Epidemics and pandemics (1): Cholera and Sheffield

Sheffield's Cholera Monument stands above the railway station ("Sheffield Midland", as some signs and things still call it).   The foundation stone was put in place in December 1834 by James Montgomery, the poet, and the monument completed in April 1835.    There it stayed till it was damaged in a storm in the 1990s.  It was put up again, completed in 2006.

A board by the monument records that 402 people died, and were buried in the "grounds" where the monument stands.

And that the "total number of persons attacked by this disease" was 1347.

Sheffield City Libraries have a research guide, with information about the epidemic and a long list of sources, published and unpublished.

A paper read to the Section of the History of Medicine at the Royal Society of Medicine and published in their Proceedings in 1935 discusses the outbreak in Yorkshire.     The table on p.608 records 1355 cases, and earlier in the article the figure of 402 deaths is mentioned.   This was the second highest number of deaths in any town in Yorkshire, Leeds having more (702).

What was the population of Sheffield in 1832?   According to A vision of Britain through time (1) the population of Sheffield in the 1831 census was 111851.    402 deaths, assuming everyone was a member of that population, equates to a death rate of 359.4 per 100000 (2).

John Snow's work with the water pump did not take place until 1854.   What was known in 1832?   Some of the medical literature from 1832 is available in PubMed Central:

A supplement to the Edinburgh Medical Surgical Journal, February 1832

From the Medical Chirurgical Review, January 1832, an article on epidemic cholera, followed by a review of other literature, and from April 1832,  an article about pamphlets.  

(1) GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, Sheffield District through time | Population Statistics | Total Population, A Vision of Britain through Time.   Available at: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10076882/cube/TOT_POP (Accessed 2nd February 2021)

(2) As of 1600 UK time on 2nd February 2021, there had been 990 deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID test, 1014 deaths with COVID named on the death certificate.   Using the figure of 575400 for the population of Sheffield in mid-2016, this equates to 172.1/100000 or 176.2/100000 respectively.