Diseases

Cholera was a greatly feared disease. Caused by contaminated water, it could spread with speed and with devastating consequences. Not for nothing did the disease get the nick-name "King Cholera". Industrial Britain was hit by an outbreak of cholera in 1831-32, 1848-49, 1854 and 1867. The cause was simple – sewage was being allowed to come into contact with drinking water and contaminating it. As many people used river water as their source of drinking water, the disease spread with ease.

An attack of cholera is sudden and painful – though not necessarily fatal. In London it is thought 7000 people died of the disease in the 1831-32 outbreak which represented a 50% death rate of those who caught it. 15,000 people died in London in the 1848-49 outbreak. The disease usually affected those in a city’s poorer areas, though the rich did not escape this disease.

Typhoid and typhus were as feared as cholera. Both were also fairly common in the Industrial Revolution. Typhoid was caused by infected water whereas typhus was carried by lice. Both were found in abundance in industrial cities.

The greatest killer in the cities was tuberculosis (TB). The disease caused a wasting of the body with the lungs being attacked. The lungs attempt to defend themselves by producing what are called tubercles. The disease causes these tubercles to become yellow and spongy and coughing fits causes them to be spat out by the sufferer.