The Thames River

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The Thames River is inseparable from the city of London. Its origin is the city of Kemble and it flows through Oxford and London before reaching its mouth at the North Sea. The river was originally called Tamesis, a name that has both Roman and Celtic influences (Wikipedia) . Without fail, because the Thames River has always been such an important part of Londoner’s lives, it has also been unavoidably associated with these same people’s deaths.

In Victorian London, the aroma of the Thames River was impossible to avoid. Huge amounts of raw sewage were dumped into the River due to the increasing popularity of the flush toilet. The flush toilet, while improving the personal hygiene of residents of a typical London home, flushed sewage directly into sewers located underneath London streets (Wilkinson). This increased drinking water pollution until the river’ s content was so befouled that it was devoid of oxygen, plant life and animals. The river was said to give off the smell of rotten eggs due to the production of hydrogen sulphide (Sinha-Jordan).

In the summer of 1858, the Thame...

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