A previous post introduced Sir Edward Frankland, a leading Victorian scientist. His extensive personal papers have now been catalogued and are available on ELGAR.
Edward Frankland’s career had two distinct phases: his early work on organo-metallic chemistry (a term he coined) and the theory of valency established him as one of Europe’s leading chemists. From the mid-1860s his energies were focussed on the chemical analysis of water, a subject with great political and public health ramifications.
On joining the Royal College of Chemistry in London in 1865, Frankland inherited the position of semi-official government water analyst. Initially a secondary part of his role, analysis came to dominate his work, effectively curtailing his original scientific research.
Water was a politically charged subject, especially in London. Frequent epidemics and endemic pollution led to calls for better water supply and control of sewage. Bad health was accepted as a product of bad water, even when the exact causes of disease were uncertain. Much of the blame was assigned to the London water companies which, critics alleged, put profit before service. The press delighted in identifying, and satirising, these problems.
Frankland tested samples of London drinking water each month and sent his data to a government body (initially the General Register Office, later the Local Government Board). His analytical methods were sophisticated, involving a very accurate calculation of certain chemical traces in the water (nitrates, nitrites and ammonia). Presence of these could indicate supply from a previously contaminated source (most London water was sourced from rivers), and Frankland argued that water with these traces was compromised and required improvement.
Frankland often came into conflict with other chemists employed by the water companies, and there were disputes over testing processes. However, to the general public, Frankland came to be seen as the expert on water quality.
Frankland’s papers contain a mass of information about this analytical work. They include his analyses books (FRA/1/5), recording over 11000 water samples tested between the 1860s and 1890s.
Water analysis made Frankland a wealthy man. He charged a standard 5 guinea fee to private clients who wished to have their domestic water supply tested for safety (many rural residences did not have piped water). After he retired from his academic post in 1885, Frankland and a team of assistants were almost continuously employed in this work in the laboratory at his home in Surrey.
Frankland ‘s reputation attracted prominent clients including royalty and aristocracy. He analysed water samples from the royal residences at Windsor Castle and Sandringham. As this exchange of letters with the Prince of Wales’ private secretary reveals, he found some of the Sandringham water to be polluted and unsafe.
Frankland’s eminence and expertise in this area of work was reflected in his appointment to several important public inquiries: the Royal Commissions on Water Supply (1867-9), Rivers Pollution (1868-74) and the Metropolitan Water Supply (1892-3). The latter commission paved the way for the public control of London’s water, achieved in 1903 when the Metropolitan Water Board was created.
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