port in a favourable condition, was attacked suddenly, and in twenty
hours upwards of fifty of her crew had expired. We knew nothing of the
calamity that had overwhelmed our leader until the following morning,
when ‘reports of the sick’ were sent from each ship to the admiral. By
this time (the evening of the 16th), eighty had died, and more than two
hundred remained in greater or less danger.
“The night of the 16th must have been one of great consternation on
board her. The epidemic went on with unchecked violence; the officers
were voluntarily attending on the sick; and the very few of the crew who
had not been attacked, or who were not assisting their unfortunate
messmates, were found quite insufficient to perform the duties of a ship
when under sail; and the admiral, therefore, determined to return to
Baljik, taking with him the _Trafalgar_ and _Albion_, also badly
affected.
“The crew of the _Britannia_ were at once sent away from the ship, in
small parties, into the numerous transports that remained idle; and it
appears that, by this procedure, the epidemic influences operating among
them have been greatly moderated, if not extirpated.”
[Sidenote: THE CHOLERA NEAR GOLDEN SQUARE.]
The most terrible outbreak of cholera which ever occurred in this
kingdom, is probably that which took place in Broad Street, Golden
Square, and the adjoining streets, a few weeks ago. Within two hundred
and fifty yards of the spot where Cambridge Street joins Broad Street,
there were upwards of five hundred fatal attacks of cholera in ten days.
The mortality in this limited area probably equals any that was ever
caused in this country, even by the plague; and it was much more sudden,
as the greater number of cases terminated in a few hours. The mortality
would undoubtedly have been much greater had it not been for the flight
of the population. Persons in furnished lodgings left first, then other
lodgers went away, leaving their furniture to be sent for when they
could meet with a place to put it in. Many houses were closed
altogether, owing to the death of the proprietors; and, in a great
number of instances, the tradesmen who remained had sent away their
families: so that in less than six days from the commencement of the
outbreak, the most afflicted streets were deserted by more than
three-quarters of their inhabitants.
There were a few cases of cholera in the neighbourhood of Broad Street,
Golden Square, in the latter part of August; and the so-called outbreak,
which commenced in the night between the 31st August and the 1st
September, was, as in all similar instances, only a violent increase of
the malady. As soon as I became acquainted with the situation and extent
of this irruption of cholera, I suspected some contamination of the
water of the much-frequented street pump in Broad Street, near the end
of Cambridge Street; but on examining the water, on the evening of the
3rd September, I found so little impurity in it of an organic nature,
that I hesitated to come to a conclusion. Further inquiry, however,
showed me that there was no other circumstance or agent common to the
circumscribed locality in which this sudden increase of cholera
occurred, and not extending beyond it, except the water of the above
mentioned pump. I found, moreover, that the water varied, during the
next two days, in the amount of organic impurity, visible to the naked
eye, on close inspection, in the form of small white, flocculent
particles; and I concluded that, at the commencement of the outbreak, it
might possibly have been still more impure. I requested permission,
therefore, to take a list, at the General Register Office, of the deaths
from cholera, registered during the week ending 2nd September, in the
sub-districts of Golden Square, Berwick Street, and St. Ann’s, Soho,
which was kindly granted. Eighty-nine deaths from cholera were
registered, during the week, in the three sub-districts. Of these, only
six occurred in the four first days of the week; four occurred on
Thursday, the 31st August; and the remaining seventy-nine on Friday and
Saturday. I considered, therefore, that the outbreak commenced on the
Thursday; and I made inquiry, in detail, respecting the eighty-three
deaths registered as having taken place during the last three days of
the week.
On proceeding to the spot, I found that nearly all the deaths had taken
place within a short distance of the pump. There were only ten deaths in
houses situated decidedly nearer to another street pump. In five of
these cases the families of the deceased persons informed me that they
always sent to the pump in Broad Street, as they preferred the water to
that of the pump which was nearer. In three other cases, the deceased
were children who went to school near the pump in Broad Street. Two of
them were known to drink the water; and the parents of the third think
it probable that it did so. The other two deaths, beyond the district
which this pump supplies, represent only the amount of mortality from
cholera that was occurring before the irruption took place.
