Great Smog of London

The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday 5 December to Tuesday 9 December 1952, then dispersed quickly when the weather changed.^[3][4]

Great Smog of London

Nelson's Column during the Great Smog
Date	5–9 December 1952 (1952-12-05 – 1952-12-09)
Location	London, England
Coordinates	51°30′25″N 0°07′37″W / 51.507°N 0.127°W / 51.507; -0.127
Casualties
100,000 injured (1952 government estimate)^[1]
Unknown number affected by breathing difficulties, lung cancer and bronchitis
Deaths	4,000 killed (1952 government estimate)^[1] 10,000–12,000 killed (modern estimate)^[1]^[2]

The smog caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas, far more severely than previous smog events, called "pea-soupers".^[5] Government medical reports in the weeks following the event estimated that up to 4,000 people had died as a direct result of the smog^[1] and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog's effects on the human respiratory tract. More recent research suggests that the total number of fatalities was considerably greater, with estimates of between 10,000 and 12,000 deaths.^[1][2]

London's poor air quality had been a problem since at least the 13th century.^[6][7] The diarist John Evelyn had written about "the inconveniencie of the aer and smoak of London [sic]" in Fumifugium, the first book written about air pollution, in 1661.^[8] However, the Great Smog was many times worse than anything the city had ever experienced before: it is thought to be the worst air pollution event in the history of the United Kingdom,^[9] and the most significant for its effects on environmental research, government regulation, and public awareness of the relationship between air quality and health.^[1][8] It led to several changes in practices and regulations, including the Clean Air Act 1956.^[10][11]

Background

Sources of pollution

 

Battersea Power Station in 1938

A period of unusually cold weather preceding and during the Great Smog led Londoners to burn much more coal than usual to keep themselves warm. While better-quality "hard" coals (such as anthracite) tended to be exported to pay off World War II debts,^[12] post-war domestic coal tended to be of a relatively low-grade, sulphurous variety called "nutty slack"^[13] (similar to lignite) which increased the amount of sulphur dioxide in the smoke. There were also numerous coal-fired electric power stations in the Greater London area, including Fulham, Battersea, Bankside, Greenwich, West Ham and Kingston upon Thames, all of which added to the pollution. According to the UK's Met Office, the following pollutants were emitted each day during the smoggy period: 1,000 tonnes of smoke particles, 140 tonnes of hydrochloric acid, 14 tonnes of fluorine compounds and 370 tonnes of sulphur dioxide which may have been converted to 800 tonnes of sulphuric acid.^[3] The relatively large size of the water droplets in the London fog allowed for the production of sulphates without the acidity of the liquid rising high enough to stop the reaction, and for the resultant dilute acid to become concentrated when the fog was burned away by the sun.^[14][15][16]

Research suggests that additional pollution-prevention systems fitted at Battersea worsened the air quality. Flue gas washing reduced the temperature of the flue gases so they did not rise, but instead slumped to ground level, causing a local nuisance.^[17]

Additionally, there was pollution and smoke from vehicle exhaust, particularly from steam locomotives and diesel-fuelled buses which had replaced the recently abandoned electric tram system.^[18] Other industrial and commercial sources also contributed to the air pollution.

Weather

On 4 December 1952, an anticyclone settled over a windless London, causing a temperature inversion with relatively cool, stagnant air trapped under a layer of warmer air.^[19][20] The resultant fog, mixed with smoke from home and industrial chimneys, particulates such as those from motor vehicle exhausts, and other pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, formed a persistent smog, which blanketed the capital the following day. The presence of tarry particles of soot gave the smog its yellow-black colour, hence the nickname "pea-souper".^[18] The absence of significant wind prevented its dispersal and allowed an unprecedented accumulation of pollutants.^[11]

Although the event is now widely described as the "London" smog, air pollution, in fact, extended far beyond the capital. According to E.T. Wilkins (of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, whose measurements would make clear the connection between smoke, sulphur dioxide, and rising deaths), fog, white mist, or grimy smog covered "many parts of the British Isles", while "In London and the Thames Valley, fog or smog covered upwards of 1000 square miles".^[21] However, it was in London that the smog's effects were the greatest.

