Digital resources in the Social Sciences and Humanities OpenEdition Our platforms OpenEdition Books OpenEdition Journals Hypotheses Calenda Libraries OpenEdition Freemium Follow us

From London Fog to Frankfurt Smog: Sensing Anthropogenic Weather Conditions from a Transurban Perspective in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Part 2—Sniffer Squads on the Odour Trail: Smog in Frankfurt

The fog phenomenon seen, and smelled, in London in the late 1800s had still not been eradicated by the midpoint of the next century. On the night of 22 January 1957, mysterious events occurred in Frankfurt am Main that were similar to those in Victorian London. As ‘all Frankfurt daily newspapers unanimously’ reported, adults, and especially children, were afflicted by headaches, dizzy spells, and nausea, while passers-by staggered around in the streets and telephoned from pubs, gasping for a doctor.1 What had happened? The Frankfurter Rundschau answered its own question as follows:

The previous day, the residents of the city had gone about their business, like any other day, and had returned home for a well-earned rest in the evening. In the city centre there was the usual night-time bustle, and in the suburbs and residential areas a peaceful silence prevailed. You could even say there was a deathly silence in the air. Not even the slightest breeze. But it was precisely this silence that resulted in numerous calls to the police and doctors during the night, and in citizens angrily discussing ‘Frankfurt’s bad air’ the next morning.

Continue reading From London Fog to Frankfurt Smog: Sensing Anthropogenic Weather Conditions from a Transurban Perspective in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
  1. Willy Rosentreter, ‘Verpestung der Luft wird zur gefährlichen Plage’, Frankfurter Rundschau am Wochenende, 4 May and 11 May 1957. Transcript/typescript, Institute for the History of Frankfurt (ISG) MA_1095. []

From London Fog to Frankfurt Smog: Sensing Anthropogenic Weather Conditions from a Transurban Perspective in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Part 1—Shades of Yellow, Black, and Grey: The London ‘Pea Souper’, The ‘Manchester Entire’, and Sooty Hamburg around 1900

In London, a mysterious weather phenomenon clouded the fin de siècle. For eight consecutive winters from October 1893, large parts of the city were repeatedly engulfed in a mixture of smoke and fog which were perceived with several senses: not only was the visibility reduced to 200 yards, but the fog also made it difficult to breathe, and it came with a characteristic smell.1 Over three days in October 1901, this fog was so thick that artificial lighting was required around Piccadilly during the day; even though the sun was shining in Kensington, it could not penetrate the haze in central London.2 This gave rise to unusual colours: what would have been ordinary white fog in the countryside was stained yellowish-brown, and at times almost black, by ‘our myriad of chimneys’ in the city. As one meteorologist explained, the ‘combination of fog and smoke had disastrous effects on human life, and when the people of London knew what the cost in life and money was they would be willing to do everything possible to stop the smoke nuisance.’3 In November 1900, the London-based Meteorological Council therefore wrote to the London City Council urging it to initiate an investigation ‘into the occurrence and distribution of fogs in London’.4

Continue reading From London Fog to Frankfurt Smog: Sensing Anthropogenic Weather Conditions from a Transurban Perspective in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
  1. The London Archives (TLA), CL/MD/1/1, London County Council (Department of the Clerk of the Council): General Purposes Committee: Minutes and Correspondence. Subject: ‘Atmospheric Pollution’ (unpag.), ‘Fog Observations’. Memorandum by the Medical Officer Shirley F. Murphy (undated). []
  2. See ‘Distribution of Fogs’, The Insurance Observer (25 Oct. 1901). []
  3. ‘Distribution of Fogs’, The Insurance Observer (25 Oct. 1901). []
  4. TLA, CL/MD/1/1: Letter from the Meteorological Council to the General Purpose Committee (21 Nov. 1900). []