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The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association is an association that was set up in London by Samuel Gurney, a member of Parliament and philanthropist, and Edward Thomas Wakefield, a barrister, in 1859 to provide free drinking water.
Originally called the Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association it changed its name to include cattle troughs in 1867, to also support animal welfare. In 2011, as the Drinking Fountain Association, it began to support the Find-a-Fountain campaign to map the UK's drinking water fountains.
Water provision in the nineteenth century was from nine private water companies each with a geographic monopoly, which provided inadequate quantities of water which was often contaminated, as was famously discovered by John Snow during the 1854 cholera epidemic. Population growth in London had been very rapid (more than doubling between 1800 and 1850) without an increase in infrastructure investment. Legislation in the mid nineteenth century gradually improved the situation. The Metropolitan Commission of Sewers was formed, water filtration was made compulsory, and water intakes on the Thames were forced to be moved above the sewage outlets.
In this environment the public drinking fountain movement began, initially in Liverpool where the local government was granted the ability to buy out the private water companies in 1847. It built the first public baths and then encouraged philanthropic public drinking water fountains. This was taken up by Samuel Gurney.
The Society was inaugurated in 1859 with the requirement "That no fountain be erected or promoted by the Association which shall not be so constructed as to ensure by filters, or other suitable means, the perfect purity and coldness of the water." The first fountain was built on Holborn Hill on the railings of the church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate on Snow Hill, paid for by Samuel Gurney, and opened on 21 April 1859. It was moved in 1867 when the Holborn Viaduct was built but reinstated in 1913 where it remains.
The fountain became immediately popular, used by 7000 people a day. In the next six years 85 fountains were built, but much of the funding came directly from the association; much of that money was provided directly by Samuel Gurney, as donations were not sufficient.
Gradually the association became more widely accepted, benefiting from its association with Evangelical Christianity and the Temperance movement. Many were known as temperance fountains. Beer was the main alternative to water, and generally safer. The temperance societies had no real alternative as tea and coffee were too expensive, so drinking fountains were very attractive. Many were sited opposite public houses. [1]
The evangelical movement was encouraged to build fountains in churchyards to encourage the poor to see churches as supporting them. Many fountains have inscriptions such as "Jesus said whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water I shall give him shall never thirst". By 1877, the association was widely accepted and Queen Victoria donated money for a fountain in Esher.
Charles Dickens, Jr.'s Dickens's Dictionary of London said in 1879, under "Drinking Fountains":
Until the last few years London was ill-provided with public drinking fountains and cattle troughs. This matter is now well looked after by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association, which has erected and is now maintaining nearly 800 fountains and troughs, at which an enormous quantity of water is consumed daily. It is estimated that 300,000 people take advantage of the fountains on a summer’s day, and a single trough has supplied the wants of 1,800 horses in one period of 24 hours. Several ornamental fountains have been provided by private munificence. Amongst these may be instanced the Baroness Burdett Coutts’s beautiful fountains in Victoria-park and Regent’s-park the Maharajah of Vizianagram’s in Hyde-park; Mrs. Brown’s, by Thornycroft, in Hamilton-place, Mr. Wheeler’s at the north of Kew-bridge; and Mr. Buxton’s at Westminster. [2]
In collaboration with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, troughs were built for horses, cattle and dogs. Live cattle were still brought to market (at Smithfield and the Metropolitan Cattle Market); horses were vital for transport. Previously troughs were provided for patrons of public houses or for a charge (one example was inscribed All that water their horses here Must pay a penny or have some beer), and free ones made a huge difference; Hansom cabs travelled with maps showing the new free troughs, and they have been described as Victorian filling stations.
The surviving cattle troughs are mainly large granite ones, in many cases planted with flowers. Earlier designs were of cast iron or zinc lined timber, but both were too easily damaged.
Gradually the association became less radical. Having originally been one of the manifestations of Victorian private philanthropy recognising the limitations of the free market it became less important as local government began to provide more public services, and evangelical Nonconformism declined in importance.
Wealthy patrons began to commission more elaborate fountains, designed by well known architects, as well as the simple granite standard patterns. The most elaborate were those built in 1862 by Angela Burdett-Coutts in Victoria Park which cost over £6000, and the Buxton Memorial Fountain commemorating the emancipation of slaves.
By 1936, the association stopped building troughs, as cars and lorries were gradually replacing the horse. More drinking fountains were provided in schools and parks, and the old cups were replaced by jets of water as these were seen as more hygienic. The 1929 small standard design of fountain for parks and schools is still common.
The association survives as the Drinking Fountain Association and received a National Lottery grant to build more fountains in 2000, and to restore existing ones. It now builds drinking fountains in schools, restores existing fountains and provides wells and other water projects in developing countries.
Sefton Park is a public park in south Liverpool, England. The park is in a district of the same name, located roughly within the historic bounds of the large area of Toxteth Park. Neighbouring districts include modern-day Toxteth, Aigburth, Mossley Hill, Wavertree and St Michael's Hamlet.
