Abstract

Hull is one of the few cities to have full documentation for the whole of its history. This large archive is housed in the City Record Office and this valuable resource was accessed for over a full year to inform the study's content. This account illustrates how the citizens of Hull dealt with the increasingly problematic disposal of waste, sometimes innovatively (provision of some of the first public toilets), but sometimes with little success (as several outbreaks of cholera indicate). Because the history of waste disposal in Hull encompasses aspects such as the development of town planning, the emergence of public health as a major issue, social control aspects and political agendas, it is in effect a history of Hull itself.