Cholera in Cardiff
[ Cholera in South Wales ] [ What is Cholera? ] [ Why did Cholera spread across industrial South Wales? ] [ Cholera in South Wales - the events ] [ Evidence: A wc from the 1890s. ] [ Evidence: Providing a safe water supply for Swansea. ] [ Why Cholera spread in Wales - housing ] [ Why Cholera spread in Wales - attitudes to water supply ] [ Why Cholera spread in Wales - attitudes to rubbish and sewage ] [ Cholera in Wales - consequences ]
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| As
with Merthyr, cholera arrives to find a very fertile breeding ground in
1830s Cardiff. The death toll was comparatively low at the outset,
certainly less than a hundred by August 1832. A local Board of Health gave
out government advice on whitewashing buildings and burning the clothing
of the victims but little else was done. Although little documentation
survives for this early epidemic, it is known that cholera established
itself as a semi permanent disease by the early 1840s. Perhaps as many as
350 people a year were dying of the disease between 1842 and 1848. |
| The
arrival of an epidemic in May 1849 led to great concern. The Cardiff and
Merthyr Guardian did not report outbreaks of cholera for 3 weeks for fear
of starting a panic. As with the Cambrian in Swansea, the Cardiff
and Merthyr Guardian carried considerable reporting of the epidemic
throughout the summer of 1849.
The poorer parts of the town were particularly
susceptible to cholera but the fear of the disease spread throughout the
town. Many of the articles covered the dreadful tragedies that occurred. |
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| In a
house in Mary Anne Street a lodging house keeper turned out his niece when
she fell ill. The girl died in the backyard of the property and the
housekeeper went to the Relieving Officer for them to remove the body. In
another incident a small child was taken ill in Landore Court where she
was placed in a coal hole and left to die.
The concentration of the disease in the poorer
parts of town led to a large amount of anti-Irish sentiment being
encouraged by the Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian. A parallel with
Swansea's Greenhill. Again in an experience shared with Swansea, the
concentration of cholera in the poor parts of town made the public at
large aware of the dreadful living conditions of the residents.
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