The Three Warnings: OR, FACTS AND FIGURES OF THE CHOLERA EPIDEMICS OF GATESHEAD. By JAMES CLEPHAN. THE OBSERVER OFFICE. NEWCASTLE-UFON -TYNE: CHARNLEY, ETC. LONDON : CHARLES MITCHELL. 1854. GATESHEAD { PRINTED BY WILLIAM DOUGLAS. ADVERTISEMENT. The Facts and Figures of the Three Epidemics of Cholera iv Gateshead, presented in the following pages, have been ascertained by personal inquiry and observation ; assisted by public and private records, to which the courtesy of official and other gentlemen has given the Compiler obliging access. In placing them before the medical and general public in a collected form and narrow compass, he may be permitted, although a layman, to accompany them with the expression of his opinion that the Cholera would never be Epidemic amongst us, were our habitations not impure. The Planet on which we are placed is made to whirl through space at an immeasurable distance from other Worlds, while we perversely overcrowd ourselves together on its surface, and hide oureelves from the air of Heaven in our narrow cribs, in immediate neighbourhood with decomposing matter and foul emanations, which ought rather to be at once banished from our midst, and not suffered to accumulate until the outbreak of Pestilence ; when, too late, it is, by hundreds of cart-loads, hurried out of our borders. We practically confess, by our instant resort to such means in the agony of fear and alarm, that we are not unacquainted with the secondary causes, at least, of Cholera, its primary origin alone being yet a mystery. We know not how it comes into existence, but we do know the conditions necessary to its malignant spread, and to its becoming Epidemic, if not also Contagious. These conditions we may produce in hamlet or city — in our Bourn Moors or our Pipewellgates, on our Windmill Hills or in our Sandgates, in our Wrekentons or our Cloggers' Entries ; while, happily, in the crowded town, and for the humblest of our population, we may, by the avoidance of such conditions, sscure immunity from the Asiatic scourge. The clean, well- ventilated, not overcrowded portion of New Gateshead, was a land of Goshen in 1853, where there was neither Death nor Disease, while, all around, there was Infection and Mortality ; and so, likewise, were a whole town pure and wholesome, it would, under the blessing of Heaven, be free from Epidemics. 6, Catherine-terrace, Gateshead, May, 1854. h The Cholera in Gateshead 1831-32. The first appearance of Asiatic cholera on the Tyne is commonly assigned to the month of December, 1831. There is, however, the following entry in the register of St. Mary's parish, Gateshead : — "Buried, October 29, 1831, aged about 45, Oswald Reay, of All Saints', Newcastle ;" with also this note, in the handwriting of the Rev. G. C. Abbs, then curate : — "The first supposed case of cholera in England." A still earlier case, and the first of which the writer can find any record, is that of " a steel runner," of " the village of Team, one mile and a half above Gateshead," who, in the beginning of the month of August, after drunkenness and long exposure to rain, was seized with malignant cholera and died.* The first two recognized cholera burials in Gateshead occur under date December 16. One of these was Mary Hymers, or Hindmarsh, a raggatherer of depraved habits, living in the Hawk-entry, Bottle-bank, on the Pipewellgate slope, to whom Mr. Henry Brady was called on the 15th. In the other case, the patient, James Morgan, a blacksmith, lived at Springwell, and was brought into Gateshead parish after death. There was then a pause until Christmas-eve, when (on the 24th) a second Gateshead case occurred in Pipewellgate, in the person of Elizabeth Thompson, alias Hales. The date of her burial is Christmas day ; and this case is rapidly succeeded by others,t until the abatement of the epidemic in the Spring of 1832. In July, the "red cross' 1 reappears on the register, and it does not vanish until the month of November. The total number of cholera burials in St. Mary's parish was 225. Deducting 3 (two from Newcastle and one from Hebburn), 222 * Letter of Dr. Alexander to Mr. T. M. Greenhow, inserted by the latter gentle- man in his work on Cholera, (1832). + " On the 25th, about one o'clock, we were assailed by a third and fourth ex- ample of the disease ; and before the next morning, at ten o'clock very consider- able numbers had fallen sacrifices to its pestilential ravages. Within a space of twelve hours, it spread itself over a diameter of two miles." — (Letter from Mr. Brady to Mr. Greenhow.) On the Low Fell, Gateshead, on the 25th and 26th, there were ten cases, four of them occurring in two families, living near Morgan's father, to whose cottage Morgan's corpse had been brought after death. There were eight deaths on the Fell up to January 2, and then the cholera ceased until August. Of the eight, seven occurred in the cottages near Morgan's, and in the two families of Worley and Soulsby. " Worley's family," Mr. Greenhow was informed, "were very poor, and destitute of both food and proper clothing. Soulsby was poor, and kept a disorderly public house." Three of the Worleys and four of th« Soulsbys died. 6 remain — the number inscribed on the pillar in St. Edmund's cemetery. There were also 12 cholera burials in St. John's, making the total number of the Gateshead burials 237. The burials per day (exclusive of those from Newcastle and Hebburn) were as under :—: — 16 December, 1831 2 25 1 26 4 27 19 28 20 29 8 30 6 31 8 1 January, 1832.. 