Many of our parks and streets still feature Victorian drinking fountains but most are now dry and we walk past without recognising the crucial role these once played in our ancestors lives. In 1850, few people had access to clean drinking water. Disease spread through polluted rivers and working people turned to beer and gin to quench their thirst, exacerbating crime and destitution among the poor.
This talk explores the origins of the Drinking Fountain Movement designed to change that, discussing the huge variety of fountain designs it spawned and some of the personal stories behind the people memorialised in these structures.
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About the Speaker
Kathryn Ferry
Kathryn Ferry is an author, historian and broadcaster. She studied for her PhD at Cambridge University where she wrote her thesis on the Victorian architect and designer Owen Jones (1809-74). She subsequently worked as a conservation advisor for The Victorian Society in London. As well as her numerous books on the British seaside, she has published the Shire book of The Victorian Home and a history of the Old Convent at East Grinstead, which opened in 1870. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and regularly contributes to television and radio.
