H. Percy (Henry Percy) Boulnois

Born in London in 1846, H. Percy Boulnois trained as an engineer at King's College London and gained early practical experience on railway work in France before moving into public service. He later became a borough engineer in Portsmouth and went on to serve as an engineering inspector at the Local Government Board, building a career around the design and management of roads, sanitation, and other essential civic systems.

Alongside his engineering work, he wrote books that explained municipal life in direct, accessible terms. Titles such as The Municipal and Sanitary Engineer's Handbook, Dirty Dustbins and Sloppy Streets, and Reminiscences of a Municipal Engineer show his gift for making technical subjects understandable and interesting, especially when they touched everyday public health and city living.

Boulnois died in 1927. Today his writing remains valuable not only as technical history, but also as a vivid record of the period when modern towns and cities were learning how to manage traffic, waste, drainage, and the basic services people depended on every day.