5 2 5 3 5 4 4 5 6 6 8 7 6 8 6 9 2 10 3 11 1 12 2 13 2 15 1 16 1 17 1 18 3 20 1 22 1 24 2 25 1 29 1 5 February 1 11 1 27 2 28 1 1 March 1 3 1 25 1 6 July 1 15 1 16 1 17 3 22 1 24 1 25 1 26 2 27 1 28 1 29 2 30 1 I August 1 4 1 5 1 6 3 9 1 10 1 11 1 12 1 13 1 14 2 15 4 16 3 17 2 18 2 19 3 20 3 21 2 22 2 23 4 24 3 25 2 26 3 27 1 28 1 31 1 2 September 2 3 1 4 2 5 2 7 4 8 5 9 1 10 1 II 1 12 2 13 1 21 1 3 October 1 22 1 5 .November 1 — 234 Males 114 Females 120 The localities from which the bodies were brought for burial are stated in the register with more or less precision. In a subsequent table (see appendix), they are entered in the chronological order observed by the mortality in the progress of the epidemic ; and the date of each burial from each locality is given. 1849. On Thursday, the 4th of January, 1849, a tramp, said to be from Edinburgh, arrived at Gateshead, and tarried at Williams's lodginghouse, Pipewellgate, then containing 24 beds, with two persons to each bed. The stranger manifested symptoms of diarrhoea, and Williams himself was subsequently attacked. Both died on the Bth. On the morning of the 9th, when Dr. Barkus, then medical-officer, called at the lodging-house at 5 o'clock, he found the two men dead. A third person was ill in the house ; but the fact was not named to the Doctor ; and by 8 o'clock the same morning there was a third death. Such are the facts, as stated in the Gateshead Observer, January 13, 1849. The civil register of deaths, instituted in 1837, seems to tell a somewhat different tale, as the following extracts show :—: — January 8. Catherine Carr, aged 45, wife of a seaman, Pipewellgate, diarrhoea. 9. William Williams, aged 67 3 shoemaker, Pipewellgate, cholera. 10. A man, name and calling unknown, Pipewellgate, supposed of Asiatic cholera. 10. Bridget M'Graw, aged 60, widow, Pipewellgate, cholera. Dr. Barkus's recollection of the matter is, that the stranger was his first patient, though Williams was the first who died. The disease spread rapidly in Pipewellgate. The number of deaths was 18 by the 23d of the month, up to which day there had been no cholera mortality in any other part of Gateshead. Deaths then began to occur elsewhere ; and, with longer or shorter intervals, the mortality continued until nearly the end of the year. It was not until August that the rural district of Gateshead was visited by the epidemic. Its first victim in Wrekenton was Edward Aims, aged 15, the son of a piper, who died on the 11th of that month. The total number of deaths in the year, in all Gateshead, from cholera and diarrhoea, was 186, the mortality closing, as it had begun, in Pipewellgate. The village of Wrekenton, lying on both sides of the boundary line between Gateshead and Lamesley, and its neighbour, Eighton Banks, were wellnigh decimated.* * In a report made to Mr. Rawlinson in 1849, and subsequently laid by that gentleman before the General Board of Health, it is stated that " the total number of deaths was 120, being about a sixth of the whole of the population." This is an error. 61 died on the Gateshead side of the boundary, and 47 on the Lamesley side, in the two villages of Wrekenton and Eighton Banks, making a total mor- tality of 108. In 1851, there were 890 inhabitants in that part of Gateshead called Wrekenton, and 1,914 in Lamesley, comprising Eighton Banks and part of Wrekenton. In a subsequent page, there is a table showing the cholera mortality of the mining and agricultural poor-law union of Chester-le-Street, of which Lamesley is a member. 8 The epidemic of 1849 was mainly fed by Pipewellgate, the Union Workhouse, and Wrekenton — these three contributing two-thirds of the mortality. The southern or rural district of Gateshead, occupied by the Fell and Wrekenton, was principally unenclosed until the present century, sprinkled over with thatched cottages, studded with pit and quarry heaps, and "a common receptacle for all kinds of vagrants.