Inspector of Nuisances is a Newham Heritage Month 2025 project run by Grow Studios, exploring the legacy of Alice Billing, Newham’s first female sanitation inspector. Through genealogical research, artist residencies, and community workshops, it uncovers her story and the ever evolving civic role of Alice Billing House.
Inspector of Nuisances is a Newham Heritage Month 2025 project run by Grow Studios, exploring the legacy of Alice Billing, Newham’s first female sanitation inspector.
Through genealogical research, artist residencies, and community workshops, we uncover her story and the ever evolving civic role of Alice Billing House.
Alice Billing, Newham’s first female sanitation inspector, served between 1897 and 1930. The project takes its name from the official Victorian-era title for public health officers, a role Alice held at a time when few women occupied such civic positions.
Despite having a Grade II-listed building named in her honour, little is widely known or celebrated about Alice Billing. We see her as a radical and important figure in Newham’s history, and through this project, we want to uncover and share her story.
Alice Billing House is a site layered with stories of Newham’s civic, social, and architectural past. Inspector of Nuisances helped us uncover narratives from both history and the present.
-
About the Project
Inspector of Nuisances is a Newham Heritage Month 2025 project exploring the legacy of Alice Billing, Newham’s first female sanitation inspector. Through genealogical research, artist residencies, and community workshops, it uncovers her story and the evolving civic role of Alice Billing House.
-
Artist-in Residence
We invited local artists and creative practitioners to apply to be part of our artist-in-residency programme marking Newham Heritage Month 2025. Newham-based artist Sam Ikhuoria completed a residency over August and September, creating performative paintings with wearable brush extensions in response to the site’s layered histories and the theme Inspector of Nuisances.
-
Series Inspired by Women’s Health and History
This July, we were thrilled to host a series of workshops led by Frames of Mind. The project invited participants to explore the legacy of women’s health and working conditions in Newham over the past 60 years through creative storytelling, animation, and shared experience.
-
Research and Geneology
The first phase of the project involved commissioning local genealogist and historian Kathleen Charter to trace the Billing family and explore Alice Billing’s role as a sanitary inspector in 19th-century West Ham.
This research built upon earlier work by local historian Mark Gorman, who had already begun uncovering Alice’s story and her historical context.