reynolds talks about the problematic dichotomy and how later in life Dickens
found the resolution.
BOOKING INFORMATION
TICKETS FOR EACH TALK
£5 (£3 CONCESSIONS)
To book tickets call 020 7320 2222, call in or write to us at:
The Women's Library, Old Castle Street, London E1 7NT
Cheques should be made payable to The Women's Library
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