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The Hydrostatic Van

edcartermo

edcartermo

master brummie
My mother's Ist great grand uncle had his nose put out by the introduction of the Hydrostatic Van as this letter of 1875 to the Birmingham Post shows. It led to an exchange of letters in the newspaper in which my ancestor defended his watering cart but the tide of history was against him. The Hydrostatic Van was purchased by Corporations across the land becoming the object of some amusement due to its rather grand title which some, including "Punch", thought pretentious for such a mundane object.

180 Great Colmore Street was the address of The Grand Junction Hotel of which John Seeley Oldham was the licensed victualler.
 

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Thank you for your kind response. Yes, the Hydrostatic Van was seen as the solution to the vexed problem of inefficient and, for many angry citizens, unfair allocation of street cleansing resources.
 
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