John Southall

John Southall was an English author and self-described professional exterminator working in London in the early 18th century. He is known for A Treatise of Buggs (1730), a book devoted to the habits, spread, and destruction of bedbugs, and often described as the first full-length study of the subject.

The book presents him not just as a writer but as a hands-on practitioner. Contemporary material identifies him as the maker of a product called “Nonpareil Liquor” for destroying bugs and nits, and later commentary says he made bedbug removal his profession after returning from the Americas. His treatise blends personal experience, practical advice, and close observation, giving it the feel of both a manual and an early scientific work.

Very little about Southall’s wider life seems to be firmly documented, which adds to his curiosity as a historical figure. What survives clearly is his unusual achievement: he turned an everyday urban nuisance into a serious subject for print, leaving behind a book that is still remembered for its oddity, usefulness, and place in the history of pest control and popular science.