*' {The Pitman's Pay, by Thomas Wilson, Esq., of Fell House.) It is still haunted by muggers, tinkers, beggars, reapers, &c. "The houses visited by the epidemic occupy high and airy ground, and are mostly comfortable cottages ; but the locality is undrained, and some few of the houses are (or have been) resorted to by wayfarers, and are in a filthy condition. It was here that Fever broke out in our parish ; and here, again, we have Cholera. Unobservant minds are struck with wonder when they hear of epidemics in villages standing upon lofty eminences ; but we see nothing perplexing in such outbreaks. They do not controvert the doctrine that overcrowding and filth, if not the causes, are conditions without which such causes, whatever they may be, are inoperative. The focus of disease, in this case, is the Irish colony in the midst of the native population. Strangers dropped off, and little was thought of it ; but when the villagers were attacked, there was then a panic." — (Gateshead Observer, September 16, 1849.) The range of houses where the cholera was most fatal is not more than a quarter of a mile in length. In the 158 houses occurred 110 deaths. The Lunatic Asylum, wherein 20 men and women died, was closely beset on either side by crowded and infected lodginghouses ; and the keeper and his son-in-law were of the number that perished. The settled inhabitants rose up at last, in a body, and drove the tinkers and other vagrants out of the village. Wilkinson, a pitman, who lived in a clean cottage surrounded by Irish tinkers, was overpowered every morning by the stench which issued from his neighbours' hovels on the opening of the doors. James and Robert Wilkinson, father and son, both died. Mr. Francis Bennett, of Gateshead, surgeon, in a report which he made to Mr. Rawlinson, Superintending Inspector of the General Board of Health, at the close of 1849, stated that there were rooms in the worst part of the village " with direct openings into ashpits," and that " the only houses drained were in the Lamesley district." He described the migratory population as " living huddled together, four or five families in a house, with horses, asses, dogs, and in one case pigs, the ashes and other accumulations being allowed to collect in a corner of a room ; and not only did the inmates behave much in the same way as Mr. Schorey mentions in his report on the lodging-houses of Gateshead,* but females, besides males and children, often came * " Gateshead contains 26 common lodging-houses. They are situated, for the most part, in low and cx'owded neighbourhoods. Of the keepers, 17 are Irish, 7 Euglish, and one German ; and they comprise, in the whole, 74 rooms. Many of the dormitories are little better than hovels, whether as regards size, cleanliness, ventilation, or drainage, and are calculated to engender disease in its most malig- nant form. This opinion I have seen fully borne out during the prevalence of the late epidemic. I have had opportunities of witnessing, in rooms not measuring more than fourteen feet square, from 15 to 20 men, women, and children lodged — aud the women with nothing more than a shift, which, from length of time and 9 out into the lane, to obey the calls of nature, in a state of complete nudity." Mr. Bennett adds : — "For two or three days previous to the outbreak of cholera, muggers had been arriving from Ludworth and Easington Lane, infected localities. The disease soon spread to the well-ordered and clean people. The mortality was very great, nearly the whole of those attacked with Asiatic cholera dying — probably six-sevenths. About half of the whole population were affected, more or less, with diarrhoea, &c. The cholera at Wrekenton need not be matter of surprise. Here we had overcrowded, ill - ventilated, damp, dirty houses, containing human beings as dirty as the animals with which they were living, and as nearly reduced to their state by their immodest habits ; these localities being as bad, or nearly so, as in a densely-populated town, and as favourable for the development of cholera and spread of contagious disease. There was also frequent arrival of individuals from infected places." Moreover, " although the village of Wrekenton stands very high, the part to which the pestilence was most confined, and where it was the most virulent, is comparatively low. On the east and south, the ground is considerably above some of the houses ; and immediately opposite, on the west, is a field of a very boggy nature." Annexed is a chronological table, similar to that of 1831-32, showing the progress of the mortality, from cholera and diarrhoea, in the whole of Gateshead, in 1849 :—: — C. D. 8 January, 1849... 0 ... 1 9 1 ... 0 10 2 ... 1 11 1 ... 0 15 2 ... 0 16 2 ... 0 17 1 ... 0 22 4 ... 0 23 8 ... 0 25 1 ... 0 27 4 ... 0 28 1 ... 1 29 2 ... 0 30 5 ... 0 31 5 ... 0 C. D. 1 February 5 ... 0 2 3 ... 0 5 1 ... 0 6 2 ... 1 8 1 ... 0 9 2 ... 0 10 2 ... 0 11 1 ... 0 13 1 ... 0 15 2 ... 0 23 2 .. 0 27 1 ... 0 26 March 1 ... 0 lMay 1 ... 0 3 1 ... 0 the filthy habits ot the wearer, had the appearance more of oilcloth than the under garment of a female. They were all breathing an atmosphere pestilential in the extreme. Added to this, unrestrained sexual intercourse took place in the presence of the youth of both sexes, not a screen of any kind intervening. Indeed, in my experience, I have witnessed, along with other officers, sights of this kind such as would disgrace a savage life, but which, to the inmates of these dens, from familiarity and their low standard of morality, went unnoticed, except in the shape of vulgar jest or ribald remark. * * * To place the common lodging-house under proper regulations, with regard to space, ventilation, drain- age, and cleanliness, would tend to lessen disease in those densely-peopled neighbourhoods."