With regard to the deaths occurring in the locality belonging to the
pump, there were sixty-one instances in which I was informed that the
deceased persons used to drink the pump-water from Broad Street, either
constantly or occasionally. In six instances I could get no information,
owing to the death or departure of every one connected with the deceased
individuals; and in six cases I was informed that the deceased persons
did not drink the pump-water before their illness.
The result of the inquiry then was, that there had been no particular
outbreak or increase of cholera, in this part of London, except among
the persons who were in the habit of drinking the water of the
above-mentioned pump-well.
I had an interview with the Board of Guardians of St. James’s parish, on
the evening of Thursday, 7th September, and represented the above
circumstances to them. In consequence of what I said, the handle of the
pump was removed on the following day.
Besides the eighty-three deaths mentioned above as occurring on the
three last days of the week ending September 2nd, and being registered
during that week in the sub-districts in which the attacks occurred, a
number of persons died in Middlesex and other hospitals, and a great
number of deaths which took place in the locality during the last two
days of the week, were not registered till the week following. The
deaths altogether, on the 1st and 2nd of September, which have been
ascertained to belong to this outbreak of cholera, were one hundred and
ninety-seven; and many persons who were attacked about the same time as
these, died afterwards. I should have been glad to inquire respecting
the use of the water from Broad Street pump in all these instances, but
was engaged at the time in an inquiry in the south districts of London,
which will be alluded to afterwards; and when I began to make fresh
inquiries in the neighbourhood of Golden Square, after two or three
weeks had elapsed, I found that there had been such a distribution of
the remaining population that it would be impossible to arrive at a
complete account of the circumstances. There is no reason to suppose,
however, that a more extended inquiry would have yielded a different
result from that which was obtained respecting the eighty-three deaths
which happened to be registered within the district of the outbreak
before the end of the week in which it occurred.
The additional facts that I have been able to ascertain are in
accordance with those above related; and as regards the small number of
those attacked, who were believed not to have drank the water from Broad
Street pump, it must be obvious that there are various ways in which the
deceased persons may have taken it without the knowledge of their
friends. The water was used for mixing with spirits in all the public
houses around. It was used likewise at dining-rooms and coffee-shops.
The keeper of a coffee-shop in the neighbourhood, which was frequented
by mechanics, and where the pump-water was supplied at dinner time,
informed me (on 6th September) that she was already aware of nine of her
customers who were dead. The pump-water was also sold in various little
shops, with a teaspoonful of effervescing powder in it, under the name
of sherbet; and it may have been distributed in various other ways with
which I am unacquainted. The pump was frequented much more than is
usual, even for a London pump in a populous neighbourhood.
There are certain circumstances bearing on the subject of this outbreak
of cholera which require to be mentioned. The Workhouse in Poland Street
is more than three-fourths surrounded by houses in which deaths from
cholera occurred, yet out of five hundred and thirty-five inmates only
five died of cholera, the other deaths which took place being those of
persons admitted after they were attacked. The workhouse has a pump-well
on the premises, in addition to the supply from the Grand Junction Water
Works, and the inmates never sent to Broad Street for water. If the
mortality in the workhouse had been equal to that in the streets
immediately surrounding it on three sides, upwards of one hundred
persons would have died.
There is a Brewery in Broad Street, near to the pump, and on perceiving
that no brewer’s men were registered as having died of cholera, I called
on Mr. Huggins, the proprietor. He informed me that there were above
seventy workmen employed in the brewery, and that none of them had
suffered from cholera,—at least in a severe form,—only two having been
indisposed, and that not seriously, at the time the disease prevailed.
The men are allowed a certain quantity of malt liquor, and Mr. Huggins
believes they do not drink water at all; and he is quite certain that
the workmen never obtained water from the pump in the street. There is a
deep well in the brewery, in addition to the New River water.
