Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Bazalgette, Joseph William
BAZALGETTE, Sir JOSEPH WILLIAM (1819–1891), civil engineer, son of Joseph William Bazalgette, commander in the royal navy, was born at Enfield on 28 March 1819. His family were of French extraction. He was educated at private schools, and in 1836 became a pupil of Sir John Benjamin McNeill [q. v.] Then for a short time he was employed on drainage and reclamation works in the north of Ireland. In 1842 he set up in business as a consulting engineer at Westminster, being engaged chiefly on railway work, but owing to a breakdown in his health he was forced very shortly afterwards to give up all active work for more than a year.
In 1849 he joined the staff of the metropolitan commission of sewers, a body which had been created in 1848 to replace the eight separate municipal bodies responsible for the drainage of London. From 1848 to 1855 no less than six different commissions were appointed, and though schemes for the complete drainage of the metropolis were prepared for the third of these commissions by G. B. Forster and William Haywood [q. v. Suppl.] (these schemes were described in two reports dated March 1850 and January 1851), nothing was done, and Forster, worn out with the anxieties and disappointments, resigned office. Bazalgette was selected to succeed him as engineer-in-chief, and he at once, in conjunction with Haywood, set to work to prepare a new scheme based on the proposals of 1850–1.
The general board of health, however, put a stop to these schemes, and again matters were at a deadlock until, by an act passed on 16 Aug. 1855, the representative body known as the metropolitan board of works came into being, the board appointing Bazalgette their chief engineer. This new body was not able, however, to expedite matters, as the plans which they ordered to be prepared for the main drainage scheme had to be approved by government. The plans prepared by Bazalgette were submitted in June 1856 to Sir Benjamin Hall, then chief commissioner to her majesty's works; he objected to certain portions of the scheme, and the whole matter was then referred to a commission of three engineers, including Captain (afterwards Sir) Douglas Galton, R.E. [q. v. Suppl.] This commission reported in July 1857, and somewhat unfavourably to the board's plans; they recommended a much more expensive scheme, and a position for the outfalls of the main sewers much lower down the river.
The metropolitan board of works referred the matter back to their engineer in consultation with George Parker Bidder [q. v.] and Thomas Hawksley [q. v. Suppl.], who sent in a report in April 1858, criticising the conclusions of the government commission, and the whole scheme was again hung up. A change of ministry, however, led to a rapid change in the state of affairs. Disraeli introduced a short act, which was passed in August 1858, giving the board full control with regard to the drainage works proposed. The complete designs were at once put in hand, the first contracts were let, and in 1865 this splendid system of main drainage was opened by the prince of Wales (afterwards Edward VII), though the whole work was not finished until 1875.
These great works were fully described in a paper read by Bazalgette before the Institution of Civil Engineers entitled 'The Main Drainage of London and the Interception of the Sewage from the River Thames' (Proc. Inst. Civil Eng. xxiv. 280). Over eighty-three miles of large intercepting sewers were constructed, a densely populated area of over a hundred square miles was dealt with, and the amount of sewage and rainfall which could be discharged per diem was estimated at 420,000,000 gallons. The total cost of the works was 4,600,000l. The royal commission which was appointed in 1882 to consider the metropolitan sewage discharge, in their first report of 31 Jan. 1884, bore strong testimony not only to the excellence of the original scheme, but also to the professional skill shown by Bazalgette 'in carrying it through all the intricate difficulties of its construction.' They also drew attention to the powerful influence which had been exercised through these works in improving the general health of the metropolis (Report of the Royal Commission on Metropolitan Sewage Discharge, London, 1884).
The other great engineering work with which Bazalgette's name Avill always be coupled is the Thames embankment. The idea of building such an embankment is a very old one, in fact it was proposed by Sir Christopher Wren, but it was not until 1862 that an act was passed empowering the metropolitan board of works to carry out the work. At one time it had been intended to put the control into the hands of another body appointed specially for the purpose. The work, at any rate as regards the Victoria embankment, was considerably complicated by the arrangements necessary for the low-level sewers and for the Metropolitan District Railway. The first section from Westminster to Blackfriars was completed and opened by the prince of Wales on 13 July 1870. The Albert and the Chelsea embankments and the new Northumberland Avenue completed eventually the original scheme, the total cost being 2,160,000l. The engineering features of these works were described in detail in a paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers by Mr. E. Bazalgette, a son of Sir Joseph Bazalgette (Proc. Inst. Civil Eng. liv. 1).
In addition to these two great works Sir Joseph was responsible for a large amount of bridge work within the metropolitan area, thrown upon his shoulders by the Metropolitan Toll Bridges Act of 1887. Alterations had to be made in many of the old bridges, and new bridges were designed for Putney and Battersea, and a steam ferry between North and South Woolwich. Simultaneously with this work a considerable amount of embanking and of alteration of wharf levels was carried out in order to diminish the danger of flooding at high tides in the low-level districts of the metropolis.
Bazalgette remained chief engineer to the metropolitan board of works until its abolition in 1889, and replacement by the London county council, and he presented altogether thirty-three annual reports setting forth in detail the engineering works which he designed on behalf of the board.
He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1838, he served as a member of the council for many years, and became president of the institution in 1884, He was made C.B. in 1871, and, after the completion of the embankment, was knighted in May 1874. He died on 15 March 1891 at his residence, St. Mary's, Wimbledon Park. He married, in 1845, Maria, the fourth daughter of Edward Kough of New Cross, Wexford, and had a family of six sons and four daughters. There is a portrait in the possession of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a replica of a painting by Ossani, and a bronze bust forms, part of a mural monument which has been erected by his friends on the Thames embankment at the foot of Northumberland Avenue.
Besides the paper and reports mentioned above and his presidential address (Proc. Inst. Civil Eng. lxxvi. 2), Bazalgette wrote a great number of valuable professional reports. The chief of those relating to drainage and water supply are : Report on Drainage and Water Supply of Rugby, Sandgate, Tottenham, &c., London, 1854. Data for estimating the sizes and cost of Metropolitan Drainage Works, London, 1855. Reports on Drainage of Metropolis, London, 1854, 1855, 1856, 1865, 1867, 1871 ; Drawings and Specifications for Metropolitan Main Drainage Works, London, 1859-73; Tract on ditto, London, 1865 ; Reports on Drainage of Lee Valley, London, 1882 ; Report on Sewerage of Brighton, Brighton, 1883; Thames Conservancy and Drainage Outfalls, London, 1880 ; Plan for purifying the Thames, London, 1871 ; Report on Thames, London, 1878.
Bazalgette also wrote Reports on Metropolitan Bridges, London, 1878, 1880, and on Communications between the north and south of the Thames below London Bridge, London, 1882.
Other reports of a miscellaneous character are : Short Account of Thames Embankment and Abbey Mills Pumping Station, London, 1868 ; Metropolitan and other Railway Schemes, London, 1864, 1867, 1871, 1874 ; Inspection of Manure and Chemical Works, London, 1865 ; Boring operations at Crossness, London, 1869; Metropolitan Tramways, London, .1870: Asphalte for Pavements, London, 1871; Experiments of the Guano Company, 1873.
[Obituary notices in Proc. Inst. Civil Eng., vol. cv.; Burke's Peerage &c. 1890; Times, 16 March 1891.]