Thanks to the various people who has responded to my enquiry about
non-appearance of a letter. That letter DID get acknowledged with the usual
note about successful distribution to 253 subscribers.
This is my 3rd attempt to get the following to the list:
An ash-pit or ash-bin was the general name for any receptacle for household
refuse. During the 19th century house refuse was almost entirely made up of
the ashes from domestic fires. They burnt coal mainly but a lot of
household rubbish was burnt on the kitchen fire too. Until the 1850s the
only service for refuse collection was in a few wealthy areas of cities
where private contractors offered a service. There was virtually no public
refuse collection service outside London and other big cities until the
Public Health Act of 1875 made it compulsory but even then it was fairly
patchy so ash-pits and bins were generally emptied by the householder on to
the garden.
The first book on this subject was published in 1881 and written by a civil
engineer, H. Percy Boulnois: DIRTY DUSTBINS AND SLOPPY STREETS. The law at
that time required ashpits to be not more than six cubic feet in capacity
and "furnished with proper doors and coverings". Boulnois thought these were
very unsatisfactory and recommended what he called a "portable dustbox".
In Cassells guide to householders published c. 1880, the advice is given
that "Dustmen are periodically necessary visitants, although not so
frequently as some people imagine. In the suburbs of London, where the
collection of dust is not enforced, there is no occasion for a dustbin at
all..." and the article continues at length with advice about how to dispose
of various items. Food should not be thrown away because it, "would afford a
meal to some of the starving poor to be found everywhere."
Brian Read
|