At the percussion-cap manufactory, 37 Broad Street, where, I understand,
about two hundred workpeople were employed, two tubs were kept on the
premises always supplied with water from the pump in the street, for
those to drink who wished; and eighteen of these workpeople died of
cholera at their own homes, sixteen men and two women.
Mr. Marshall, surgeon, of Greek Street, was kind enough to inquire
respecting seven workmen who had been employed in the manufactory of
dentists’ materials, at Nos. 8 and 9 Broad Street, and who died at their
own homes. He learned that they were all in the habit of drinking water
from the pump, generally drinking about half-a-pint once or twice a day;
while two persons who reside constantly on the premises, but do not
drink the pump-water, only had diarrhœa. Mr. Marshall also informed me
of the case of an officer in the army, who lived at St. John’s Wood, but
came to dine in Wardour Street, where he drank the water from Broad
Street pump at his dinner. He was attacked with cholera, and died in a
few hours.
I am indebted to Mr. Marshall for the following cases, which are
interesting as showing the period of incubation, which in these three
cases was from thirty-six to forty-eight hours. Mrs. ——, of 13 Bentinck
Street, Berwick Street, aged 28, in the eighth month of pregnancy, went
herself (although they were not usually water drinkers), on Sunday, 3rd
September, to Broad Street pump for water. The family removed to
Gravesend on the following day; and she was attacked with cholera on
Tuesday morning at seven o’clock, and died of consecutive fever on 15th
September, having been delivered. Two of her children drank also of the
water, and were attacked on the same day as the mother, but recovered.
Dr. Fraser, of Oakley Square, kindly informed me of the following
circumstance. A gentleman in delicate health was sent for from Brighton
to see his brother at 6 Poland Street, who was attacked with cholera and
died in twelve hours, on 1st September. The gentleman arrived after his
brother’s death, and did not see the body. He only stayed about twenty
minutes in the house, where he took a hasty and scanty luncheon of
rumpsteak, taking with it a small tumbler of brandy and water, the water
being from Broad Street pump. He went to Pentonville, and was attacked
with cholera on the evening of the following day, 2nd September, and
died the next evening.
Dr. Fraser also first called my attention to the following
circumstances, which are perhaps the most conclusive of all in proving
the connexion between the Broad Street pump and the outbreak of cholera.
In the “Weekly Return of Births and Deaths” of September 9th, the
following death is recorded as occurring in the Hampstead district: “At
West End, on 2nd September, the widow of a percussion-cap maker, aged 59
years, diarrhœa two hours, cholera epidemica sixteen hours.”
I was informed by this lady’s son that she had not been in the
neighbourhood of Broad Street for many months. A cart went from Broad
Street to West End every day, and it was the custom to take out a large
bottle of the water from the pump in Broad Street, as she preferred it.
The water was taken on Thursday, 31st August, and she drank of it in the
evening, and also on Friday. She was seized with cholera on the evening
of the latter day, and died on Saturday, as the above quotation from the
register shows. A niece, who was on a visit to this lady, also drank of
the water; she returned to her residence, in a high and healthy part of
Islington, was attacked with cholera, and died also. There was no
cholera at the time, either at West End or in the neighbourhood where
the niece died. Besides these two persons, only one servant partook of
the water at Hampstead West End, and she did not suffer, or, at least,
not severely. There were many persons who drank the water from Broad
Street pump about the time of the outbreak, without being attacked with
cholera; but this does not diminish the evidence respecting the
influence of the water, for reasons that will be fully stated in another
part of this work.
[Illustration: _MAP 1._]
The deaths which occurred during this fatal outbreak of cholera are
indicated in the accompanying map, as far as I could ascertain them.