— (Report by Mr. Schorey to Mr. Kawlinson.) Since this report was made, the Common Lodging Houses Act has come into operation, and has verified the prediction of our intelligent Superintendent of the Borough Police. 10 C. D. 9 May 1 ... 0 13 0 ... 1 17 June 0 ... 1 11 August 1 ... 0 12 2 ... 0 14 1 ... 0 15 0 ... 1 20 1 ... 0 21 1 ... 0 25 August 1 ... 0 28 2 ... 0 5 September 1 ... 0 6 1 ... 0 9 5 ... 0 10 2 ... 0 11 5 ... 1 12 4 ... 0 13 6 ... 0 14 6 ... 0 15 8 ... 0 16 4 ... 0 17 6 ... 0 18 8 ... 1 19 3 ... 0 C. D. 20 September 3 ... 0 21 3 ... 0 22 2 ... 1 23 2 ... 0 24 2 ... 0 25 3 ... 0 26 3 ... 0 27 2 ... 0 28 0 ... 1 29 1 ... 0 30 3 ... 0 1 October 2 ... 0 4 1 ... 0 5 4 ... 0 6 1 ... 1 7 1 ... 0 8 1 ... 0 15 0 ... ] 6 November 0 ... 1 16 0 ... 1 17 0 ... 1 26 December 0 ... 1 17 0 ... 1 Cholera 168 Diarrhoea 18 Total 186 Males 100 Females 86 Total — 186 1853. The third visitation on the banks of the Tyne commenced in the month of August, 1853, near its close — the first three deaths occurring in the following order :—: — August 30. — Newcastle, George Ellison, No. 3, Lisle-street. August 31. — Gateshead, Mary Tait, No. 27, Victoria-street. Septera. 1. — Bill Quay (Heworth), Elizabeth Handy. In 1831, and again in 1849, it was in the Pipewellgate district that the Gateshead epidemic broke out. In 1853, the earliest death took place in a part of the town called the " Barn Close,'' which was an open field when the cholera first appeared, in 1831. In 1849, two deaths occurred in the locality. The register simply states, as to one of them (a child dying of diarrhoea), that its residence was in " Barn Close,'' without naming the street. The other resided in Grosvenor -street — a street then unfinished, and which first appears on the poor rate in the year of the second epidemic. It was at a still later period that Victoria-street came upon the rate. The houses in the Barn Close, originally built each for the occupation of a single family, have since, to a considerable extent, been converted into '' tenement property" — that is, have been let to more families than one — although not adapted to divided occupation ; and Mary Tait was one of 30 persons inhabiting the same house — six rooms (two of them cellars) being occupied by five families. The census of the street in which this woman died was taken by the writer on the 25th of October, accompanied by Mr. R. H. Wilson, medical officer, and Mr. William Hall, borough surveyor ; when they found that 114 families, comprising 488 members, were occupying 160 rooms in 33 houses ; that 17 of the inhabitants had died in the first month of the epidemic ;* and that of these 17, 10 were inmates of cellars.t Another locality of recent origin, unknown before 1849, is New Gateshead. Here, in the time of the epidemic, it was remarked with popular wonder, that while in one part of the district there was much * Including one who died from inflammation of the lungs ; and a child of Mary Tait, removed on the death of its mother. + One word about Victoria-street, so named in honour of our Queen, in whose reign it has been built. Where Victoria-street now stands there was formerly a stone-quai'ry. Into this quarry, when worked out, town-refuse was allowed to be "shot" at so much per load. When the cavity was filled up, the street was built, and it has never been paved. " The law allowed it" — so houses were clapped down upon the site, and let off, without regard to the health of the inmates or of the community. When poor Mary Tait was a living woman, she was one of thirty individuals, divided into five families, who occupied the same house. The correspondent of the Times, who, being at an inn with his wife, astonished Boniface by asking for a " dressing room," complains to our contem- porary that " hotelkeepers usually seem to think that gentlemen and their wives herd together at home like two pigs in one sty !" We cannot bring ourselves to weep over the miseries of this unhappy husband, doomed by coarse and vulgar innkeepers to dress in the same room with his wife ; but if that be a discomfort 12 disease and mortality, in the other there was none. The inhabitants were all of the industrial class ; the Whittle Dean water, which had been accused as a cause of the cholera, was used in every house alike ; the healthy portion, built before a sewer was constructed, had open privies, while the other had waterclosets, (but also ashpits). There was, however, this difference : — Where there was no sickness, every family had a separate house. Where the epidemic raged, every house, on an average, was occupied by from three to four families. Of this district, too, the census has been taken since the epidemic (on the 28th of November). In the uninfected moiety (built by Messrs. Hawks, Crawshay, & Sons, for their workpeople), there were two cottages empty and nineteen occupied, the total number of the inhabitants being 130, or about 7 per cottage. In the other moiety, 26 houses (comprising 157 occupied rooms) were inhabited by 91 families and 417 individuals, giving 16 inmates to a house. In the former portion of the district, there was but one death — that of