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a British philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and Sophia, formerly Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts. In 1837 she became one of the wealthiest women in England when she inherited her grandfather's fortune of around £1.8 million following the death of her stepgrandmother, Harriot Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans. She joined the surnames of her father and grandfather, by royal licence, to become Burdett-Coutts. Edward VII is reported to have described her as "[a]fter my mother, the most remarkable woman in the kingdom".
A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or water bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and swallows water directly from the stream. Modern indoor drinking fountains may incorporate filters to remove impurities from the water and chillers to lower its temperature. Drinking fountains are usually found in public places, like schools, rest areas, libraries, and grocery stores.
Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet was a British politician and Member of Parliament who gained notoriety as a proponent of universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual parliaments. His commitment to reform resulted in legal proceedings and brief confinement to the Tower of London. In his later years he appeared reconciled to the very limited provisions of the 1832 Reform Act. He was the godfather of Francisco Burdett O'Connor, one of the famed Libertadores of the Spanish American wars of independence.
The Temperance Fountain is a fountain and statue located in Washington, D.C., donated to the city in 1882 by Henry D. Cogswell, a dentist from San Francisco, California, who was a crusader in the temperance movement. This fountain was one of a series of temperance fountains he designed and commissioned in a belief that easy access to cool drinking water would keep people from consuming alcoholic beverages.
Portman Square is a garden square in Marylebone, central London, surrounded by townhouses. It was specifically for private housing let on long leases having a ground rent by the Portman Estate, which owns the private communal gardens. It marks the western end of Wigmore Street, which connects it to Cavendish Square to the east.
A watering trough is a man-made or natural receptacle intended to provide drinking water to animals, livestock on farms or ranches or wild animals.
A temperance fountain was a fountain that was set up, usually by a private benefactor, to encourage temperance, and to make abstinence from beer possible by the provision of clean, safe, and free water. Beer was the main alternative to water, and generally safer. The temperance societies had no real alternative as tea and coffee were too expensive, so drinking fountains were very attractive.
Bills horse troughs are watering troughs that were manufactured in Australia and installed to provide relief for working horses in the first half of the twentieth century. The troughs were financed by a trust fund established through the will of George Bills. A total of around 700 troughs were distributed by the trust in Australia and 50 in several other countries.
Columbia Road Flower Market is a street market in Bethnal Green in London, England. Columbia Road is a road of Victorian shops situated off Hackney Road in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The market is open on Sundays only.
Samuel Gurney (1816–1882) was a banker from the Gurney family. He served as independent Member of Parliament for Penryn & Falmouth from 1857 to 1868 but never spoke. He was also the first Chairman of the London and Provincial District Telegraph Co. Ltd. in 1859. He was president of the National Association for the relief of British Miners and, along with Edward Thomas Wakefield, founder and chairman of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association
In the United States, the temperance movement, which sought to curb the consumption of alcohol, had a large influence on American politics and American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, culminating in the prohibition of alcohol, through the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, from 1920 to 1933. Today, there are organizations that continue to promote the cause of temperance.
This is a history and list of drinking fountains in the United States. A drinking fountain, also called a water fountain or bubbler, is a fountain designed to provide drinking water. It consists of a basin with either continuously running water or a tap. The drinker bends down to the stream of water and swallows water directly from the stream. Drinking water fountains are most commonly found in heavy usage areas like public amenities, schools, airports, and museums.
The Fishmongers Arms is a former public house in Wood Green in the London Borough of Haringey. Built in 1855 on the site of the former Wood Green Farm, Its name derived from the adjacent Fishmongers' and Poulterers' Almshouses, which were demolished in 1956 for the construction of the Haringey Civic Centre.
The Warrimoo Horse Trough is a Bills horse trough in Warrimoo, Australia and is a historical icon to the town. It is a simple stone drinking trough originally designed to provide drinking water to horses. It is currently located in Ardill Park outside the Community Hall.
The Baroness Burdett Coutts Drinking Fountain is a Grade II* listed drinking fountain situated in Victoria Park, London.
The Matilda Fountain is a Grade II listed statue and drinking fountain opposite 15 Gloucester Gate, Regent's Park, London, built in about 1878.
The Readymoney Drinking Fountain, also occasionally known as the Parsee Fountain, is a Grade II listed structure near the middle of the Broad Walk footpath on the east side of Regent's Park, in London. It lies southeast of London Zoo, close to the highest point of Regent's Park, about 41 metres (135 ft) above sea level, in an area with few trees, making it widely visible across the park.
Catherine Smithies was an English philanthropist and campaigner for animal welfare, abolitionism and temperance. She was the creator of the first Band of Mercy, which promoted teaching children kindness towards non-human animals and led to the Bands of Mercy movement.
Public drinking fountains in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, have been built and used since the 19th century. Various reform-minded organizations in the city supported public drinking fountains as street furniture for different but overlapping reasons. One was the general promotion of public health, in an era of poor water and typhoid fever. Leaders of the temperance movement such as the Woman's Christian Temperance Union saw free, clean water as a crucial alternative to beer. Emerging animal welfare organizations, notably the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, wanted to provide water to the dogs and working horses of the city on humanitarian grounds, which is why Philadelphia's drinking fountains of the era often include curb-level troughs that animals could reach.