One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858

by Rosemary Ashton

Overview

A unique, in-depth view of Victorian London during the record-breaking summer of 1858, when residents both famous and now-forgotten endured “The Great Stink” together

While 1858 in London may have been noteworthy for its broiling summer months and the related stench of the sewage-filled Thames River, the year is otherwise little remembered. And yet, historian Rosemary Ashton reveals in this compelling microhistory, 1858 was marked by significant, if unrecognized, turning points. For ordinary people, and also for the rich, famous, and powerful, the months from May to August turned out to be a summer of consequence.
 
Ashton mines Victorian letters and gossip, diaries, court records, newspapers, and other contemporary sources to uncover historically crucial moments in the lives of three protagonists—Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Disraeli. She also introduces others who gained renown in the headlines of the day, among them George Eliot, Karl Marx, William Thackeray, and Edward Bulwer Lytton. Ashton reveals invisible threads of connection among Londoners at every social level in 1858, bringing the celebrated city and its citizens vibrantly to life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300231199
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	07/18/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Rosemary Ashton is Emeritus Quain Professor of English Language and Literature, University College London. She is author of ten previous books and a fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Literature. She lives in London.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations vii

Prologue 1

1 1858 in history 8

Moments of consequence

The rise of Disraeli

Medicine and marriage

Literature and art

2 May 1858 46

Dickens in distress

Derby Day

Marriage mischief

3 June 1858, part I 84

Darwin and the pursuit of science

Dickens dissolves his marriage

Midsummer madness

Meltdown in Clubland

4 June 1858, part II 121

The silver Thames

Queen Victoria, Cruiser, and the Great Eastern

Crinolineomania

More marriage troubles

Darwin's dilemma

5 July 1858 158

Darwin in distress

'Mad' wives and vengeful husbands

Disraeli tames the Thames

Rothschild enters the Commons at last

6 July-August 1858 195

Hot heads at the Garrick Club

Dickens on tour

The exploits of Dickens's Mr Stryver

Disraeli's whitebait dinner

7 The aftermath of the hot summer 235

The fallout from the Garrick Club affair

Success and embarrassment for Dickens

The end of the Robinson case

Darwin triumphant

Epilogue 275

The year in pantomime

One hot summer's consequences

Endnotes 287

Select bibliography 314

Index 321

Editorial Reviews

Superbly researched . . . argues that the year was a crucial one in the lives of the three great Victorians: Dickens, Disreali and Darwin.”—Paula Byrne, Times

“Rosemary Ashton’s new book charts four boiling hot months in 1858 when the sewage of London went awry and . . . can often feel much closer to how people actually lived and breathed than grander, more panoramic narratives.”—Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

“England was changing in that smelliest of summers, and Ashton gives us a finely scented snapshot of it all.”—Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph

“[The Great Stink] is a terrific subject for Ms. Ashton . . . She excels at unearthing and explaining the daily distractions of the nose-holding populace over the course of the summer: horse races, art shows, murder and divorce trials . . . Her detailed atomic record produces thought-provoking coincidences and reminds us of figures who deserve to be better known . . . In short: This book does not stink. Far from it.”—Alexandra Mullen, Wall Street Journal

“A wide-ranging narrative, written with [Ashton’s] customary flair.”—John Bugg, TLS

“Not just another book about the Victorians, but one that could just as easily have been written by them. Turning its pages is like opening a window on to their world.”—Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Guardian

“The book’s real strength is its description of London quivering between modernity and the dark ages . . . There is plenty to enjoy in this panorama of Victorians in their heyday.”—The Economist
 

“An enjoyable account of an eventful summer in mid-Victorian England.”—Library Journal

“Strongly evocative.”–Henrik Bering, New Criterion

“A brilliant account of the ways in which various issues collided and entangled, showing the value of taking one year in depth, rather than individual themes over a longer period, to show unexpected and illuminating connections.”—Martin Daunton, Victorian Studies