Effects

Effect on London

There was no panic, as London was infamous for its fog.^[22] However, this one was denser and longer-lasting than any previous "pea-souper".^[23] Visibility was reduced to a few metres, with one visitor stating that it was "like you were blind",^[24] rendering driving difficult or at times impossible.^[5]

Public transport ceased, apart from the London Underground, and the ambulance service stopped, forcing individuals to transport themselves to hospitals. The smog was so dense that it even seeped indoors, resulting in the cancellation or abandonment of concerts and film screenings, as visibility decreased in large enclosed spaces, and stages and screens became harder to see from the seats.^[11][25] Outdoor sports events were also cancelled.^[26]

In the inner London suburbs and away from town centres, there was no disturbance by moving traffic to thin out dense fog in the back streets. As a result, visibility could be down to a metre or so in the daytime. Walking out of doors became a matter of shuffling to feel for potential obstacles such as kerbs.^[27] This was made even worse at night since each back street lamp was fitted with an incandescent light bulb, which gave no penetrating light onto the pavement for pedestrians to see their feet or even a lamp post. Fog-penetrating fluorescent lamps did not become widely available until later in the 1950s. "Smog masks" were worn by those who were able to purchase them from chemists.^[28]

Health effects

 

A 1953 report by the UK government's Committee on Air Pollution included this chart showing a "clear correlation between the pollution by smoke and sulphur dioxide, and the daily death rate in London" during the Great London Smog of December 1952.^[29]

In the weeks that ensued, statistics compiled by medical services found that the fog had killed 4,000 people.^[30] Many of the victims were very young or elderly, or had pre-existing respiratory or cardiovascular problems.^[31] In February 1953, Marcus Lipton suggested in the House of Commons that the fog had caused 6,000 deaths and that 25,000 more people had claimed sickness benefits in London during that period.^[32]

Mortality remained elevated for months after the fog.^[29] A preliminary report, never finalised, blamed those deaths on an influenza epidemic.^[1] Emerging evidence revealed that only a fraction of the deaths could be from influenza.^[33] E. T. Wilkins, who, as Officer in Charge of Atmospheric Pollution at the government's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was effectively the UK's top pollution expert at the time, plotted a chart of elevated death rates for the period from December 1952 to March 1953 and found that there had been an additional 8,000 deaths beyond those initially counted, making 12,000 in total.^[21][34][35] Most of the deaths were caused by respiratory tract infections, from hypoxia and as a result of mechanical obstruction of the air passages by pus arising from lung infections caused by the smog.^[36][37][38] The lung infections were mainly bronchopneumonia or acute purulent bronchitis superimposed upon chronic bronchitis.^[39][40]

Research published in 2004 suggests that the number of fatalities was about 12,000, around three to four times greater than the official government total at the time, but very close to the figure Wilkins had originally estimated.^[1][2][34] In the long term, individuals who were foetuses or infants at the time of the smog ended up having lower intelligence and worse respiratory health than their peers.^{[41][better source needed]}

 

A chart produced by E.T. Wilkins c.1953 showing an apparent excess of 12,000 deaths in London for the winter 1952-1953 (solid line) compared to the previous year (dotted line). The red shaded area shows the original estimate of 4,000 excess deaths. The blue shaded area shows the additional 8,000 excess deaths, which occurred in the months after the smog, and which were originally attributed to influenza.^[29]

Environmental impact

Environmental legislation since 1952, such as the City of London (Various Powers) Act 1954 and the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968, led to a reduction in air pollution.^[11] Financial incentives were offered to householders to replace open coal fires with alternatives (such as installing gas fires), or for those who preferred, to burn coke instead which produces minimal smoke. Central heating (using gas, electricity, oil or permitted solid fuel) was rare in most dwellings at that time, not finding favour until the late 1960s onwards. Despite improvements, insufficient progress had been made to prevent one further smog event approximately ten years later, in early December 1962.^[42]

In Media

The Great Smog is the central focus of season 1, episode 4 of Netflix's The Crown. The portrayal of the event was regarded as reasonably accurate by critics, although the political importance and the chaos in the hospitals were thought to have been greatly exaggerated.^[43]

An episode of The Goon Show entitled 'Forog', broadcast on the BBC Home Service 21 December 1954 was a thinly veiled satire on the killer fog crisis. The script by Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan concerned the statues of London's monuments, who could get up and move about the city undisturbed only at times when it was enveloped in a characteristic smog. Government-sponsored scientific research sought to dispense with the choking fog, to the annoyance of the statues.^[44]

The Great Smog is the setting of the Doctor Who audio play The Creeping Death^[45] and the novel Amorality Tale.^[46]

The Boris Starling novel Visibility is set in the 1952 smog event.^[47]

The D. E. Stevenson novel The Tall Stranger (1957) opens with a dense "fog" that penetrates indoors and endangers hospital patients, in an apparent reference to the 1952 smog event.^[48]

Kate Winkler Dawson's book Death in the Air (2017) interweaves the story of the Great Smog of London with that of serial killer John Christie.^[49][13]

