As London baked under the sweltering summer of 1858, foul-smelling deeds were afoot. Several men were seen throwing dung into the river Thames from the pierhead at St Katharine’s Dock, and the summonses to court were applied for and granted – reluctantly – by an official named Mr Yardley. The Morning Advertiser picked up the story on 9 July, giving it the headline ‘The State of the Thames’ and quoting the beleaguered response of Mr Yardley to the summons: