1854 epidemics in Surrey/ London

[Waitabit]

Having discovered the burial date of my Gt.Gt.Grand Aunt & her Husband to be the same date as my Birthday but 90 years earlier, I saw also many peope buried on the same day at Nunhead cemetery & days immediately before & after.
After wandering around Nunhead thanks to kind souls who put photos on the web, I searched for epidemics in 1854 London.

http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/broadstreetpump.html

Cholera was the only one which showed. So horrendous! Would that have been the probably cause of death for my GGGAunt & her Husband- buried the same day?
They lived in Bath St. St.Giles,Camberwell in 1851. Is it close enough to Southwark etc to have been in line of fire?

Such deaths would cause a burial to be almost inmmediate upon death would it not?

[malcolm99]

You might find interesting the 17th Annual Report of the Registrar General which covers 1854.

His report on Impure Water is here:
http://archive.org/stream/annualrepo...ge/90/mode/2up

It goes on for several pages and Southwark gets a poor mark for the quality of its water.

[malcolm99]

They lived in Bath St. St.Giles,Camberwell in 1851. Is it close enough to Southwark etc to have been in line of fire?

Bath Street is on Cross’s 1850 map:
http://
london1850.com/cross20.htm

It’s on the right hand margin of the map about half way down – between Albany Road and the (blue) canal. Walworth is in Southwark.

[Coromandel]

The newspapers of that summer make grim reading.

The Examiner of 2 September 1854 has some statistics on death registrations from cholera. It says that in the week ending 26 August 1854, 847 people died from cholera in London. The figures are broken down by registration district; the districts with the greatest number of deaths that week were Bermondsey (79 deaths), Camberwell (77 deaths) and Lambeth (75 deaths).

To find out for certain if your relatives were among the casualties you would have to get their death certificates . . . unless the cemetery burial register gives cause of death.

[olliecat]

The following looks interesting - 'On the Mode of Communication of Cholera', by John Snow, 2nd Ed. 1854.

http://
johnsnow.matrix.msu.edu/work.php?id=15-78-52

Scroll down toward the bottom of the page till you reach the Appendix and you will see a list of 'the number of deaths from cholera registered in the four weeks ending 5th August, 1854.' Camberwell is mentioned, in particular...

Camberwell. Dulwich
Camberwell. Camberwell
Camberwell. Peckham
Camberwell. St. George

Note: specific addresses are given but not the names of the individuals who contracted cholera; the individuals are described in general terms - i.e. labourer, child etc. Sad indeed.

The rest of the paper looks like a recommended read, particularly since the author is the epidemiologist John Snow and it is his investigation into the etiology and spread of cholera.

[Waitabit]

To find out for certain if your relatives were among the casualties you would have to get their death certificates . . . unless the cemetery burial register gives cause of death.

Thank you Coromandel, that's what I was looking to do before I found the burial data. It was rather distressing to see both go in one burial date. May do so just to understand why.

So many of these incindents over the years, such a great loss of lives.

[Waitabit]

Thanks Olliecat, there were many sites on this incident & Dr.Snow.I read several but found it hard going. So many lives cut short.

[Waitabit]

Lost my reply post to you Malcolm, I finally found Bath st. thank you. took awhile. I guess I wore out some viewing talent earlier in the day. rather grim reading such a loss of so many lives. Repeated over the years all over Europe.

[Waitabit]

Note: specific addresses are given but not the names of the individuals who contracted cholera; the individuals are described in general terms - i.e. labourer, child etc. Sad indeed.

Olliecat, having had a longer read of this article, in particular the above piece, it may help others to sort out what happened to any missing Family members in that time period.

[Mutley]

Both my ggg grandparents died of Cholera in July 1849 in Duke Street, Southwark (St. George the Martyr).
Their death certificates state:
John on the 28th says 5 days, Alice on the 30th says 13 hours.