The cholera epidemic, 1832

• Cholera epidemics had a profound impact on the public and the legislators that was out of all proportion to their statistical importance. Which was for 2 main reasons:

  1. high percentage of fatalities among those contracting these disease
  2. speed with which cholera could strike
• Cholera-phobia riots:

  30 recorded 'cholera-phobia' riots. Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield.
• Liverpool riots:

  Out of all the riots in Britain, Liverpool's was the worst.
• Liverpool riots:

  29th May and 8th June 1832, 8 major street riots.
• Liverpool riots:

  Protestors were not protesting against the disease, rather they were rioting against the local medical men.
• Liverpool riots:

  Was a generally held belief that cholera victims were being taken to the local hospital where they died, doubtless murdered by the doctors in order to provide bodies for dissection.
• Liverpool riots:

  1826 - 33 bodies had been found on the Liverpool docks, ready to be shipped to Scotland for dissection.
• Liverpool riots:

  2 years later, a local surgeon, named William Gill, was tried and found guilty of running a grave-robbing system in order to provide bodies for dissection.
• Liverpool riots:

  Riots ended abruptly, because of pleas from the local catholic clergy and a well-respected local doctor, James Collins.
• Cholera-phobia riots - Exeter:

  Authorities instituted regulations for the disposal of cholera-infected corpses and their clothing and bedding.
• Cholera-phobia riots - Exeter:

  People rioted, and even attacked grave diggers, because they objected to the burial of cholera victims in local graveyards.
• Cholera-phobia riots:

  Cholera riots were not directed at the authorities for failing to contain the epidemic, but arose because of specific fears that medical students were stealing bodies for their anatomy classes; doctors were murdering cholera victims; victims were being buried hastily, possibly before they were dead, and without proper religious ceremony.
• Cholera-phobia riots:

  Should be seen in the context of the general political and social unrest prevalent at the time. 1831-32, pressure amongst people and politicians for the reform of parliament was intense. Meetings urging reforms were held in all major towns and cities, accompanied by marches and rioting. Parliament was reformed, governments were not overturned and the fabric of society held firm.
• How did the gov react to the cholera outbreak?

  Central government did nothing about the endemic fevers and 'dirty' diseases that were common among all classes in all large towns, which claimed the lives of thousands more people than cholera.
• How did the gov react to the cholera outbreak?

  Cholera was deadly and swift. Capable of engendering fear in a way that typhoid and TB could not. The government had to take action.
• How did the gov react to the cholera outbreak? - Board of Health

  1831, the government sent 2 medical commissioners to St. Petersburg in Russia, to assess the situation. Their report, resulted in a temporary Board of Health being quickly set up.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak? - Board of Health

  The Board of Health consisted of the president and 4 fellows of the Royal College of Physicians, the superintendent general of quarantine, the director general of the Army Medical Department, the medical commissioner of the Victualling Office and the two civil servants.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak? - Board of Health

  The Board of Health advised local government areas to set up their own boards of health, which would be in a position to deal with the problem at grass-root level.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?- Board of Health

  It suggested local boards of health should include one or more magistrates, a clergyman, some 'substantial householders' and one or more medical men.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?- Board of Health

  These local boards of health appointed district inspectors to report on the food, clothing and bedding of the poor, the ventilation of their dwellings, the number of people per room, the ways they kept clean and their behaviour.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?- Board of Health

  Advice was also given:

  • houses were to be whitewashed and limed and all infected furniture and clothing was to be fumigated
  • people with cholera were to be put into strict quarantine
  • food and flannel clothing were to be distributed to the poor
  • temporary fever hospitals were to be set up.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak? - Board of Health

  In the absence of any knowledge about the cause of cholera, the board of health was trifle hazy about what people should do if they caught the disease.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?- Board of Health


  It suggested a variety of remedies, amongst them rub castor oil and laudanum, plasters of mustard, peppermint and hot turpentine, bleeding by leeches and hot baths. This sort of advice could do no harm and could do some good.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?

  The central government was officially recognising that cleanliness, adequate clothing, and food are necessary factors in public health.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?

  A number of cities were frightened by the advance of cholera to set up their own boards of health, as suggested by the central board.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?

  Inspectors did submit reports to their local boards, and the local boards sent returns to the central board noting the cases of cholera in their area and deaths from the disease.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?

  However, this tended to be information gathering, not disease prevention or cure.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?

  Some areas set up cholera hospitals and others tried to institute a quarantine regime, but in the absence of firm knowledge and understanding as to what caused cholera, any measures tended to be a hit or miss.
• How did the gov react to the Cholera outbreak?

  1832 - temporary 'cholera acts' were passed to allow local authorities to enforce some measures and finance them from the poor rates. However, local action was haphazard. Local boards were only temporary, once the first cholera epidemic had died down, they were disbanded.
• A cure for cholera?

  Cholera had no cause or cure.
• A cure for cholera?

  People tried avoidance rather than a prevention or a cure, although plenty of 'cures' were on offer.
• A cure for cholera?

  For those unwilling - or unable - to flee there was a host of remedies and preventatives from which to choose
• A cure for cholera?

  Contagionist theory - cholera was spread by contact with cholera victims. It met considerable opposition. If true, whole houses, streets or even cities had to be quarantined. Opponents pointed to the potential loss of trade and consequent increase in poverty and unemployment. Argued that not everyone in the same household fell ill with cholera so the theory could not be true.
• A cure for cholera?

  Miasmic theory - cholera was spread by a 'miasma of filth' that was breathed in from infected air. The actions based on this theory - the removal of heaps of excrement for example - were steps in the right direction. The connecting of sewers to rivers and other water courses, however, was not.
• A cure for cholera?

  1831 - The Lancet, a journal written by doctors for doctors, reported that a community of Jews in Wiesniz had kept themselves free from cholera by rubbing themselves with an ointment made from wine, vinegar, camphor, mustard, pepper, garlic and the crushed bodies of beetles.
• A cure for cholera?

  Patent medicines grew and multiplied in number, as did their claims. Moxon's Effervescent Universal Mixture, Daffey's Elixir and Morrison the Hygienist's Genuine Vegetable Universal Mixture. All claimed to cure cholera, because many who took them undoubtedly did survive, they had a great following of those who believed in their curative properties.
• A cure for cholera?

  Prayer was recommended by all the main Christian churches. Cholera was God's punishment for lax and immoral behaviour. Repent and all would be well. Many of those who prayed for themselves survived, as did those for whom they prayed.
• A cure for cholera?

  Until there was scientific proof that cholera was a water-borne disease, survival was a hit or miss affair.
• A cure for cholera?

  15 years after the 1832 epidemic, cholera again swept the country with the same effect: local boards of health were set up, and then disbanded once the danger had passed. It was the third visitation of cholera in the early 1850s that was to become a turning point in the understanding of disease.