The Tap Man

During the early part of the 1800s there were epidemics of cholera and typhoid killed that wiped out thousands of the poulation. When an investigation was carried out, the opinion was that it was mostly down the condition of water supply. In the years between 1720 and 1830 the city of Nottingham saw its population rise from 10,000 to 50,000 people. They were sho horned into the town. Water supply from the River Leen couldn’t cope. It was soon contaminated with sewage and industrial waste. As a result infection spread. A Ladbroke Grove Plumber knows about contamination.

The Water Hero.
Now was the time for Thomas Hawksley, who was an engineer with the Trent Waterworks Company, to make his entrance. Mr Hawksley was born in 1807. These days he is thought of as one of the greatest 19th century water engineers. At 25 he was resonsible for the country’s first water system that gave a supply at constant high pressure, which stopped any contamination from entering the mains. Clean was available from the tap. Before this all water in Nottingham was from shallow wells or direct from rivers and had to be distributed by hand. Ladbroke Grove Plumbers advise on clean water supplies.

Life Saver.
Justification that his invention worked arrived just over a decade later. The years 1848-1849 saw thousands of people in towns all over Britain die as yet another cholera epidemic spread. Nottingham was one of the few towns not to be severely affected, even though it had bad housing conditions. This success in Nottingham saw Hawksley being asked to look after water projects around Britain. He became really famous and was honoured in Sweden, Denmark and Brazil for solving their water problems. At home in Britain he was elected as the president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Institution of Gas Engineers. In 1878 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. Mr Thomas Hawksley died in 1893.
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