Pipe down: Smoke and smokers on the London Underground
| Dates: | 14 October 2014 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Faculty of Life Sciences |
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| Speaker: | Simon Abernethy |
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This seminar is part of the lunchtime seminar series for the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine (CHSTM). Lunchtime seminars are typically no more than 30 minutes in length, followed by a period for audience questions (ending before 2pm). All are welcome.
Pipe down: Smoke and smokers on the London Underground
Simon Abernethy (University of Cambridge)
Abstract:
Opened in 1863, the Metropolitan was the first underground railway in the world. But it suffered from this novelty. Regularly using steam locomotives underground until the twentieth century, the railway became notorious for its atmosphere of 'hot sulphurous vapour'. Despite this, and in some cases because of this, passengers demanded they be allowed to smoke on board trains. The popular pressure was such that the matter even went to Parliament. This paper charts how the underground railways tried to deal with the problem of the smoke filled atmosphere, why passengers demanded smoking be allowed and the problems that then emerged, and then the decline of the smoke and the smokers in the twentieth century. In doing so, it charts changing public opinion and ideas over the benefits of smoking.
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2.57
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