Cholera and the Water Supply in the South Districts of London in 1854

by John Snow

Table III.
Shewing the results of the whole Inquiry during the First Seven Weeks of the Epidemic, arranged in Districts.

Registration Districts.	Number of inhabited houses in 1851.	Population in 1851.	Estimated constant population per house.	“Number of houses, and estimated number of persons, supplied in 1854 with water as under.”				Water supply of the houses in which fatal attacks of cholera took place during first seven weeks of epidemic of 1854.					Deaths in first seven weeks of epidemic.	Mortality per 10,000 supplied with water as under.
				By the Southwark and Vauxhall Co.		By the Lambeth Company.		Southwark and Vauxhall Co.	Lambeth Co.	Thames, canals, or ditches.	Pump-wells.	Supply not ascertained.		Southwark and Vauxhall Co.	Lambeth Co.
				No. of houses.	Estimated population.	No. of houses.	Estimated population.
St. Saviour, Southwark	4,600	35,731	7·8	2,631	19,617	1,689	14,201	126	13	10	0	1	150	64·4	9·1
St. Olave, Southwark	2,360	19,375	8·2	2,193	18,638	0	0	91	0	8	0	5	104	48·8
Bermondsey	7,007	48,128	6·9	8,402	57,884	268	1,785	266	0	25	0	0	291	45·9
St. George, Southwark	6,992	51,824	7·4	3,419	25,039	3,183	23,712	134	20	0	0	3	157	53·5	8·4
Newington	10,458	64,816	6·2	5,224	31,940	5,473	33,531	155	11	0	1	2	169	48·5	3·2
Lambeth	20,447	139,325	6·8	8,077	54,982	11,763	83,786	176	43	8	7	9	243	32·8	4·9
Wandsworth	8,276	50,764	6·1	3,028	18,390	618	3,870	62	1	16	17	0	96	33·7	3·3
Camberwell	9,412	54,667	5·8	4,005	23,472	1,835	10,478	185	9	0	2	1	197	78·8	8·5
Rotherhithe	2,792	17,805	6·4	2,336	14,951	0	0	68	0	35	0	0	103	45·4
Sub-district of Sydenham	801	4,501	5·6	0	0	unknow.	unknow.	0	1	0	2	1	4
Not identified			6·6	411	2,712	25	165
Totals	73,145	486,936	6·7	39,726	267,625	24,854	171,528	1263	98	102	29	22	1514	47·2	5·7

Table IV.
The Inquiry of the General Register Office during the Last Ten Weeks of the Epidemic.

Registration District.	Number of inhabited houses in 1851.	Population in 1851.	Estimated constant population per house.	“Number of houses, and estimated number of persons, supplied in 1854 with water as under.”				Water supply of the houses in which fatal attacks of cholera took place.				Deaths from cholera in last ten weeks of epidemic.	Mortality per 10,000 supplied with water as under.
				By Southwark and Vauxhall Co.		By the Lambeth Company.		Southwark and Vauxhall Co.	Lambeth Co.	From pumpwells.	Supply not ascertained.		Southwark and Vauxhall Co.	Lambeth Co.
				No. of houses.	Estimated Population.	No. of houses.	Estimated Population.
St. Saviour, Southwark	4,600	35,721	7·8	2,631	19,617	1,689	14,201	280	59	0	2	341	143	41
St. Olave, Southwark	2,360	19,375	8·2	2,193	18,638	0	0	186	0	0	23	209	100
Bermondsey	7,007	48,128	6·9	8,402	57,884	268	1,785	555	0	0	0	555	96
St. George, Southwark	6,992	51,824	7·4	3,419	25,039	3,183	23,712	254	79	0	53	386	101	33
Newington	10,458	64,816	6·2	5,224	31,940	5,473	33,531	303	47	1	174	525	95	14
Lambeth	20,447	139,325	6·8	8,077	54,982	11,763	83,786	349	95	9	231	684	63	11
Wandsworth	8,276	50,764	6·1	3,028	18,390	618	3,870	206	6	73	40	325	112	15
Camberwell	9,412	54,667	5·8	4,005	23,472	1,835	10,478	167	24	113	48	352	71	23
Rotherhithe	2,792	17,805	6·4	2,336	14,951	0	0	139	0	11	30	180	93
Greenwich & sub-dis. Sydenham								4	3			7
Houses not identified			6·6	411	2,712	25	165
Totals	72,344	482,435	6·7	39,726	267,625	24,854	171,528	2,443	313	207	601	3,564	91	18

Table V.
Shewing the results of the Inquiry for the whole Epidemic of 1854.