"The new celebrity cult developed by the popular press collided with the revolting state of the Thames, in that hot summer. Rosemary Ashton's brilliant description of the result is a 'must-read', whatever this summer brings."—Liza Picard, author of Victorian London

"Rosemary Ashton's evocative and intriguing portrait of public, private and political tensions in the long hot summer of 1858 delivers fascinating insights into the interconnected lives of her subjects."—Lee Jackson, author of Dirty Old London

"History-writing too often confines itself to great events set in motion by great people. In One Hot Summer Rosemary Ashton has produced history-writing of the most important kind, as she explores what happens in between those great events, and great people, and connects previously unconnected subjects and ideas. It reads as easily as fiction, as excitingly as a thriller. It is history as it should be written, but so rarely is."—Judith Flanders, author of The Victorian City

From the Publisher

 “A wondrous, illuminating and evocative saga . . . Ashton has delved with comprehensive skill into the now-digitised copies of the newspapers of the day to discover the far from fake facts”—Gerald Isaaman, Islington Tribune

Islington Tribune - Gerald Isaaman

“Rosemary Ashton’s new book charts four boiling hot months in 1858 when the sewage of London went awry and . . . can often feel much closer to how people actually lived and breathed than grander, more panoramic narratives.”—Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

Mail on Sunday - Craig Brown

“The book’s real strength is its description of London quivering between modernity and the dark ages. . . There is plenty to enjoy in this panorama of Victorians in their heyday.”—The Economist
 

The Economist

“Finding space for clubland quarrels alongside state affairs and scientific advances, her lively study is elegantly executed, informative and entertaining.”—Anne Somerset, Literary Review

Literary Review - Anne Somerset

“Superbly researched . . . argues that the year was a crucial one in the lives of the three great Victorians: Dickens, Disreali and Darwin.”—Paula Byrne, Times

Times - Paula Byrne

“Ashton is an authoritative and painstaking guide. The result is not just another book about the Victorians, but one that could just as easily have been written by them. Turning its pages is like opening a window on to their world, and being grateful that we no longer have to hold our noses to do so.”—Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Guardian

Guardian - Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

07/01/2017
The summer of 1858 was one of the hottest on record in London. The heat combined with sewage in the Thames to create the "Great Stink," which finally drove Parliament to undertake the cleanup of the river. Ashton (Emeritus Quain Professor of English Language and Literature, Univ. Coll. London; Victorian Bloomsbury) traces the progress of the Thames Purification Bill under the guidance of Chancellor of the Exchequer Benjamin Disraeli during that summer. She also discusses other stinks of 1858. For example, Disraeli oversaw the passage of the bill that put India under British rather than East India Company rule following the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. Charles Dickens publicly separated from his wife. Edward Bulwer-Lytton sought to have his wife declared insane. Edmund Yates satirized William Makepeace Thackeray, who retaliated by having him expelled from the Garrick Club. One event that caused no stink was the reading and publication that summer of Charles Darwin's and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on natural selection, though when On the Origin of Species appeared in November 1859 another great stink arose. VERDICT An enjoyable account of an eventful summer in mid-Victorian England.—Joseph Rosenblum, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro

Library Journal

The summer of 1858 proved to be the hottest, rankest summer on record in London. Narrator Corrie James takes listeners down the polluted Thames, giving them the ambiance and odors of Victorian England. The focus on three prominent citizens, Darwin, Dickens, and Disraeli—coupled with Parliament’s attempt to solve the problem of the stench emanating from London’s major river—gives James perfect fodder for this smelly but entertaining journey. The many facts she delivers include Dickens’s error in announcing his marital separation to the public, Darwin’s completion of his ORIGIN OF SPECIES, and Disraeli’s success in getting the Thames problem solved in Parliament. Through it all, Ashton and James keep listeners focused on the significance of these events and capture the period with authenticity. E.E.S © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2017 - AudioFile