Cholera in the 19th Century

Overview

Cholera, the highly infectious and often fatal intestinal disease, and endemic in India, appeared during the 19th century; the first outbreak occurred October 1831-33. It was introduced into the northeast ports from Russia; first appearing in the houses on the quay in Sunderland. The disease spread rapidly killing twenty-two thousand people before the beginning of June 1832 and by the end of that year cholera had spread to most parts of England. The most frightening aspect was the speed at which its victims perished. An attack of violent diahorrea and vomiting followed by agonising cramps in the limbs an abdomen, thirst and fever. After three to twelve hours, the symptoms advanced with rapidity, the skin became dry and a dusky blue or purple in colour, the eyes sank in their sockets, the features were pinched, the pulse at the wrist imperceptible, the voice reduced to a hoarse whisper. Death often took place within a day sometimes a few hours.

Another outbreak occurred in 1848-49 in which at least 50,000 died in England and Wales and probably actually numbering 70,000. In 1854 there were 10,675 deaths and in 1866 more than 3,000 died within three weeks. On each of these occasions the disease spread with alarming rapidity, largely because of the lack of sanitation in the new industrial towns. The outbreaks provided a spur to public health legislation, which in turn led to the eventual eradication of the disease.

List of Ely Cholera Victims 1832

The list was taken from That Alarming Malady by Reg Holmes (1974) who extracted the information from a register kept by the Local Board of Health at the time of the outbreak. The original records are at Cambridge Record Office. These are very detailed. The columns are headed: number in list, name, age, where lived, dated taken ill, date died/if recovered. I hope this information is helpful."

