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.