There are necessarily some deficiencies, for in a few of the instances
of persons who died in the hospitals after their removal from the
neighbourhood of Broad Street, the number of the house from which they
had been removed was not registered. The address of those who died after
their removal to St. James’s Workhouse was not registered; and I was
only able to obtain it, in a part of the cases, on application at the
Master’s Office, for many of the persons were too ill, when admitted, to
give any account of themselves. In the case also of some of the
workpeople and others who contracted the cholera in this neighbourhood,
and died in different parts of London, the precise house from which they
had removed is not stated in the return of deaths. I have heard of some
persons who died in the country shortly after removing from the
neighbourhood of Broad Street; and there must, no doubt, be several
cases of this kind that I have not heard of. Indeed, the full extent of
the calamity will probably never be known. The deficiencies I have
mentioned, however, probably do not detract from the correctness of the
map as a diagram of the topography of the outbreak; for, if the locality
of the few additional cases could be ascertained, they would probably be
distributed over the district of the outbreak in the same proportion as
the large number which are known.
The dotted line on the map surrounds the sub-districts of Golden Square,
St. James’s, and Berwick Street, St. James’s, together with the
adjoining portion of the sub-district of St. Anne, Soho, extending from
Wardour Street to Dean Street, and a small part of the sub-district of
St. James’s Square enclosed by Marylebone Street, Titchfield Street,
Great Windmill Street, and Brewer Street. All the deaths from cholera
which were registered in the six weeks from 19th August to 30th
September within this locality, as well as those of persons removed into
Middlesex Hospital, are shown in the map[10] by a black line in the
situation of the house in which it occurred, or in which the fatal
attack was contracted.
In addition to these the deaths of persons removed to University College
Hospital, to Charing Cross Hospital, and to various parts of London, are
indicated in the map, where the exact address was given in the “Weekly
Return of Deaths,” or, when I could learn it by private inquiry.
The pump in Broad Street is indicated on the map, as well as all the
surrounding pumps to which the public had access at the time. It
requires to be stated that the water of the pump in Marlborough Street,
at the end of Carnaby Street, was so impure that many people avoided
using it. And I found that the persons who died near this pump in the
beginning of September, had water from the Broad Street pump. With
regard to the pump in Rupert Street, it will be noticed that some
streets which are near to it on the map, are in fact a good way removed,
on account of the circuitous road to it. These circumstances being taken
into account, it will be observed that the deaths either very much
diminished, or ceased altogether, at every point where it becomes
decidedly nearer to send to another pump than to the one in Broad
Street. It may also be noticed that the deaths are most numerous near to
the pump where the water could be more readily obtained. The wide open
street in which the pump is situated suffered most, and next the streets
branching from it, and especially those parts of them which are nearest
to Broad Street. If there have been fewer deaths in the south half of
Poland Street than in some other streets leading from Broad Street, it
is no doubt because this street is less densely inhabited.
In some of the instances, where the deaths are scattered a little
further from the rest on the map, the malady was probably contracted at
a nearer point to the pump. A cabinet-maker, who was removed from
Philip’s Court, Noel Street, to Middlesex Hospital, worked in Broad
Street. A boy also who died in Noel Street, went to the National school
at the end of Broad Street, and having to pass the pump, probably drank
of the water. A tailor, who died at 6, Heddon Court, Regent Street,
spent most of his time in Broad Street. A woman, removed to the hospital
from 10, Heddon Court, had been nursing a person who died of cholera in
Marshall Street. A little girl, who died in Ham Yard, and another who
died in Angel Court, Great Windmill Street, went to the school in
Dufour’s Place, Broad Street, and were in the habit of drinking the
pump-water, as were also a child from Naylor’s Yard, and several others,
who went to this and other schools near the pump in Broad Street. A
woman who died at 2, Great Chapel Street, Oxford Street, had been
occupied for two days preceding her illness at the public washhouses
near the pump, and used to drink a good deal of water whilst at her
work; the water drank there being sometimes from the pump and sometimes
from the cistern.