Registration District.	Number of inhabited houses in 1851.	Population in 1851.	Estimated constant population per house.	“Number of houses, and estimated number of persons, supplied in 1854 with water as under.”				Water supply of the houses in which fatal attacks of cholera took place.				Deaths from cholera in last ten weeks of epidemic.	Mortality per 10,000 supplied with water as under.
				By Southwark and Vauxhall Co.		By the Lambeth Company.		Southwark and Vauxhall Co.	Lambeth Co.	From pumpwells.	Supply not ascertained.		Southwark and Vauxhall Co.	Lambeth Co.
				No. of houses.	Estimated Population.	No. of houses.	Estimated Population.
St. Saviour, Southwark	4,600	35,721	7·8	2,631	19,617	1,689	14,201	406	72	10	3	491	207	50
St. Olave, Southwark	2,360	19,375	8·2	2,193	18,638	0	0	277	0	8	28	313	148
Bermondsey	7,007	48,128	6·9	8,402	57,884	268	1,785	821	0	25	0	846	142
St. George, Southwark	6,992	51,824	7·4	3,419	25,039	3,183	23,712	388	99	0	56	543	155	41
Newington	10,458	64,816	6·2	5,224	31,940	5,473	33,531	458	58	2	176	694	143	17
Lambeth	20,447	139,325	6·8	8,077	54,982	11,763	83,786	525	138	24	240	927	96	16
Wandsworth	8,276	50,764	6·1	3,028	18,390	618	3,870	268	7	106	40	421	145	18
Camberwell	9,412	54,667	5·8	4,005	23,472	1,835	10,478	352	33	115	49	549	150	31
Rotherhithe	2,792	17,805	6·4	2,336	14,951	0	0	207	0	46	30	283	138
Greenwich & sub-dis. Sydenham								4	4	2	1	11
Houses not identified			6·6	411	2,712	25	165
Totals	72,344	482,435	6·7	39,726	267,625	24,854	171,528	3,706	411	338	623	5,078	138	23
Non-ascertained cases distributed in proportion of others								561	62
Population (Registrar-General)					266,516		173,748	4,267	473	338		5,078	160	27

Table VI.
The Mortality from Cholera in 1854, in Thirty-one Sub-Districts, as compared with Calculations founded on the Results shewn in Table V.

Registration Districts.	Registration Sub-Districts.	Population in 1851.	Estimated population supplied with water as under.			Deaths from cholera in 1854.		Calculated mortality in the population, supplied with water as under.
			Southwark and Vauxhall Co.	Lambeth Co.	Both Companies together.	Total deaths.	Deaths per 10,000 living.	Southwark and Vauxhall Co. at 160 per 10,000.	Lambeth Co. at 27 per 10,000.	The two Companies.	Calculated deaths per 10,000 supplied by the two Companies.
St. Saviour, Southw.	1. Christchurch	16,022	2,915	13,234	16,149	113	71	46	36	82	57
	2. St. Saviour	19,709	16,337	898	17,235	378	192	261	2	263	153
St. Olave	1. St. Olave	8,015	8,745	0	8,745	161	201	140	0	140	160
	2. St. John, Horselydown	11,300	9,360	0	9,360	152	134	150	0	150	160
Bermondsey	1. St. James	18,899	23,173	693	23,866	362	192	370	2	372	156
	2. St. Mary Magdalen	13,934	17,258	0	17,258	247	177	276	0	276	160
	3. Leather Market	15,295	14,003	1,092	15,095	237	155	224	3	227	150
St. George, Southw.	1. Kent Road	18,126	12,630	3,997	16,627	177	98	202	11	213	134
	2. Borough Road	15,862	8,937	6,672	15,609	271	171	143	18	161	104
	3. London Road	17,836	2,872	11,497	14,369	95	53	46	31	79	55
Newington	1. Trinity	20,922	10,132	8,370	18,502	211	101	162	22	184	99
	2. St. Peter, Walworth	29,861	14,274	10,724	24,998	391	131	228	29	257	103
	3. St. Mary	14,033	2,983	5,484	8,467	92	66	48	15	63	74
Lambeth	1. Waterloo, part 1	14,088	3,548	11,939	15,487	59	42	57	31	86	55
	2. Waterloo, part 2	18,348	7,171	12,533	19,704	118	64	115	34	149	76
	3. Lambeth church, pt. 1	18,409	3,113	15,878	18,991	49	27	50	43	93	49
	4. Lambeth church, pt. 2	26,784	7,868	16,023	23,891	195	73	126	43	167	71
	5. Kennington, part 1	24,261	15,775	2,708	18,483	305	126	253	7	260	146
	6. Kennington, part 2	18,848	7,874	5,620	13,494	143	75	126	15	141	105
	7. Brixton	14,610	1,922	9,356	11,278	48	33	31	25	56	49
	8. Norwood	3,977	0	1,066	1,066	10	25	0	3	3	28
Wandsworth	1. Clapham	16,290	6,747	134	6,881	167	103	108	0	108	158
	2. Battersea	10,560	6,276	276	6,552	171	162	100	1	101	152
	3. Wandsworth	9,611	907	94	1,001	59	61	15	0	15	149
	4. Putney	5,280	74	0	74	9	17	1	0	1	160
	5. Streatham	9,023	0	3,244	3,244	15	17	0	9	9	27
Camberwell	1. Dulwich	1,632	0	25	25	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2. Camberwell	17,742	9,139	639	9,778	242	136	146	2	148	151
	3. Peckham	19,444	5,438	392	5,830	175	90	87	1	88	151
	4. St. George	15,849	4,295	5,437	9,732	132	83	69	15	84	86
Rotherhithe	Rotherhithe	17,805	12,218	0	12,218	283	159	196	0	196	160
Houses supplied in streets where no death occurred			28,929	23,338	52,267
Houses not identified			2,712	165	2,877
Totals		482,435	267,625	171,528	439,153	5,067	105	4,282	462	4,744	108
Population as estimated by the Registrar-General			266,516	173,748	440,264			4,267	473	4,740	108

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[1]. Weekly Returns of Deaths, November.