All about the Goux: Joseph Rideal Smith – Artist and Sanitation Inspector…

Jan 28, 2023

If you have heard of J R smith it is probably because you have come across some of his illustrations of Old Halifax. They were produced in the 1890s but are based on earlier drawings and photographs. They are a fabulous resource and worth looking at to get an idea of how Halifax streets would have looked in the 19th Century.

Less well known however is that JR Smith was Halifax’s first Sanitary Inspector and was responsible for implementing a new and innovative sanitation system – the Goux System.

Joseph Rideal Smith was born in 1837 at the Waggoner’s Inn, where his father Isaac was the publican. In 1845 the family moved to London, where Joseph studied to be an architect.

Unfortunately in around 1856 he caught cholera, which impacted greatly on his health, but may well have peaked his interest in improving sanitation. Between 1832 and 1866 London saw several large outbreaks of cholera. It claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people. It was believed that cholera was spread through Miasma (foul smells). In 1849 John Snow published his theory that cholera was transmitted through contaminated water, but it was not accepted by public health authorities until the 1860s; when improvements to sewerage systems began to be implemented.

Suffering the after effects of cholera, Smith moved to the Midlands and then Essex where he took up farming. However, upon his father’s death in 1868 he moved back to Halifax, where he became the head of the newly established sanitary department.

Like lots of industrial towns, much of Halifax’s population lived in appalling conditions with poor housing, overcrowding and lack of sanitation. In 1851 the Ranger Report was published. It makes for stark reading. In one street a single privy served 221 people and the average age of death of laborers and their families was 22 (46% of deaths were children under 5 years old)

Mortality rate in Halifax 1846 from Ranger Report

When J R Smith arrived in Halifax there was still much work to be done to improve sanitation. One of the biggest challenges he faced was how to dispose of the town’s night soil (human excrement). The Ranger Report said:

“the present method of storing up refuse matter in cesspools and privies must not only be injurious but disgusting to the sight and degrading to our better nature”. It recommended that that “the solid refuse should no longer be permitted to accumulate in the middensteads and dunghills, but should be regularly removed to a considerable distance beyond the populated quarters of the borough, so that it may not continue, as at present to be a nuisance in its second as well as in its first place of deposit”

J R Smith himself described Halifax at the time he became sanitary inspector as “a veritable muck midden, with no proper arrangements for scavenging”

Smith set to work experimenting with different methods of waste collection and disposal, testing out tubs made of wood and galvanised iron. Neither of these were satisfactory and in the end he opted for the Goux System.

The Goux system was patented in 1868 by Pierre Nicholas Goux in Paris. The aim of the system was the ‘collection of human excreta and the conversion of the same into a valuable manure in a simple and officious manner’ The system used tubs that crucially were lined with compostable, absorbent materials that would rapidly absorb and fix the fertilising gases and liquids contained within the faecal matter (and thus reducing the smell). Materials used included ashes, charcoal, shoddy and mill refuse.

The whole tub including the compostable lining was emptied into suitable collecting carts which were taken away from residential areas.

Specification of Pierre Nicolas Goux : treating and utilizing excreta. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/z47kbgch

The goux tubs were emptied every seven to eight days, whereas the old privy/ midden system only once a year.

The manure was then sold for use as fertiliser.

The Brighouse News reported the advantages of the system in 1871.

The Goux system was seen as being quite forward thinking and many Local Health boards from across the UK visited Halifax to see how it worked and compare it to other methods of waste disposal.

In 1876 a report was published in the Local Government Chronicle titled ‘the Goux System of Sewerage Disposal at Halifax and its favourable influence on the Public Health’ Using Ovenden as an example it describes how the introduction of the Goux system effected the mortality rate:

New houses were built with their own Goux tubs and existing houses were being converted with at least one tub for every three houses. In 1871 there were 1109 tubs and by 1891 there were 11644.. Throughout 1891 a total of 426628 tubs were collected.

West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale hold a vast number of plans relating to the building of Goux Closets (and other forms of sanitation) If you live in an old house, try searching their catalogue for your street. There is a fair chance they will have a plan of Goux or Water closet installations.

This plan is from 1873 for Parkinson Lane. It shows the layout of the houses and the location of the closets together at the end of the terrace.

West Yorkshire Archive Service Calderdale, CMT1/HB1/A:1026

The second plan is for Crossley Terrace

West Yorkshire Archive Service Calderdale, CMT1/HB1/A:1178

J R Smith left his role as sanitary inspector in 1874 to continue his career in architecture. The Goux system remained in use for many more years.

By the late 19th and early 20th century Goux closets began to go out of favour. This was partly due to a slum clearances, the building of new housing for the working classes and improved water and sewerage systems which made water closets much more hygienic and practical. By 1912 no new houses were being built with the Goux system and older houses were gradually being converted. It took a long time though. In 1923 the Halifax Courier and Guardian reported that Government was pressing Halifax Corporation into undertaking work to convert the Goux system to the water carriage system. The work was estimated to cost £250,000 and take eight years. In 1939 the last Goux horses (used to transport waste) were sold