New pollution laws emerge from a killer fog gripping capital
It was an extraordinarily thick, choking smog which settled over London for five days, caused 12,000 deaths and lead to landmark air quality legislation.
Known as the Great Smog Of London, the city woke on December 5, 1952, to find the itself covered in a thick, yellowish haze, so dense in some districts that people could not see their own feet.
It was triggered by a period of unusually cold weather in late November and early December, which lead Londoners to burn more coal than usual, which added to the existing fumes from the city’s coalfired power stations, cars, the diesel buses which had recently replaced electric trams, and steam locomotives.
These combined with an unusual weather situation, an anticyclone, which settled over the windless city on December 4, causing a temperature inversion with cold, stagnant air trapped under a layer of warm air.
Visibility was dramatically impaired – down to a metre in daytime, worse at night – and transportation was severely restricted. Walking outdoors involved shuffling your feet to feel for obstacles such as road kerbs. Ambulance services suffered, leaving people to find their own way to hospitals in the smog. Many people simply abandoned their cars on the road.
The fog was so dense it seeped indoors, forcing the cancellation of plays and concerts along with outdoor sporting events. Crime on the streets increased.
Though the fog lasted five days, finally lifting on December 9, its severity was not fully appreciated until the Registrar General published the number of fatalities a few weeks later, which amounted to about 4,000.
The effects of the smog were long-lasting, however, and present-day estimates rank the number of deaths to have been about 12,000.
London was no stranger to fogs. Known as “pea-soupers” for their dense, yellow appearance, fogs had became a hallmark of London by the 19th Century. But polluted fog was an issue in London as early as the 13th Century, due to the burning of coal, and the situation only worsened as the city continued to expand.
Complaints about smoke and pollution increased in the 1600s, when ultimately ineffective legislation was passed under King James I to restrict coal burning. Rapidly increasing industrialisation that began in the late 1700s made conditions even worse.
Air pollution reached a crisis in the 19th Century with the spread of the Industrial Revolution and the rapid growth of the metropolis – a situation reflected in the works of Charles Dickens.
Despite the deterioration of public health, little was done, given the jobs that new industry provided and the comforts afforded by domestic coal fires.
After the events of 1952, the seriousness of London’s pollution was undeniable.
The British Government eventually passed the Clean Air Act four years later, in 1956, as a direct response to the lethal fog. The act established smoke-free areas throughout the city and restricted the burning of coal in domestic fires as well as in industrial furnaces.
Though change was gradual and another smog crisis occurred in 1962, the Clean Air Act is generally considered a major event in the history of environmentalism, and it helped improve public health in Britain.