1-152-965 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Joseph Bazalgette (1819-1891), English civil engineer, 1887. Bazalgette's major achievements were in the field of public health engineering. He designed the London sewerage system, completed in 1875, which greatly reduced the pollution of the Thames and dramatically improved the public health of the city. He designed the Thames Embankment to accommodate the sewer as well as providing a thoroughfare along the river. Cartoon in the Fancy Portraits series published in Punch, London, 1883 showing him rising out of a sewer pipe next to the Embankment.