Alfred Evans Fletcher

Alfred E. Fletcher was a leading figure in the battle against industrial air pollution in the nineteenth century.

A valuable account of Fletcher's work was published in 2022, from which much of the following information is condensed.

He was born on 6 May 1827, the son of David Fletcher and Elisabeth (nee Evans).

Fletcher worked as a young engineer on railway surveys. After being made redundant in 1848, he went to University College, London, where he studied mathematics under Augustus de Morgan and chemistry under Thomas Graham and Alexander Williamson (who had studied under Justus Liebig at Geissen). In 1851 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Chemistry.

After undertaking a three-month tour of British industrial facilities, he took a position in charge of the laboratory at a lead works in Millwall.

He was elected a Fellow of the Chemical Society in 1852.

Keen to start his own chemical business, he signed a lease in 1852 for a site in Jubilee Street in East London. In April 1853 he started producing dyestuffs

1859 Fletcher entered a partnership with William Virgo Wilsom at Jubilee-street, Mile End, and at 138, Leadenhall street, in the city of London, as Colour Manufacturers,

1861 Census: A manufacturing chemist, a visitor in Tottenham

1863 Wilson and Fletcher lost a legal battle with Simpson, Maule and Nicholson over patent rights for magenta dye, and the partnership was dissolved (Wilson continued the business).

In 1864, Fletcher was one of four people appointed to be Sub-Inspectors of Alkali Works, in conformity with the provisions of the Act 26th and 27th Vict., c.124, under Dr Angus Smith, the first Chief Inspector for the Alkali Inspectorate, charged with restraining the emission into the atmosphere of poisonous industrial fumes. The others were John Thomas Hobson, Brereton Todd, and Charles Blatherwick.

Fletcher devised a successful aspirator for the extraction and analysis of chemical gases, and an anemometer for measuring flow rates in flues. These devices assisted in the implementation of the 1863 Act, one of the most important health measures of the 19th century..

1871 Alfred E Fletcher 43, Analytical chemist and F.C.S., H.M. Sub inspector of Alkali Works under the Board of Trade, lived in West Derby with Sarah E Fletcher 35, Edith M Fletcher 11, Gertrude M Fletcher 8, Arthur M Fletcher 7, Herbert M Fletcher 6, Frank M Fletcher 4, Bernard M Fletcher 2, Eustace M Fletcher 1

Fletcher applied the principle of his anemometer to his 'Rhysimeter' for measuring the speed of ships. He described it in 'The Enhineer'in 1871 . He acknowledged that it followed earlier instruments designed by others, including Belcher, J. R. Napier, and Berthon.

Fletcher assisted the Scottish Office in the administration of the Rivers Pollution Act 1884. He succeeded Dr Angus Smith as Chief Inspector in 1884, following Smith's death in service.

He reorganised the Inspectorate, establishing seven regions with their own inspector, with an additional inspector for Widnes.

Fletcher took a lifelong interest in the problem of smoke pollution, following the lead taken by Angus Smith, even though the problem of black smoke remained outside the remit of the Alkali Inspectorate until long after his death. He paid close attention to methods of reducing smoke production in coal fires, and he was a strong advocate of the wider use of gas as a substitute for coal. In 1880 he invented a system for producing and circulating hot air in houses, using gas or coke as the fuel.

He travelled widely advising and lecturing on aspects of the smoke problem. Much of his campaigning was focused on Manchester and Salford, where the smoke pollution problem was particularly acute.

He retired between 1893 and 1895.

1920 Alfred Fletcher died in Dorking on 15 September 1920.

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Alfred's brother, Lavington Evans Fletcher, was an eminent engineer. They worked together on the construction of Brunel's South Wales Railway.

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