List No	Name		Age	Resident	Date Ill	Date Rec/Died
49	Adkins	Ann	17	Buggs Hill	7 Apr	R
117	Allpress	Thomas	11	Potters Lane	15 Apr	R
78	Ankin	-	45	Bugg's Hill	8 Apr	R
140	Appleyard's wife	-	34	Ship Lane	6 May	R
29	Armstead	Henry	35	Ship Lane	31 Mar	d 31 Mar
86	Atkin	William	7	Bugg's Hill	9 Apr	d 9 Apr
135	Banyard	John	60	Buggs Hill	30 Apr	R
116	Banyard	Lydia	10	Trin Wkhouse	15 Apr	d 15 Apr
127	Banyard's child		3	Buggs Hill	22 Apr	d 23 Apr
148	Barber	Mary	4	West End	26 May	d 17 May
77	Barker	William	40	Smoke Alley	8 Apr	R
133	Beaumont	girl	12	Buggs Hill	29 Apr	d 2 May
111	Benton	Eliza	4	Waterside	14 Apr	R
14	Benton	girl	9	Bridge Rd	22 Mar	R
13	Benton	lad	19	Bridge Rd	22 Mar	R
107	Benton	Matthew	16	Bridge Rd	13 Apr	R
73	Berstead	Thos	43	Bugg's Hill	8 Apr	R
8	Bird	child	6	Back Hill	20 Mar	R
6	Bird	Mrs	30	Back Hill	20 Mar	R
142	Black	John	55	West End	7 May	d 13 May
42	Black	Thomas	26	Back Hill	7 Apr	d 13 Apr
65	Black	Thos's wife	25	Back Hill	8 Apr	R
139	Bransom's child		5	Gaol Lane	5 May	d 5 May
89	Bristowe	Sarah	64	Broad St	9 Apr	d 18 Apr
35	Brooks	child	7	Back Hill	2 Apr	d 2 Apr
12	Brown	Mrs	66	Back Hill	22 Mar	d 22 Mar
84	Burling	Sarah	30	Back Hill	8 Apr	d 8 Apr
18	Chapman	lad	16	Common MuckHill	24 Mar	R
33	Chapman	Robert	70	Potters Lane	2 Apr	d 2 Apr
26	Church	Mrs	25	Back Lane	29 Mar	d 30 Mar
51	Cook	Robert	73	Trin Wkhouse	7 Apr	d 13 Apr
55	Cook	Susan	60	Back Hill	7 Apr	R
59	Cook	Susan	2	Back Hill	8 Apr	R
112	Cornwell	Lucy	54	Trin Wkhouse	14 Apr	R
134	Coulson	William	73	Broad St	30 Apr	R
101	Cropley	William	45	Trin Workhouse	11 Apr	d 11 Apr
123	Cross	Ephraim	3	Gaol Lane	21 Apr	d 21 Apr
121	Croxton	Edward	7	Trin Wkhouse	18 Apr	R
27	Cuttriss	child	10	Potters Lane	30 Mar	R
138	Dann	May	40	Buggs Hill	1 May	d 2 May
147	Denton	Mary Ann	3	West End	24 May	R
122	Denton's	Robt's wife	34	West Rd	20 Apr	R
46	English	Charles	21	Trin Wkhouse	7 Apr	R
100	Ensden	Jas' child	8	Broad St	10 Apr	R
146	Evans	John	64	West End	19 May	d 21 May
5	Fenn	child	2	Broad St	20 Mar.	R
79	Fenn	Jeremiah	43	Ansdale	8 Apr	R
130	Fenn	William	35	Ansdale	22 Apr	R
124	Fletcher	Wm	17	Buggs Hill	21 Apr	d 21 Apr
76	Frolice	Jas	30	Bugg's Hill	8 Apr	R
38	Frossell	John	35	Broad St	4 Apr	R
97	Fulcher	John	31	Back Hill	10 Apr	R
87	Fulcher	John's wife	28	Back Hill	10 Apr	R
95	Fyson	William	54	Broad St	10 Apr	R
57	Giles	Ann	42	Broad Hill	8 Apr	d 9 Apr
103	Gilson	Child	4	Bugg's Hill	10 Apr	d 10 Apr
126	Gilson	William	35	Buggs Hill	22 Apr	R
15	Godlington	-	23	Potters Lane	22 Mar	R
109	Gooby	Mary	18	Potters Lane	14 Apr	R
129	Gooby	William	42	Potters Lane	22 Apr	R
119	Gotobed	Eliza	47	Potters Lane	18 Apr	d 19 Apr
108	Gotobed	Jas	9	Back Hill	8 Apr	d 12 Apr
75	Gotobed	Jn's son	14	Ansdale	8 Apr	R
96	Gotobed	Jn's wife	33	Ansdale	9 Apr	R
39	Gotobed	Mrs	82	Back Hill	4 Apr	d 4 Apr
11	Gotobed	Paul	14	Annsdale	22 Mar	d 26 Mar
90	Gotobed	Susan	55	Back Hill	10 Apr	R
7	Hall	Louisa	10	waterside	20 Mar	R
115	Hancock	William	62	Potters Lane	15 Apr	R
83	Hart	-	6	Walpole Lane	9 Apr	R
44	Haylock	Daniel	24	Smoke Alley	7 Apr	d 7 Apr
64	Haylock	Dan's ch	2	Smoke Alley	7 Apr	d 8 Apr
36	Hiblin	Mrs	32	Suspension Bridge	3 Apr	R
88	Hipple	Susan	30	Bridge Rd	9 Apr	R
137	Hitch	Fras	7	West End	1 May	R
144	Hitch	Rebecca	20	West End	8 May	R
21	Howell	child	6	Potters Lane	26 Mar	R
118	Jere	Fenn's wife	45	Broad St	16 Apr	R
131	Johnson	Thos	11	Broad St	23 Apr	R
47	Knowles	John	22	Trin Wkhouse	7Apr	R
37	Knowles	Mrs	-	St Mary's	3 Apr	R
17	Lamb	Mrs	35	Potters Lane	24 Mar	d 24 Mar
68	Layton	Aaron	40	Smoke Alley	8 Apr	d 9 Apr
82	Layton	Jno	20	Ship Lane	9 Apr	R
1	Layton	Joseph	69	Walpole Lane	17 Mar	d 17 Mar
67	Layton	Mary	13	Ship Lane	7 Apr	d 8 Apr
23	Lee	-	30	Broad Hill	27 Mar	R
20	Lee	child	5	Broad St	25 Mar	R
94	Lee	James	58	Broad St	9 Apr	R
43	Lee	John	64	Back Hill	7 Apr	d 8 Apr
113	Lee	Richard	30	Broad St	15 Apr	R
3	Long	child	4	Potters Lane	19 Mar	d 19 Mar
63	Long	Rh's child	4	Back Hill	7 Apr	d 8 Apr
80	Long	Richard	40	Back Hill	8 Apr	R
61	Long	Rich's child	5	Back Hill	7 Apr	d 7 Apr
72	Long	Rich's child	8	Back Hill	8 Apr	d 10 Apr
62	Long	Rich's wife	40	Back Hill	8 Apr	d 9 Apr
32	Macrow	lad	15	Newnham	1 Apr	d apr 1
4	Moody	Wm	69	Potters Lane	19 Mar	d 19 Mar
16	Murray	lad	14	Broad St	23 Mar	R
60	Newell's son	17	Smoke Alley	8 Apr R
53	Palmer	Robt	65	Trin Wkhouse	7 Apr	R
102	Parsons	Henry	35	Babylon	11 Apr	R
9	Peck	Mrs	28	Back Hill	20 Mar	R
120	Peters	Stanford	53	Smoke Alley	18 Apr	R
40	Pickard	Mrs	71	Back Hill	5 Apr	d 5 Apr
10	Pidgeon	lad	14	Broad St	20 Mar	R
52	Poole	William	76	Trin Wkhouse	7 Apr	d 9 Apr
50	Prior	Lettice	80	Waterside	7 Apr	d 7 Apr
81	Pynock	Mrs	50	Gaol St	9 Apr	R
28	Reeve	child	4	Potters Lane	30 Mar	d 30 Mar
34	Reeve	child	6	Potters Lane	2 Apr	d 2 Apr
141	Roberts	Martha	19	Little London	5 May	R
143	Roberts	Martha	19	Little London	8 May	d 18 May
31	Roberts	Mrs	70	St Mary's	1 Apr	d 1 Apr
110	Rooms	widow	70	Buggs Hill	14 Apr	d 15 Apr
54	Royston	Mary	32	Trin Wkhouse	7 Apr	R
98	Royston's	child	5	Trin Wkhouse	10 Apr	d 11 Apr
132	Saberton	John	6	Gaol Lane	24 Apr	R
145	Salmon	Henry	32	West End	13 May	d 16 May
2	Scarrow	child	5	Broad St	19 Mar	d 19 Mar
99	Shearman	Sarah	18	Broad St	9 Apr	R
48	Shearman	Thos	42	Broad St	7 Apr	d 7 Apr
136	Shearman	Thos	28	Buggs Hill	30 Apr	R
30	Sindall	child	8	Broad St	31 Mar	d 31 Mar
114	Sindall	Eliza	1	Smoke Alley	15 Apr	R
58	Sindall	Richard	30	Back Hill	8 Apr	R
45	Smith	Susan	23	Trin Wkhouse	7 Apr	d 7 Apr
105	Stamford	Ephraim	7	Bridge Rd	12 Apr	R
125	Stanfd	Peter's wf		Smoke Alley	21 Apr	R
104	Tall	Jas jnr	35	Smoke Alley	11 Apr	R
22	Taylor	Isaac	30	Potters Lane	26 Mar	R
19	Taylor	James	15	Potters Lane	25 Mar	d 25 Mar
56	Taylor	James' wife	25	Broad St	7 Apr	R
91	Taylor	Rebecca	18	Potters Lane	10 Apr	R
106	Taylor	Sarah	15	Potters Lane	13 Apr	d 14 Apr
92	Taylor	William	28	Broad St	9 Apr	R
93	Taylor	William's child	5	Broad St	10 Apr	R
74	Taylor	Wm's wife	30	Broad St	8 Apr	R
128	Taylor's child		4	Potters Lane	22 Apr	R
25	Tingey	Mrs	40	Church Lane	28 Mar	R
66	Tubbs	Mary	70	Smoke Alley	8 Apr	d 9 Apr
24	Watts	Mrs	62	Back Hill	29 Mar	d 30 Mar
85	Wayman	John	45	Smoke Alley	8 Apr	R
71	Wells	Ann	12	Gaol Lane	8 Apr	R
70	Wells	John	7	Gaol Lane	8 Apr	d 9 Apr
69	Wells	Robert	8	Gaol Lane	8 Apr	R
41	Woodbine	Rbt	9	Potters Lane	6 Apr	R

