Not Going through the Motions: Sevenoaks, Sewage and Selfless Ambition, 1871–1882

Abstract Sanitary improvement in the Victorian city has been well researched, but little or no attention has been paid to smaller towns, though conditions there could be almost as unpleasant. This case study of Sevenoaks, in Kent, uses mainly newspaper coverage to trace the lengthy, highly contested process by which it solved its sewage problem. Some of the existing historiography of urban sanitation is relevant but three other factors were important in Sevenoaks. Firstly the advent of the Local Board which, secondly, provided the institutional platform from which local “progressive” politician Major James German could demonstrate the strong leadership and robust political skills needed to outmanoeuvre his “economist” opponents. His methods are detailed, together with the similarities between him and his Liberal contemporary, Joseph Chamberlain. Such was the political strength of Sevenoaks ratepayers, however, that a third factor – unrecognized by historians – was the role played by local newspapers in forming local opinion and in preventing the economists from derailing the progressive agenda.