an infant from diarrhoea, removed thither on the death of its mother and sister elsewhere. In the latter, there were 1 7 deaths :—l3: — 1 3 from choleraic disease, one from jaundice, one from liver disease, one from scarlatina. The seventeenth was the stillborn child of a woman who died from cholera in the moment of parturition. The whole of New Gateshead had its origin in an honourable desire in the founders to pro - vide improved dwellings for the working classes ; but the self-contained portion is less crowded and better- ventilated than the other —is occupied by a superior class of tenants — and is kept in better condition. The writer being more than ever led, by the circumstances of the last epidemic, to suspect that overcrowding was a powerful predisposing cause! — (such overcrowding, closeness, and foulness being commonly accompanied by inferior habits) — he has been at considerable pains to trace out the exact locality of every death, that this suspicion might be brought to the test of actual fact. In this respect, official records, as and an offence, what shall we say of the life of Hugh and Mary Tait, and their 28 fellow-inhabitants of one small house ! Two underground rooms, partially lighted by sunken windows, were inhabited by two families. A single family occupied the floor on a level with the street. The remaining inmates, the deceased being one, possessed the upper rooms. There is a common ashpit in the yard ; and the " monster nuisance," so justly denounced at the last meeting of the Gateshead Board of Health, and which was reported by the town-surveyor some twelve or eighteen months ago, is as near to Mary Tait's as to the memorialist's residence in Mulgrave-terrace. Bearing in mind the nature of the site on which the street is built — a mass of loose and porous rubbish — the imagi- nation may readily conceive its present condition — may imagine the state of the sponge on which these houses stand. One of the tenants — a respectable and intelligent young woman — calling our attention to a nuisance in her own house, where the liquid contents of a neighbour's privy and ashpit oozed copiously through a wall, and invaded her dwelling, bitterly and truly remarked that " it was enough to breed a pestilence !" Such is Victoria-street, which has risen into existence since the epidemic of 1832, and taken precedence of Pipewellgate in giving birth to the epidemic of 1853. —Gateshead Observer (October 1, 1853). X The Earl of Shaftesbury has since said, in a letter to the Times (April 15, 1854), " Overcrowding is more fatal to health and life than defective drainage or water supply." 13 shown by the tables of 1832 and 1849, are very imperfect, mainly owing to the want of correct information in the individuals on whose authority the entries are made by the proper officers. With the assistance of the medical men and the registrar, and by inquiries on the spot, the whole mortality of 1853 has been traced home, and the result is elsewhere given in a tabular form. Mr. Hall has also prepared a map of Gateshead, on which he has thus (and with the assistance of Mr. R. H. Wilson) been enabled to mark, for the information of the Commissioners of Inquiry sent down by the Crown, every fatal footprint of the pestilence, and to point out its favourite haunts. We must not look, however, to locality alone, for the explanation of cholera sickness and mortality. When a subtle, secret influence is present, to which a whole community is exposed, and by which all are more or less affected, personal predispositions — ill-health, disease, intemperance, or other causes — may give it victims among the comfortable, well-housed portion of the population. None are secure. Still, as a rule, the cholera has been the close companion in Gateshead of sanitary neglect, and has found its prey almost wholly among the humbler classes. Of the 433 persons who died, chiefly in September and October, 1853, the great bulk were so obscure in station as not to be members of families contributing directly to the relief of the poor. The number of direct ratepayers in Gateshead is 1,930. The number that died of the epidemic was but 10. If we assume the number of each family to be 5, this (multiplying thereby the 1,930) will give a total of 9,650. The number of persons that died, direct ratepayers and members of families of direct ratepayers, was but 29. The rateable value of the property of all Gateshead is .