The Alkali Inspectorate 1874-1906: pressure for wider and tighter pollution regulation

A tension exists between damage caused to the environment by novel chemicals and the advance in industrial and economic progress based on the same products. This was brought to the fore in Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. However, this was not altogether a new story. For some, such as Robert Angus Smith, concerns arose in the nineteenth century with the polluting vapours from chemical processes. Smith and colleagues in the Alkali Inspectorate, with support from medical officers of health and occupational health officers, exercised vigilance and diligence to ensure wider and tighter regulations in order to protect workers and the public. This article reviews the changes in British regulatory approaches adopted during the second half of the nineteenth century in response to the increasing proliferation of harmful chemicals released into the environment.