The Great Smog Of 1952

The Great Smog is the infamous event that occurred on December 5, 1952, and lasted approximately five days in London. What makes this event intriguing is the lack of attention and concern the government officials showed. Hospitals were filled, means of transportation halted, and people drowned in poisonous air that burnt their lungs. Even the number of deaths was originally downplayed, an act intended to protect the reputation of those in power. 

London was already infamous for its air pollution since the 13th century, so it wasn’t alarming to wake up to such smog. In 1661, diarist John Evelyn wrote about London’s air pollution in a pamphlet, Fumifugium, or ‘The inconveniencie of the aer and smoak of London’, specifically addressed to King Charles II. It is still known as a contribution to one of the first pieces of literature addressing air pollution. 

People described this smog as a “pea-souper” because it looked greenish with a hint of yellow, and it was so dense and thick that it resembled soup. 

Britain was just recovering from the Second World War (WWII). Ground sources were still scarce, and when December rolled around, people relied on coal to warm their homes against the freezing temperatures. Not only that, but large factories and vehicles (mainly diesel-powered buses and steam locomotives) contributed to the coal usage and air pollution. 

At the time, Britain exported a large amount of better-quality coal (Anthracite) to pay off the war expenses, leaving the nation to make use of poor-quality coal — often known as “nutty slack” in the UK. Nutty slack refers to an irregularly shaped composition of coal chunks and dust. After the war, it was widely considered an economical fuel with a high sulphur content. This coal did not combust well with London’s atmosphere. 

An anticyclone occurred, resulting in a temperature inversion, trapping cool air beneath a layer of warm air. The large amount of air pollution produced by London was trapped in the city. The UK’s Met Office estimated 800 tonnes of sulphuric acid in the atmosphere. 

The Great Smog Of 1952

All these factors contributed to the Great Smog of 1952. 

Five Days In Darkness: What was it like? 

Day 1: 

A woman opened her curtains, expecting morning light but only finding fog. London had frequent smog, so it wasn’t alarming; Yet this once felt heavier. 

By afternoon, she could feel her lungs burning as she inhaled. It caused a stinging sensation in her eyes; the smell around her was foul, as if someone had set cars on fire. She could perhaps taste the smog; It tasted acidic. Outside, it was as if the fog had consumed everything. Outside, police officers tried to direct people through flares, but it was clear that this wasn’t very helpful. It was as if she were walking in circles, similar to a blind person. 

Day 2:

The fog still had not cleared. The newspaper stated that London Airport had been closed due to poor visibility, or lack thereof. Most transportation had shut down as well. Her children coughed uncontrollably throughout the day. The laundry she hung had turned black overnight. The smog was seeping inside, making it a challenge to see or even breathe. 

Her elderly neighbour had fallen ill as well. The man was known to have asthma and was gasping for air, struggling to breathe. And as the day grew colder, the woman burnt more coal to keep her family warm. Unaware of the poison she was contributing to. 

Day 3: 

A bus conductor could not see more than a metre. He had been guiding his vehicle with a flare with tremendous effort. But in the end, he had to set his passengers to walk, abandoning his vehicle like many had already done. 

Road accidents and crime rates had spiked; people were navigating by instinct, which proved useless. They were going around in circles. Hospitals overflowed, and doctors were understaffed. Livestock at the market choked on the poisonous air. People wandered helplessly, using ‘smog masks’ sold by chemists, but most made do with handkerchiefs and scarves. 

Day 4: 

From Whitehall, the government officials treated a national emergency as an inconvenience caused by bad weather. They supplied smog masks to the police to resume their duties. No announcement was made, and no abnormalities were mentioned by the people sitting in the big seats. Prime Minister Winston Churchill did not make a statement during the time period of the smog. 

Meanwhile, people panicked on the streets. An estimated 100,000 were sick. They slept and never woke up. London was devoid of any sunlight. The government’s silence echoed louder than anything else. 

Day 5: 

The smog had finally dispersed. The fog arose, and daily lives slowly resumed. Public transportation slowly reopened. Theatres resumed screenings. But too many families were left in mourning. The 4000 deaths were just the initial number and would increase as time went on. 

History’s Archives

According to a statement from The Ministry of Health on 19th December 1952, it was acknowledged that there were a total of 4703 registered deaths, which were blamed on Influenza, pneumonia, and respiratory tract or cardiac diseases, according to coroners’ reports. However, subsequent analysis revealed that influenza was responsible for only a fraction of these deaths. There were a total of 501 requests for Emergency Bed Service for people with respiratory diseases. These were all for elderly people aged 45 and up. 

A meteorological study of the five days showed high barometric pressure, low ground temperature, and high relative humidity. Southern England noted similar symptoms, but not fog. A chemical analysis showed high levels of sulphur and carbon, a product of the coal burned. 

1953. T. Wilkins, an Officer in Charge of Atmospheric Pollution at the government’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, was the UK’s top pollution expert. He plotted a chart of the increase in death rates from December 1952 to March 1953. 

Surprisingly, he found that there had been an additional 8,000 deaths than those initially counted, making it a total of 12,000. 

Dr Brian Commins, a witness at the time, worked for the Medical Research Council’s Air Pollution Unit and was one of the founders of St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. He described people struggling to breathe and hyperventilating, particularly observed in those with cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases. 

There have been no reports of Churchill’s participation during this event. He did not participate in any Hansard debates. In the Netflix series, ‘The Crown’, Churchill has been depicted as uninterested in the fog, which is treated as an afterthought instead of the national emergency it was. 

Following this event, Britain proposed the Clean Air Act in 1956 and 1962. It minimised pollution but still led to another smog event in 1962. 

But this incident was not simply bad weather. It was about the people who suffered, the wives who took care of their families, the bus conductors who abandoned their vehicles in desperation, and the crisis on the streets whilst Churchill’s government watched in silence. The event was a product of the coal-choked skies. 

People should never be treated as statistics or numbers. History always shows lessons to be learnt. London learnt theirs.