BRIEF HISTORY DURING THE SNOW ERA (1813-58)

Fifteen cholera cases were described by Snow at the start of the 1848-9 epidemic. 

CASE 1 (onset Sept. 22, 1848; death Sept. 22)

 "It has been already stated that the first case of decided Asiatic cholera in London, in the autumn of 1848, was that of a seaman from Hamburgh [click here for description]."

- Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855, p. 66 

CASE 2 (onset Sept. 30, 1848)

"Now the next case of cholera, in London, occurred in the very room in which the above patient died. A man named Blenkinsopp came to lodge in the same room.  He was attacked with cholera on the 30th September, and was attended by Mr. Russell of Thornton Street, Horsleydown, who had attended John Harnold [the first case].  Mr. Russell informed me that, in the case of Blenkinsopp, there were rice water evacuations; and, amongst other decided symptoms of cholera, complete suppression of urine from Saturday till Tuesday morning; and after this the patient had consecutive fever.  Mr. Russell had seen a great deal of cholera in 1832, and considered this a genuine case of the disease; and the history of it leaves no room for doubt."

- Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855, p. 3

CASE 3 (onset Sept. 30, 1848; death Oct. 1, 1848)

"In the evening of the day on which the second case occurred in Horsleydown, a man was taken ill in Lower Fore Street, Lambeth, and died on the following morning." 

"Now, the people in Lower Fore Street, Lambeth, obtained their water by dipping a pail into the Thames, there being no other supply in the street."

- Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855, p. 66 

Lower Fore Street, where the cholera case occurred, was replaced in 1866-70 by the Albert Embankment, a broad river road just under a mile long.  Besides the new road, the purpose of the embankment was to protect the low-lying areas in Lambeth from flooding during high tides and heavy rain.  The original Lower Fore Street is seen in Cruchley's 1846 map (Third Case) and Stanford's 1862 map.

Sources:

Weinreb B, Hibbert C (eds). The London Encyclopaedia, 1993.

CASES 4-10 (onset Sept. 30-?, 1848)

"At the same time that this case occurred in Lambeth, the first of a series of cases occurred in White Hart Court, Duke Street, Chelsea, near the river."

"In White Hart Court, Chelsea, the inhabitants obtained water for all purposes in a similar way [i.e., dipping a pail into the Thames].  A well was afterwards sunk in the court; but at the time these cases occurred the people had no other means of obtaining water, as I ascertained by inquiry on the spot."

- Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855, p. 66-7

White Hart Court is not shown on the 1859 map but is located in the middle of T 7, just to the right of "B" in Battersea Bridge. 

The court is on the river side of Duke Street, a short thoroughfare in the Chelsea area of London east of the base of Battersea Bridge.  It can be seen clearly in the 1818, 1850, 1862 and 1865 maps.

CASE 11 (onset Oct. 1, 1848)

A day or two afterwards, there was a case at 3, Harp Court, Fleet Street.

"The inhabitants of Harp Court, Fleet Street, were in the habit, at that time, of procuring water from St. Bride's pump, which was afterwards closed on the representation of Mr. Hutchinson, surgeon, of Farringdon Street, in consequence of its having been found that the well had a communication with the Fleet Ditch sewer, up which the tide flows from the Thames." 

- Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855, p. 67

Harp Court (synonym of Harp Alley), Fleet Street is not identified on the 1859 map but is located north of Fleet Street and west of Farringdon Street near St. Bride's church.  It is found at the upper left of K 19 just to the east of "an" in Shoe Lane (only Lane is seen).

Harp Court (actually Harp Alley) is near St. Bride's church but north of Fleet Street, as seen in Cruchley's map of 1848 and Stanford's 1862 map.  By 1873, the area was altered with new street construction.  

CASE 12 (onset Oct. 2, 1848)

The next case occurred on October 2nd, on board the hulk Justitia, lying off Woolwich.

"I was informed by Mr. Dabbs, that the hulk Justitia was supplied with spring-water from the Woolwich Arsenal; but it is not improbable that water was occasionally taken from the Thames alongside, as was constantly the practice in some of the other hulks, and amongst the shipping generally."

- Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855, p. 67

Woolwich is down river from London, past the eastern edge of the 1859 map. The location where the Justinia was docked is seen in the Ordnance Survey map of 1844, near the Woolwich Arsenal, as seen in the 19th century.

CASE 13 (onset Oct. 3-4, 1848)

The thirteenth case arose on Lower Fore Street which was described earlier.

"...and the next to this in Lower Fore Street, Lambeth [see case 3 above], three doors from where a previous case had occurred."

- Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855, p. 66

Snow concludes, 

"The first thirteen cases were all situated in the localities just mentioned;"

- Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855, p. 66-7

CASES 14-15 (onset Oct. 5, 1848)

"...and on October 5th there were two cases in Spitalfields." 

- Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855, p. 67

Spitalfields was a rapidly expanding area of London north of the River Thames.  The region was was occupied primarily by poor persons, and featured dilapidated homes and common lodging houses.  The slums were cleared away in the middle 1800s to make way for commercial development.  Snow did not give an address for the two Spitalfields cases but I will assume they were located near the Spitalfields Market at the center of the area.  The market is identified as mar at the top center of J 24, just above "r" in Union Street.

The 1850, 1862 and 1873 maps show additional details of Spitalfields Market.

London was without cholera from the latter part of 1849 to August 1853.  More on the 1848-9 epidemic is in part 3 of John Snow's book. 

Sources:

Halliday S. The Great Stink of London, 1999.

Snow, John. Communication of Cholera, 1855.

Weinreb B, Hibbert C (eds). The London Encyclopaedia, 1993.