£54,182. The rateable value of the property occupied by the families of the 29 does not amount to £400. Several, too, of the 29 dwelt in the worst-conditioned localities of the town. It should be observed, that in some cases where epidemic death occurred, the disease was imported, and is not chargeable upon the locality. In Easton-court, for example, a young man fell ill, who had come over from Newcastle to bring intelligence of the death of a relative in that town from cholera. His sister followed, to nurse him where he lay ; and they both died — the only deaths in the court. So in Innis's- court : — the only death in that locality was in the person of a woman who had quitted Newcastle on losing her husband by the pestilence. Cases were frequent in which more members than one of a family died. It has come under the writer's observation that in 39 instances two members, and in 12 instances three, were carried off during (and nearly the whole of them by) the epidemic, making altogether 114 individuals, or more than a fourth of the total mortality. The number of deaths per day, from all causes, from the commencement to the close of the cholera mortality of 1853, are given in the c 14 following table. It will be observed that the virulence of the epidemic covered little more space than a single month. C. D. ETC. 31 August 10 2 1 September ... 0 0 1 2 12 1 3 10 1 4 0 0 3 5 2 2 2 6 10 1 73 0 2 8 2 14 9 5 1 1 10 8 0 3 11 9 2 2 12 17 1 1 13 17 1 3 14 31 1 6 15 37 2 0 16 30 0 9 17 25 2 4 18 25 4 4 19 16 3 3 20 14 4 4 21 21 1 2 22 11 3 8 23 14 1 2 24 12 0 7 25 22 2 3 26 8 14 27 10 1 4 28 2 15 29 4 0 1 30 3 0 0 Total 352 36 93 c. d. etc. 1 October 9 12 2 4 2 1 3 10 1 4 '.. 10 1 5 2 0 4 6 Oil 7 2 0 1 8 10 1 9 113 10 0 0 3 11 10 1 12 10 2 13 2 0 0 14 10 0 15 0 14 16 10 3 17 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 19 0 0 3 20 2 0 2 21 0 12 22 0 0 0 23 0 0 1 24 10 0 25 0 0 2 26 0 0 3 27 0 0 1 28 Oil 29 0 12 30 0 14 31 0 0 3 Total 30 10 52 There were five other deaths from cholera, subsequent to the month of October, as follows :—: — November 1. Pipewellgate Banks 1 " 5. Pipewellgate (Blue Bell-entry) 1 St. Edmunds-place 1 " 7. Blackwall 1 " 11. Pipewellgate (Tyne-entry) 1 Thus, then, Pipewellgate, which gave precedence to Victoria-street in August, closed in November the epidemic of 1853 — the total epidemic mortality being, in 73 days, 387 from cholera and 46 from diarrhoea : — together, 433, (198 being males, and 235 females). Some portion, also, of the mortality from other causes (occupying the third column in the table) must be chargeable on the epidemic. 63 per month was the ordinary mortality of Gateshead in the year prior to the last outbreak. The total number of deaths in November of 1853 was 64; and in December, 61. A third, therefore, of the mortality of September, or thereabouts, ascribed to other than choleraic causes, may fairly be transferred to the epidemic — making the total sacrifice, from preventible disease, 463. 15 On one single day in September — the most fatal day of the pestilenc — 39 men, women, and children perished. Cholera bore undisputed sway. • Death held its hand in every other form, leaving the epidemic sole master of the field. POPULATION (1851) AND MORTALITY (1853). The parish of Gateshead, comprising the ecclesiastical districts of St. Mary and St. John, was divided in 1851, in taking the census, into 23 portions, as under :—: — 1. Bounded on the N. by the Tyne ; W., the Team rivulet ; S., Hexham road and Pipewellgate street ; S.E., a path from the Hexham road to the Rabbit banks, and thence to the railway station (now the railway workshops) ; E., stairs W. of Wardman's Houses, and Bridge street. 2. Bounded on the N. by Bailey chare (or Half Moon lane); W., Victoria street; S., Hexham road ; E., West street. 3. Bounded on the E. by Victoria street; S., Hexham road; W., footpath from Bensham to the Rabbit banks ; N. , the railway. 4. Lying W. ot Union row and S. of Hexham road to the Team, comprising Bensham. 5. Bounded on the W. by the stairs W. of Wardman's Houses; S., Bailey chare ; E., lane from Bailey chare to Fipevvellgate ; N., Pipewellgate street. 6. Bounded on the N. by Pipewellgate ; W., lane from Pipewellgate to Bailey chare; E., High street. Church street, and Bridge street; S., Bailey chare. 7. Bounded on the N. by Bailey chare ; W., West street; S., Ellison street; E., High street. 8, Bounded on the N. by Ellison street; W., West street ; S., Jackson street ; E., High street. (The foregoing districts make up the West Ward of Gateshead.) 9. Bounded on the N. by the Tyne ; W., Bridge street, and a lane from Hillgate, W. ot Abbot's Ironworks, to Oakwellgate and East street; S., Hillgate street and Park lane ; E., Hawks's railway. 10. Bounded on the N. by the Tyne and Park lane ; E., Heworth ; S., Sunderland road ; W., Hawks's railway. 11. Bounded on the N. by Park street ; W., High street ; S., Park lane; E., East street. 12. Bounded on the N. by Oakwellgate chare and Easton street ; W., High street ; S., Park street ; E., East street. 13. Bounded on the N. by Cannon street and Church street ; W., High street; S., Oakwellgate chare ; E., Oakwellgate. 14. Bounded on the N. by Hillgate street ; W. Church street ; S., Cannon street ; E., lane from Oakwellgate to the coal staith in Hillgate. 15. Bounded on the N. by the lane from Oakwellgate to the coal staith in Hillgate ; W., Oakwellgate ; S., Easton street ; E., East street, and lane from Oakwellgate to Hillgate, W. of Abbot's works. (This district completes the East Ward.) 16. Bounded on the N. by Hexham road ; E., by Union row ; W., by High West street; S., by open country lying between the town and the Low Fell. 17. W. side of Brunswick street, Cramer Dykes, King James's street, Tenements, Claxtons, E. side of High street S. of Sunderland road, Hind's 16 House at Deckham Hall, Shipcote Farms, Rodsley House, Kell's Field, Barras's row. 18. Bounded on the N. by Jackson street ; W., High West street ; S., Potticar lane ; E., High street. (The foregoing districts constitute St. Mary's.) 19. Low Fell E. of New Durham road ; with also the Houses at Sisson's Gate, and the E. side of Brunswick street. 