See also

• Great Stink
• Air pollution in the United Kingdom

References

1. Bell, M.L.; Davis, D.L.; Fletcher, T. (2004). "A Retrospective Assessment of Mortality from the London Smog Episode of 1952: The Role of Influenza and Pollution". Environ Health Perspect. 112 (1, January): 6–8. doi:10.1289/ehp.6539. PMC 1241789. PMID 14698923.
2. Stone, R (2002). "Counting the Cost of London's Killer Smog". Science. 298 (5601): 2106–2107. doi:10.1126/science.298.5601.2106b. PMID 12481106. S2CID 32721947.
3. . metoffice.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
4. "1952: London fog clears after days of chaos". BBC News. 9 December 1952. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
5. "Days of toxic darkness". BBC News. 5 December 2002. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
6. Brimblecombe, Peter (1976). "Attitudes and Responses Towards Air Pollution in Medieval England". Journal of the Air Pollution Control Association. 26 (10): 941–45. doi:10.1080/00022470.1976.10470341. PMID 789426.
7. Brimblecombe, Peter (1987). The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in London Since Medieval Times. Methuen. p. 7. ISBN 1136703292. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
8. Evelyn, John (1661). Fumifugium, or, The Inconveniencie of the Aer and Smoak of London. London: W. Godbid. ISBN 9780904617061. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
9. McKie, Robin & Townsend, Mark. Great Smog is history, but foul air still kills (The Observer, 24 November 2002).
10. Excell, John (22 December 2015). "The lethal effects of London fog". BBC News. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
11. Brimblecombe, Peter (1 November 2006). "The Clean Air Act after 50 years". Weather. 61 (11): 311–314. doi:10.1256/wea.127.06. eISSN 1477-8696. ISSN 0043-1656. S2CID 123552841.
12. Matthew Wills (24 August 2015). "Old Smoke: London's Famous Fog". JSTOR Daily.
13. Dawson, Kate Winkler (2017). Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0-316-50685-4.
14. Domonoske, Camila (23 November 2016). "Research On Chinese Haze Helps Crack Mystery of London's Deadly 1952 Fog". NPR. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
15. Wang, Gehui; Zhang, Renyi; Gomez, Mario E.; et al. (29 November 2016). "Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (48): 13630–13635. Bibcode:2016PNAS..11313630W. doi:10.1073/pnas.1616540113. PMC 5137769. PMID 27849598.
16. Martin, Alan (18 November 2016). "Scientists finally know what caused a mysterious fog to kill 12,000 people in London in 1952". Business Insider.
17. Sheail, John (1991). Power in Trust: the environmental history of the Central Electricity Generating Board. Oxford: Clarendon. pp. 22, 42–3. ISBN 0-19-854673-4.
18. Mason, Nigel; Hughes, Peter (2001). Introduction to Environmental Physics. CRC Press. pp. 112–13. ISBN 978-0748407651.
19. . Ace.mmu.ac.uk. 4 December 1952. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
20. "The Great Smog of 1952". UK MetOffice. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
21. Wilkins, E.T. (January 1954). "Air Pollution and the London Fog of December, 1952". Journal of the Royal Sanitary Institute. 74 (1): 1–21. doi:10.1177/146642405407400101. ISSN 0370-7334. PMID 13118590. S2CID 41107395.
22. Dawson, Kate Winkler (2017). Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City. Hachette Books. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-316-50685-4. These [death toll] numbers were startling, but they still caused no panic... A city hardened by war still believed the fog was simply a prolonged peasouper, just another byproduct of living in London.
23. (PDF). Greater London Authority. December 2002. ISBN 1852614285. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
24. Nielson, John. "The Killer Fog of '52". NPR. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
25. "London fog clears after days of chaos". BBC News. 9 December 1952. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
26. "Busy Time for Thieves: Traffic Disrupted". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
27. "Death by smog: London's fatal four-day pea-souper: Interview with Dr Brian Commins". BBC News. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
28. Hutton, Mike (2014). Life in 1950s London. Stroud, Gloucestershire. ISBN 978-1-4456-2124-1. OCLC 907976332.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
29. Beaver, Hugh (December 1953). "Great Britain Committee on Air Pollution: Interim Report". London: HMSO. pp. 17–18. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
30. "The Great Smog of 1952". metoffice.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
31. "Death by smog: London's fatal four-day pea-souper: Interview with Dr Brian Commins". BBC News. Retrieved 2 April 2023. As many as 100,000 people in London were made ill by the pollution at the time, particularly people with asthma and cardiovascular problems. The very young and the elderly also suffered.
32. "Coal: Nutty slack". Commons Sitting of 16 February 1953. hansard.millbanksystems.com.
33. Davis, Devra (2003). When Smoke Ran Like Water: Tales Of Environmental Deception And The Battle Against Pollution. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-01522-1. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
34. Fuller, Gary (2018). "3: The Great Smog". The Invisible Killer: The Rising Global Threat of Air Pollution- and How We Can Fight Back. Melville House. pp. 43–44. ISBN 978-1-61219-783-8.
35. Beaver, Hugh (December 1953). "Great Britain Committee on Air Pollution: Interim Report". London: HMSO. p. 19. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
36. Peters, Annette; Döring, Angela; Wichmann, H-Erich; Koenig, Wolfgang (May 1997). "Increased plasma viscosity during an air pollution episode: a link to mortality?". The Lancet. 349 (9065): 1582–1587. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)01211-7. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 9174559. S2CID 30012028.
37. Hunt, Andrew; Abraham, Jerrold L; Judson, Bret; Berry, Colin L (2003). "Toxicologic and epidemiologic clues from the characterization of the 1952 London smog fine particulate matter in archival autopsy lung tissues". Environmental Health Perspectives. 111 (9): 1209–14. doi:10.1289/ehp.6114. PMC 1241576. PMID 12842775.
38. Bell, Michelle L.; Davis, Devra Lee (June 2001). "Reassessment of the Lethal London Fog of 1952: Novel Indicators of Acute and Chronic Consequences of Acute Exposure to Air Pollution". Environmental Health Perspectives. 109 (Suppl 3): 389–394. doi:10.2307/3434786. JSTOR 3434786. PMC 1240556. PMID 11427388.
39. Camps, Francis E (Ed.) (1976). Gradwohl's Legal Medicine (Bristol: John Wright & Sons Ltd, 3rd ed.) ISBN 0-7236-0310-3. p. 236.
40. Andrew; Abraham, Jerrold L.; Judson, Bret; Berry, Colin L. (2003). "Toxicologic and Epidemiologic Clues from the Characterization of the 1952 London Smog Fine Particulate Matter in Archival Autopsy Lung Tissues Hunt". Environmental Health Perspectives. 111 (9): 1209–14. doi:10.1289/ehp.6114. PMC 1241576. PMID 12842775.
41. The Long-Term Effects of Early Life Pollution Exposure: Evidence from the London Smog
42. "Choking fog spreads across Britain". BBC News. 6 December 1962. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
43. Fullerton, Huw (26 March 2019). "The Crown: Discover the real Great Smog that brought London to a standstill". Radio Times. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
44. Sykes, Eric; Milligan, Spike. . The Goon Show Site. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
45. "3.3 Doctor Who: The Creeping Death - Doctor Who - The Tenth Doctor Adventures - Big Finish". Big Finish. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
46. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/395564/doctor-who-amorality-tale-by-david-bishop/9781849909044
47. Boris Starling, London, 2007 ISBN 978-0-525-94996-1
48. Stevenson, D.E. (1957). The Tall Stranger. London: Collins. p. 7. Retrieved 29 March 2023. For nearly a week London had been shrouded in fog. Today it had lifted a little (just enough for the half-choked inhabitants to see that there was a sun, still shining in the sky) but now it was settling down thicker than ever; it was for all the world like a dirty grey blanket.
49. Potenza, Alessandra (16 December 2017). "In 1952 London, 12,000 people died from smog — here's why that matters now". The Verge.

