A global pandemic, nationwide quarantine and thousands of deaths – how Sunderland dealt with Cholera in the 1800s

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Thousands of deaths, lockdowns and quarantines have impacted every person living in Sunderland.

It is not the first time Sunderland has seen major disease in its history, and at one point almost 200 years ago, Sunderland was the scene of the first UK outbreak of a disease that would go on to claim thousands of lives nationwide and ravage entire communities – Cholera.

What is cholera and where did it originate?

A public statement about the disease by Dr Clanny and Low Street, where the outbreak beganA public statement about the disease by Dr Clanny and Low Street, where the outbreak began
A public statement about the disease by Dr Clanny and Low Street, where the outbreak began
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Cholera Morbus – so-named to distinguish it from common or English cholera, dysentery and food poisoning that were already common in the UK and now more commonly grouped together as gastroenteritis – originated in India, probably in the Ganges delta.

The first pandemic came in 1817 as the disease was carried across India’s Asian trade routes to China and Japan, and then to southern Russia, from where it first spread to Europe, where a second pandemic broke out in 1827.

The symptoms were horrific and included profuse diarrhoea, vomiting and sweating. Death would often occur within hours of the first symptoms.

The disease’s mortality rate was hugely exacerbated by the ignorance of the doctors who found themselves faced with this new illness.

A public statement about the disease by Dr ClannyA public statement about the disease by Dr Clanny
A public statement about the disease by Dr Clanny
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Medical advice favoured restricting the patient’s fluid intake – the worst possible course of action. Cholera is at its most deadly in cases where water and salts lost by the body are not replaced.

What was done to prevent the spread of cholera?

The slow but relentless march of the infection across Europe was the source of great concern in the UK.

Attempts were made to prevent its arrival, with the Privy Council putting all ships arriving in England from Russia under quarantine in 1831.

Low Street, where the outbreak beganLow Street, where the outbreak began
Low Street, where the outbreak began

It also reconstituted the Central Board of Health, initially created in 1805 after worries about yellow fever. The board met daily from June 1831 to May 1832 but its powers were limited, and arrangements to combat the disease were often slow.

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As the disease spread to Hamburg, the quarantine was extended to all ships arriving from the Baltic ports, but it was too little, too late.

What happened in Sunderland?

Suspected cases of cholera began to be reported in Sunderland from late summer 1831 . The first confirmed case was that of keelman William Sproat, who fell ill on October 23, and died after three days.

The site of the original mass graveThe site of the original mass grave
The site of the original mass grave

But if local historian Beverley Taylor is correct, his was not the first fatality.

She said: “It is likely the first Sunderland victim was a River Pilot, Robert Henry, but his death went unreported. On October 17, Isabella Hazard, 12, from Sunderland quayside, fell ill and died within 24 hours.”

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A week later, 60-year-old Willliam Sproat died despite the best efforts of Dr William Reid Clanny - the head of the local Board of Health - and army surgeon Dr James Butler Kell. Mr Sproat’s son and granddaughter, as well as the nurse who handled his body, also succumbed.

According to the official Government report of the outbreak, Clanny was initially reluctant to admit cholera had come to the town but Kell, who had gained experience of the disease during an epidemic in Mauritius, went over his head to the authorities and the outbreak was officially declared on November 1.

What happened next?

Efforts to tackle the spread of the disease were hindered by a lack of knowledge of what actually caused it.

The former Ryhope pumping station - now Ryhope Engines Museum.The former Ryhope pumping station - now Ryhope Engines Museum.
The former Ryhope pumping station - now Ryhope Engines Museum.

“Theories stated that it was transmitted by touch or carried by bad smells. Orders were issued for houses to be lime-washed and barrels of tar and vinegar were burned in the streets to eliminate the miasma,” said Beverley.

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“Of course, these attempts to hold the disease at bay failed.”

Doctors Clanny and Kell arranged a clean-up of the streets of Sunderland, providing men to sweep the streets twice daily and giving out free quicklime, and they provided blankets for the poor.

The Board drew up a Code of Sanitation, which looked at standards of housing, sewage and water supply, while Kell put his own barracks, in the heart of the outbreak district, into strict quarantine.

As the town’s cemeteries struggled to cope with the rising death toll, a new cholera burial ground was opened in Hind Street, which soon became a mass shared grave as funeral services were scrapped for fear of infection.

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The remains were removed and reinterred in Bishopwearmouth Cemetery in 1988, during work on a new ring road.

Quarantine attempts

The confirmation that the dreaded cholera had arrived on British shores resulted in a quarantine on Sunderland ships, which had a serious impact on the town’s economy, leading some businessmen to form an ‘anti-cholera’ party.

Under pressure, many local doctors began to retract retracted their diagnoses, a fact which caused a further backlash when reported nationally, leading to a scandal and a boycott of Sunderland.

By the end of the year, the outbreak was tailing off and on January 9, 1832, the town was officially declared cholera-free.

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The disease had taken a terrible toll, however, with 215 reported deaths, including Jack Crawford, the so-called ‘Hero of Camperdown’, whose statue stands in Mowbray Park.

By the end of December 1831, the disease began to decline in Sunderland - but, it had already started to spread across Britain.

Christmas Day 1831 saw a sudden and violent outbreak in Gateshead, resulting in 115 cases and 50 deaths by the following day.

And the quarantine of Sunderland ships proved ineffective in protecting London and by February 1832 Parliament passed new laws, The Cholera Morbus Prevention Act, to give extra powers to local Boards of Health.

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It was too late, however. In Britain, 32,000 people died of cholera in 1831 and 1832.

What steps were taken to prevent another outbreak?

Despite the horrific impact of the disease, little was done to ensure the same thing did not happen again.

When the next pandemic reached the UK in 1848, the issues that had made the epidemic so deadly first time around – cramped and unhygenic living conditions for the poor, inefficient sewerage systems and lack of clean drinking water – had not been addressed. This time, 62,000 people died in a two-year outbreak.

As a result Central Board of Health was established in 1848, though it had limited powers and no money.

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Boroughs such as Sunderland, that had already formed a Corporation, were to assume responsibility for drainage, water supplies, removal of nuisances and paving. Loans could be made for public health infrastructure to be paid back from the rates.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, Sunderland was one of the towns which was particularly keen to take on these loans and improve things.

What happened next in Sunderland?

In 1847, the town local authorities attempted to pass an Improvement Act.

The Bill was considered in detail by MPs who heard evidence from a local residents, who gave a detailed impression of what the conditions in Sunderland were like.

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When asked about the state of the town’s sewerage shopkeeper James Hills described Sunderland as one of the only towns in the country almost entirely without sewers: the few sewers which did exist were there only to take surface water off the street.

The Bill was unsuccessful – but a health inspector wrote a report on the conditions people were living in in the town meaning for the first time, the middle and upper classes were made fully aware of the true conditions in which many of their fellow citizens were forced to live.

The Sunderland and South Shields Water Company was created in 1852 to address the problems of sanitation and clean water and in 1864 four acres of land at Ryhope were acquired for the company’s pumping station to provide clean drinking water for the town.

It would not be until the 1930s that the council set about large-scale slum clearance in the town, with new homes built in Ford Hall, Leechmere and Marley Pots to house the displaced, followed by many more in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

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