Worldwide Plagues 1850-1865

DATE	DISEASE	LOCATION
1848-9	Cholera	Britain, France
1848-50	Cholera, Smallpox	Tunisia, Calcutta
1850	Military Fever	France
1850	Yellow Fever	Rio de Janeiro
1850-51	Dengue	United States
1850's-1859	3rd Pandemic Plague	China, India, South America, Africa
1853	Smallpox	Hawaii
1853-54	Cholera	Britain, France
1853-59	Cholera	Germany
1854	Measles	French Polynesia
1854	Cholera	Canada, Spain
1854-56	Scurvy	Crimea (Ukraine)
1854-56	Typhus	Crimea (Ukraine)
1854-56	Cholera	Crimea (Ukraine)
1854-56	Dysentery	Crimea (Ukraine)
1855-58	Diphtheria	Europe
1857	Smallpox	Calcutta
1858	Cholera	Japan
1860	Military Fever	France
1860-61	Cholera	India
1861-65	Dysentery	United States (Civil War Armies)
1861-65	Typhoid	United States (Civil War Armies)
1861-65	Typhus	United States (Civil War Armies)
1861-65	Malaria	United States (Civil War Armies)
1861-65	Scurvy	United States (Civil War Armies)
1861-65	Measles	United States (Civil War Armies)
1861-65	Smallpox	United States (Civil War Armies)

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