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Early 19th century
The second cholera pandemic
“People wanted the certainty of expert knowledge”
There were six cholera pandemics in the 19th century. Originating in India, the disease first reached Europe in 1831 during the second pandemic, via military and trade routes. In Britain, the disease was first recorded in Sunderland, from where it spread across the country, killing 32,000 during 1831-32. It remains a widespread and deadly disease today in places where people do not have access to sufficient sanitation and clean water.
Cholera spread widely across Britain 1831-32
Cholera deaths in towns per 1,000 inhabitants
The first case was recorded in Sunderland, October 1831
Cholera riots took place in Liverpool and other cities
The first case was recorded in Sunderland, October 1831
Cholera riots took place in Liverpool and other cities
Source: Manuscript as to the incidence of cholera in Great Britain. Analysis by Dr Romola Davenport (Dept of Geography, Cambridge). Data for Ireland not available.
Mortality from cholera was high and people died soon after being infected. Makeshift hospitals were set up in most major cities but there was resistance to this state intervention: riots broke out and doctors were attacked. People were suspicious of medics, who they had to pay for treatment, and afraid of their bodies being taken for dissection if they died.
Cartoons satirising physicians circulated during the 1832 epidemic. Credit: Wellcome Collection.
Dr Katrina Navickas, a historian of 19th-century protest at the University of Hertfordshire, says corpse-related horror stories also added to a climate of fear. “People didn’t trust the doctors, they didn’t trust the government, and they were wound up by body snatching stories in the press. On top of this, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was a popular novel at the time, so there was a lot of gothic imagery around bodies and corpses. ”
A lack of knowledge about the disease may have exacerbated the frantic atmosphere. It was not established until later in the century that cholera was spread through water rather than air, and as a result it was unclear how the medical profession or state could cure it. “They weren’t sure how cholera spread, they were just really scared and that’s partly why there were riots. People wanted the certainty of expert knowledge but they just didn’t have it then, ”says Navickas.