20. Low Fell W. of New Durham road. 21. Wrekenton, lying S. of Team waggonway. 22. Sheriff Hill, E. of old Durham road. 23. Sheriff Hill, W. of old Durham road. (Completing the South Ward, and also St. John's.) The enumerators' returns supply (with the exception of the mortality column) the following information as to these districts. The last column in the table gives the number of deaths in each district, from cholera and diarrhoea, in the epidemic of 1853. District. Inhabited Houses. Families. Individuals. Scotch. Mortality. Irish. 1. 155 184 926 40 63 16 2. 163 346 1557 75 56 31 3. 152 253 1112 37 14 ]5 4. 233 276 1622 62 33 8 5. 195 271 1446 112 355 38 6. 110 260 1228 110 77 27 7. 187 264 1214 35 13 21 8. 159 256 1074 26 41 18 9. 96 159 757 37 35 14 10. 233 319 1587 51 71 33 11. 112 249 1147 49 151 42 12. 121 238 1076 47 61 32 13. 144 291 1312 59 63 26 14. 77 292 1290 75 194 39 15. 97 243 1167 59 123 33 16. 91 91 517 18 2 1 17. 87 90 401 3 19 6 18. 156 299 1384 49 33 14 19. 171 196 794 8 12 9 20. 114 129 553 9 15 3 21. 180 185 890 22 32 1 22. 182 200 885 18 50 2 23. 165 172 868 13 31 4 i i 3380 5263 24,807 1014 1544 433 The number of deaths in each locality of the several enumeration districts was as follows :—: — No. 1. Pipewellgate, North Side 5 , South Side, in Prockter's Buildings 2 Smith's Cottages, &c. , Babbit Banks 4 Windmill Hills, in the Old Mill Field :— Old Mill 2 Near ditto 2 Nearly opposite ditto (S. E. ) 1 16 No. 2. Barn Close :— Brunswick Terrace 4 Melbourne Street 6 Grosvenor Street (six in cellars) 10 Victoria Street (four in cellais), East Side 8 Mulgrave Terrace, East 3 31 17 No. 3. Barn Close:— Mulgrave Terrace, West 2 Victoria Street (six in cellars), West Side 7 William Street 5 Pollock Street 1 15 No. 4. Hall Terrace, Union Row 1 Hovel near NewTollgate 1 Saltwell Terrace 1 Low Team 5 8 (Jgp Four died in this district, in the union-workhouse, who had been removed thither from other parts ot the town. No. 5. Pipewellgate and its Banks, South Side, going West : — Bankwell Stairs 2 Blue Bell Entry 3 Thompson's Stairs 1 Thompson's Entry 4 Blacksmith's Stairs 2 Clump of Buildings on the Banks, second West of High Level Bridge 2 Ditto, first ditto 1 Pitman's Entry 2 Scott's Row and Buildings 3 Bage's Entry 1 Veatch's Buildings 9 Providence Place 1 Bowl Alley 2 Prockter's Buildings 3 Police Cottages 2 38 No. 6. George and Dragon Yard 1 Bottle Bank, No. 39 1 Thompson's Yard 1 Hawk Entry 3 Dixon's Yard 2 Dobson's Yard 1 Bird in Bush Yard 2 Smith's Yard 4 Sun Yard 4 Stobbs'sYard 2 The Island 6 27 No. 7. Abbot's Buildings 2 Swinburne Place 1 Nelson Street (three in cellars) 6 Lambton Terx'ace 3 Innis's Yard 1 Ellison Yard and Square 7 Ellison Street, North Side 1 21 No. 8. Ellison Street, South Side 1 King William Street 1 Paxton's Yard 4 Gordon's Yard 3 Easton Court 2 Boroughholders* Yard 2 Taylor's Yard 2 Marshall's Yard 2 Providence Place, West Street 1 18 No. 9. Hillgate, North Side, going East : — Chapman's Yard 3 Norris's Buildings 1 Near Vinegar Factory 1 Opposite Price's Buildings 1 Sugarhouse Lane 1 Elsewhere 1 East Street, East Side 4 Quarry Field 2 14 No. 10. Old Engine 2 New Gateshead 14 Saltmeadows 5 Saltmeadows Terrace 3 Houses near Gateshead Ironworks. . . 4 Shearlegs 1 Blackwall 2 Tyne Main 1 Friars Goose 1 33 No. 11. Park Lane 3 New Streets near Trinity Chapel : — Trinity Street 4 Riddell Street 4 Clavering Street 3 Hopper Street 1 Nuns Lane 6 No. 100, High Street 1 No. 98-99, High Street 1 Leonard's Court 15 No. 92, High Street 1 Union Lane 1 St. John's Lane 2 42 No. 12. Park Street 7 Lee's Court 1 No. 73, High Street 1 Lister's Yard and Buildings, &c. ... 14 Charlton's Yard 1 Low Lister's Yard 1 Crutchy Tom's Stairs 1 Easton Street, South Side 1 S. W. corner of Oakwellgate Chare... 1 Head of Oakwellgate, behind the last-named premises 2 East Street, West Side 2 32 18 No. 13. Oakwellgate, West Side :— Oakwellgate Chare, North Side ... 3 Woolston's Buildings 1 Orrick's Yard 2 Thompson's Yard 2 Bell's Yard 4 Gillender's Entry 1 Hymers's Court 1 Pipehouse Entry 1 Near ditto 1 Wake's Yard (East Bailey Chare).. 2 Errington's Yard 2 Near Cannon Street 1 Cannon Street : — Hay or Guthrie's Yard 2 Elsewhere 1 Church Street : — Brandy Vaults 1 Near ditto 1 26 No. 14. Church Street, North of Church Stairs 3 Church Walk 13 Sugarhouse Bank 2 Hillgateand its Banks, North Side : — Price's Buildings 7 Dunn's Buildings 6 Cummins's Buildings 1 Bertram's Buildings 7 39 No. 15. — Easton Street, North Side 5 Easton Place 2 Oakwellgate, East Side :—: — Old Palace 2 Pit Yard 5 Oakwellgate Lane 7 Bedhead's Yard 3 Garden Street 4 Thynn'sYard 2 Hymers's Buildings (in a yard) ... 