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A dust cart with a refuse collector (dustman) ringing a bell to collect household rubbish.

image courtesy of Wellcome Library, London | CC BY 4.0

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Date

1 January 1805

Artist

William Henry Pyne (1769-1843)

Collection

Wellcome Library

Image Link

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/wtzvz9vh

Description

Coloured aquatint by W.H. Pyne, 1805.
In his accompanying text, Pyne describes the material being collected as sea-coal cinders (used for making bricks and manure), rags (used to make paper), rope (used to make coarser paper), bones (used to make ivory-black, a pigment), and the residue (used for manure, for mending the roads etc.). He further describes it as "rubbish and filth, the former pests of the city", "dirt, ashes or soil of the houses", and says that the men depicted "collect from door to door such waste materials as composed the dunghills, for the purpose of preventing the noisome vapours that were used to accumulate in the areas or yards of every house" "Dustmen [in the early 1800s] began their rounds early morning ... announcing their presence with the loud toll of a handbell or a hearty shout of "dust ho!'" --Jackson, op. cit., p. 7

Image Licence

CC BY 4.0

Image Credit

image courtesy of Wellcome Library, London

Location

London, England

Country

Medium

Tags

Buildings
People
Horse-drawn

Category

Buildings & Architecture

Glossary
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© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform

© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform