author
H. Percy (Henry Percy) Boulnois
1846–1927
A Victorian-era municipal engineer who turned practical public works into lively, readable books, he wrote about the everyday systems that kept growing towns clean, healthy, and running. His work offers a close-up view of how sanitation and street management became part of modern city life.
2 Audiobooks
Dirty Dustbins and Sloppy Streets A Practical Treatise on the Scavenging and Cleansing of Cities and Towns
by H. Percy (Henry Percy) Boulnois
The Municipal and Sanitary Engineer's Handbook
by H. Percy (Henry Percy) Boulnois
About the author
Trained as an engineer in the 19th century, Henry Percy Boulnois was born in London in 1846 and was educated at Pocklington Grammar School and King's College London. He worked early on the Vendée Railway in France, then went on to hold important municipal posts including City Surveyor of Exeter and Borough Engineer of Portsmouth.
Boulnois became well known for writing practical books about municipal and sanitary engineering. Among the works associated with him are The Municipal and Sanitary Engineer's Handbook, Dirty Dustbins and Sloppy Streets, and Reminiscences of a Municipal Engineer. His writing focused on the real, often overlooked work behind public health: streets, drainage, refuse collection, and the everyday duties of local authorities.
He died in 1927, but his books still have value for readers interested in urban history, engineering, and the making of modern public services. What makes his work appealing now is its directness: he wrote not in abstractions, but from experience, with a clear sense of how cities functioned on the ground.