The Problem of Air Pollution During the Industrial Revolution: A Reconsideration of the Enactment of the Smoke Nuisance Abatement Act of 1821

Abstract

The Industrial Revolution in Britain led to widespread pollution in the form of factory smoke, and raised the issue of social relief. Scholars have argued that the Smoke Nuisance Abatement Act of 1821 resulted from the efforts of just one public-spirited politician. In this paper, however, through examining parliamentary debates on this issue, we analyze how politicians, landlords, and industrialists viewed the damages caused by air pollution, how they developed a framework for redress, and how they interwove their interests into the act.