This work brings together a unique range of sources to reveal a forgotten episode in London's history. Situated opposite Westminster on the south bank of the River Thames, by 1848 Lambeth's waterfront had become London's industrial center and a magnet to migrant workers. The book exposes the suffering of the working population in the face of apathy and ineptitude, and convincingly challenges the long-standing belief that London's numerous cholera outbreaks beginning in 1832 were unrelated. The work combines recent scientific research with first-hand accounts to show for the first time that in the nineteenth century cholera was very probably endemic in the River Thames.

Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890) is most famous for his contributions to the public health movement of the nineteenth century where his 1842 Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population highlighted the unsanitary conditions that prevailed in the industrial towns and cities of Victorian Britain. While particular cities are mentioned in his work, such as London, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, his work had an effect on Britain as a whole as it changed government policy on a national level. Other facets of social welfare in which he was actively involved included the Poor Law, police, education and the evolving responsibilites of central and local government. This collection includes a reprint of Finer's biography, The Life and Times of Sir Edwin Chadwick, Chadwick's 1842 Sanitary Report and many of his rarer pamphlets and addresses to learned societies. Each of the volumes also contains a specially prepared Introduction.