Paddington: Past and Present

by William Robins

Why there is not a good system of main drainage for London; why the Thames is still made the generator of disease and death, I do not know, except it be to shew the inefficiency of our governors; but if the New Sewers Commission had done no other good, it deserves praise for the facilities it has given for the use of this more perfect system of house-drainage; and after all it is of more consequence that the drain to the sewer should be perfect, than that the sewer itself should be so, although the latter is undoubtedly essential.

All those who wish to live in a healthful house, will adopt this tubular system of house-drainage; but those who cannot or will not have a perfect drain, may adopt a small part of the modern tubular system with great advantage and at a trifling cost. At present, the great majority of drains open directly into the common sewer, and act as chimnies for the conveyance of poisonous gases into the interior of the houses, the water-traps only partially preventing this evil. Others enter the sewer so low, that when they are not performing this office, they frequently form a portion of the common sewer itself, and are invariably filled with its contents, when “flushing” is performed.

A simple lid of glazed earth, hanging from the upper part of the mouth of the drain, provides against these evils to a very great extent; and this precaution should always be used, till a more effectual substitute is found.

Some portions of Paddington which have been built on, are amongst the most desirable spots, as places of residence, to be found in the immediate vicinity of London; and these would be rendered unexceptionable by a perfect system of water supply and drainage. But, as yet that good time has not come even for the most healthful and most fashionable houses in Tyburnia.

So much has been said and written on the subject of burying the dead in the midst of the living, that it would appear useless to add another word on this subject; and at length some of the effects produced on living bodies by the poisonous gases which arise from church-yards are well known.

We have already seen that Paddington is blessed with two burying grounds, one of which was established for the benefit of the rector of St. George’s, Hanover-square, and his rich parishioners; and although this burial-ground was at one time extra-mural, the inhabitants of Albion-street, Upper Berkeley-street, Connaught-square, and St. George’s-row, have found out that it is no longer so. For some of the particular evils attendant on having this large burial-ground surrounded by houses, I must refer my readers to “An account of the measures adopted by the Medical Practitioners residing in the Western District of Paddington, to obtain the Closure of the Burial-Ground situated in the Uxbridge Road,” and to a Return on the Metropolitan Burials, Act, just printed by order of the House of Commons. For an exposition of the general evils of intra-mural interment, and an account of some of the disgraceful practices connected with it, I cannot do better than refer to “Gatherings from Grave Yards,” and Mr. Walker’s other works on these subjects.

To secure a healthful dwelling, then, it is necessary to know something of the elevation and the nature of the soil; the quality of the water; the efficiency of the drainage; the size of the house relative to the number of its intended inhabitants; and indeed, all those considerations which influence the quality of the air we breathe, should be taken into account. But it is not my intention to enter into an examination of all the items which compose a healthful dwelling; much less to count up those points which give an ideal value to a house on a “Bishop’s Estate,” though, judging from the puffing advertisements, which for years crowded the advertising columns of the Times, there must have been great and healing virtues in these magic words. In those advertisements, however, we saw no account of the contracted area; the deep narrow back yard; the thin and crumbling walls; the gaping doors and windows; the damp and ill ventilated basement; the absence of drainage; the want of bath-rooms, &c. &c.;—all such things had to be found out by the in-coming tenant, and remedied at his cost. But for the want of these essentials, the “pretty paper,” or the “handsome cornice,” made but poor compensation, even in houses advertised for sale at a few thousand pounds, “with a trifling ground-rent of seventy-five pounds per annum.”

Many suggestions have been offered relative to the derivation of the word Paddington; but that suggested by Mr. Kemble—one of the greatest living authorities on antiquarian topography—seems to me to be the most deserving consideration. Mr. Kemble observes, in his preface to the third volume of the Codex Diplomaticus, that the Anglo-Saxon, like most German names of places, are nearly always composite words; that is, they consist of two or more parts; the second generally of wide and common signification; the first a kind of definition limiting this general name to one particular application.

The former portion of these compound names, he says, may be classed under various heads, as the names of animals, birds, trees, fishes, &c.; others refer to mythological or divine personages; and others contain the names of individuals and families. To this latter division he refers Paddington in the first volume of his “Saxons in England;” where he has inferred a mark—“Pædingas”—for the name of this place—Tun, the enclosure or town, Pædingas of the Pædings. It is true, this is one of three names, of which Mr. Kemble appears to entertain some doubt; but all other explanations I have met with appear to me open to more serious objections. Dr. R. G. Latham, the father of the modern school of English philology, tells us that “in the Greek language the notion of lineal descent, in other words, the relation of the son to the father, is expressed by a particular termination;” and that this Greek mode of expression is very different from the English termination, son, and the Gaelic prefix, mac; which in fact make the words to which they are joined only compound words. But he asks is there anything in English corresponding to the Greek patronymics, and answers, “In Anglo-Saxon the termination ing is as truly patronymic as IDES is in Greek. * * * In the Bible-translation the son of Elisha is called Elising. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle occur such genealogies as the following:—Ida was Eopping, Eoppa Esing, &c.—Ida was the son of Eoppa, Eoppa of Esing, &c.” The learned Doctor further informs us that “In the plural number these forms denote the race of—as Scyldingas—to the Scyldings, or the race of Scyld,” [111] or Pœdingas—to the Pædings, or the race of Pæd.

With other names in Paddington there is not much difficulty.