Further reading

• Bates, DV (December 2002). "Recollections of the London Fog". Environmental Health Perspectives. 110 (12): A735. doi:10.1289/ehp.110-a735. eISSN 1552-9924. ISSN 0091-6765. PMC 1241117. PMID 12501844.
• Berridge, Virginia; Taylor, Suzanne, eds. (2005). The Big Smoke: Fifty years after the 1952 London Smog (PDF). Centre for History in Public Health: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. ISBN 1-905165-02-1. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
• Brimblecombe, Peter (1987). "8: The Great Smog and After". The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in London Since Medieval Times. Methuen. pp. 161–177. ISBN 1136703292. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
• Davis, Devra (December 2002). "A Look Back at the London Smog of 1952 and the Half Century Since". Environmental Health Perspectives. 110 (12): A734-5. doi:10.1289/ehp.110-a734. eISSN 1552-9924. ISSN 0091-6765. PMC 1241116. PMID 12501843.
• Davis, Devra (December 2002). "The Great Smog". History Today. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
• Fuller, Gary (2018). "3: The Great Smog". The Invisible Killer: The Rising Global Threat of Air Pollution- and How We Can Fight Back. Melville House. pp. 39–52. ISBN 978-1-61219-783-8.
• Hardy, Anne (3 March 2020). "3: Death and the Environment in London:1800-2000". In Luckin, Bill; Thorsheim, Peter (eds.). A Mighty Capital under Threat: The Environmental History of London, 1800-2000. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0-8229-8744-4.
• Nagourney, Eric (12 August 2003). "Why the Great Smog of London Was Anything but Great". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
• Thorsheim, Peter (2006). "10: Death Comes from the Air". Inventing Pollution: Coal, Smoke, and Culture in Britain Since 1800. Ohio University Press. p. 159-172. ISBN 9780821442104. Retrieved 28 March 2023.