The limited district in which this outbreak of cholera occurred,
contains a great variety in the quality of the streets and houses;
Poland Street and Great Pulteney Street consisting in a great measure of
private houses occupied by one family, whilst Husband Street and Peter
Street are occupied chiefly by the poor Irish. The remaining streets are
intermediate in point of respectability. The mortality appears to have
fallen pretty equally amongst all classes, in proportion to their
numbers. Masters are not distinguished from journeymen in the
registration returns of this district, but, judging from my own
observation, I consider that out of rather more than six hundred deaths,
there were about one hundred in the families of tradesmen and other
resident householders. One hundred and five persons who had been removed
from this district died in Middlesex, University College, and other
hospitals, and two hundred and six persons were buried at the expense of
St. James’s parish; the latter number includes many of those who died in
the hospitals, and a great number who were far from being paupers, and
would on any other occasion have been buried by their friends, who, at
this time, were either not aware of the calamity or were themselves
overwhelmed by it. The greatest portion of the persons who died were
tailors and other operatives, who worked for the shops about Bond Street
and Regent Street, and the wives and children of these operatives. They
were living chiefly in rooms which they rented by the week.
The following table exhibits the chronological features of this terrible
outbreak of cholera.
=TABLE I.=
Date. No. of Fatal Attacks. Deaths.
August 19 1 1
„ 20 1 0
„ 21 1 2
„ 22 0 0
„ 23 1 0
„ 24 1 2
„ 25 0 0
„ 26 1 0
„ 27 1 1
„ 28 1 0
„ 29 1 1
„ 30 8 2
„ 31 56 3
September 1 143 70
„ 2 116 127
„ 3 54 76
„ 4 46 71
„ 5 36 45
„ 6 20 37
„ 7 28 32
„ 8 12 30
„ 9 11 24
„ 10 5 18
„ 11 5 15
„ 12 1 6
„ 13 3 13
„ 14 0 6
„ 15 1 8
„ 16 4 6
„ 17 2 5
„ 18 3 2
„ 19 0 3
„ 20 0 0
„ 21 2 0
„ 22 1 2
„ 23 1 3
„ 24 1 0
„ 25 1 0
„ 26 1 2
„ 27 1 0
„ 28 0 2
„ 29 0 1
„ 30 0 0
Date unknown 45 0
——— ———
Total 616 616
The deaths in the above table are compiled from the sources mentioned
above in describing the map; but some deaths which were omitted from the
map on account of the number of the house not being known, are included
in the table. As regards the date of attack, I was able to obtain it
with great precision, through the kindness of Mr. Sibley, in upwards of
eighty deaths which occurred in Middlesex Hospital; for the hour of
admission was entered in the hospital books, as well as the previous
duration of the illness. In a few other cases also I had exact
information of the hour of attack, and in the remainder I have
calculated it by subtracting the duration of the illness from the date
of death. Where the illness did not exceed twelve hours, the attack was
considered to have commenced the same day; where the illness exceeded
twelve, and did not exceed thirty-six hours, the attack was put down to
the previous day, and so on. Where the illness exceeded forty-eight
hours, its duration is generally given in days, which were subtracted
from the date of the attack. Although this plan does not always give the
precise date of attack, it reaches within a few hours of it, and is as
valuable perhaps as if the exact day were given, unless the hour as well
as the day could be introduced into the table. Where premonitory
diarrhœa is stated to have existed, the period of its duration is
deducted from the date of death, and, in fact, the time of attack is
fixed at the first commencement of indisposition, except in two or three
instances in which the patient was labouring under another disease, as
phthisis or typhus fever. There are forty-five cases in which the
duration of the illness was not certified, or entered in the books of
the registrars, and the time of attack in these cases is consequently
unknown. These persons nearly all died in the first days of September,
in the height of the calamity, and it is almost certain that they were
cut off very quickly, like the others who died at this time.
It is pretty certain that very few of the fifty-six attacks placed in
the table to the 31st August occurred till late in the evening of that
day. The irruption was extremely sudden, as I learn from the medical men
living in the midst of the district, and commenced in the night between
the 31st August and 1st September. There was hardly any premonitory
diarrhœa in the cases which occurred during the first three days of the
outbreak; and I have been informed by several medical men, that very few
of the cases which they attended on those days ended in recovery.