2 Near ditto 1 33 No. 16. Near the Old Tollgate, West of Walker Terrace 1 No. 17. — Mount Pleasant 2 Cramer Dykes 2 St. Edmund's Place 2 6 No. 18. Powell's Yard, Busy Burn 2 Grahamsley Street 3 Charles Street 2 Charles Square 1 Parkin's Yard 1 Mould's Yard 1 Jackson Street, South Side 3 Back Lane, nearly opposite Brewery Field 1 14 No. 19. Low Fell, East of New Durham Road 9 No. 20. Low Fell, West 3 No. 21. Wrekenton 1 No. 22. Sheriff Hill, East of Old Durham Road 2 No. 23. Sheriff Hill, West 4 In 1851, the cholera district of Pipewellgate, and the adjacent banks, courts, &c, comprehending that part of the town which lies on the slope north of Half Moon-lane, and West of High-street, Churchstreet, and Bridge-street, had a population as under. With the numbers is given the mortality by choleraic disease in 1853. Deaths. Houses. Families. Individuals. Pipewellgate, North Side 5 ... 30 ... 59 ... 282 , South Side to Wardman's Stairs West, and Half Moon-lane East 38 ...190 ...263 ...1406 Rabbit-banks : — Smith's cottages, &c 4 Prockter's - buildings (portion West of Wardman's-stairs) ... 2 — 6 ... 99 ... 99 ... 501 Courts and yards of High-street, Bottle-bank, and Bridge-street... 21 ... 84 ... 185 ... 907 The Island 6 ... 26 ... 75 ... 321 Total 76 429 681 3417 19 One of the Pipewellgate lodging-houses harboured, on the night of the census, 28 men and 26 women, the inmates presenting the following human varieties :—: — Scotland 18 England 14 Ireland 13 Germany 1 Russia 1 East Indies 1 Total 48 There were large houses in Hillgate still more populous Families. Inmates. 1 16 71 2 13 49 3 12 47 4 11 48 Thus, in four houses there were dwelling 215 persons — a larger population than that of the union workhouse. A fifth lodging house in Hillgate, kept by a West Indian, was occupied by 41 persons, 23 of whom were Irish. Further East, at the Saltmeadows, where several deaths occurred from cholera in 1853, there were 61 families, comprising 311 persons, occupying 26 houses. At the time of the outbreak, it is probable that, all our manufactures enjoying unexampled prosperity, the town was even more crowded than in 1851, and our working population in the receipt of large wages, too frequently not over well spent. One of the most overcrowded localities in Gateshead is Leonard'scourt, named in the parish register of 1832 " Leonard's Garden." In that year it contributed but a single death to the cholera mortality. In 1849, it produced 4 deaths. The mortality rose to 15 in 1853, or nearly one death for every house. The census of 1851 gives the following return :—: — Houses 20 Families 64 Individuals :—: — English 170 Scotch , 20 Irish 148 Welsh 1 Others 3 — 342 One of the two " oldest inhabitants'' of Gateshead (each being 97 years of age) was discovered by the enumerators of 1851 in Leonard'scour — a Scotchwoman. The census of Victoria -street, specially taken in 1853, is reported in a tabular form on the other side of the leaf, and is followed by chronological tables of the mortality in the three epidemics. 20 CENSUS of VICTORIA-STREET, taken October 25, 1853, the Houses mostly consisting of Six Rooms (two of them Cellars) ; with a Statement of the Mortality during the Epidemic. East Side of the Street. v 6 a) tn la fc"3 aj S 1 § i "cS 3 ft & 03 Inhabitants of the Street at the Outbreak of the Epidemic who died within 26 days. 1. 5 15 0 0 2. 4 19 10 3. 4 17 0 0 4. 3 14 10 5. 4 11 0 0 6. 2 10 3 2 John Arkle, Sept. 15. Edward Austin, Sept. 18. 7. 4 21 0 0 8. 3 18 2 0 B£. 1 4 0 0 9. 6 21 0 0 10. 4 14 12 Frank Mackenzie, Sept. 9, (in a cellar). Eliza- beth Hunter, Sept. 18. 11. 4 29 0 1 Kobert Dixon, Sept. 22. 12. 6 27 0 0 13. 5 24 0 0 14. 8 32 0 3 Ann, John, and Bridget M'Eae, Sept. 16, 17, 18, (in a cellar). 15. 2 13 0 0 16. 2 7 0 0 West Side. 20. 121 10 I 0 1 Mary Ann Philipson, Sept. 21, (in a cellar). 21. 4 21 0 0 22. 0 0 6 0 23. 4 16 0 0 24. 6 22 0 2 Thomas Hunter, Sept. 9, (in a cellar). William Firbank, Sept. 20, (in a cellar). 25. 5 15 11 Mary Cummins, Sept. 19, (in a cellar). 26. 6 25 0 1 Ann Thompson, Sept. 22, (inflammation of the lungs). 27. 4 25 0 3 Mary Tait, August 31, the first cholera death in Gateshead. Her child, removed on her decease, died shortly afterwards. Isabella Hunter, Sept. 13, (in a cellar). 30 inmates on August 31. 28. 5 23 0 1 Mary Doyle, Sept. 25, removed from a cellar to the workhouse hospital. 29. 3 14 10 30. 3 9 1 ' 0 31. 2 4 | Nq 32. 1 3 > ppii,,™ 33. 2 5 ) cellars - 114 488 17 | 17 The West side of Victoria-street, Mulgrave-terrace West, and William-street, form a triangle enclosing a cow-byer, &c, which the Borough Surveyor, in a report of October 4, 1852, brought under the consideration of the Local Board of Health. " The stench arising from the midden connected therewith," he said, "is such as to call forth the most bitter complaints;" and he " recommended that a notice be served upon the occupier of the cow-house for its removal." The Board resolved that the occupier should "retain his cow-house for the present, but notice to be given to him to remove the refuse every day." When the cholera appeared, an inhabitant of the terrace again brought the nuisance before the Board, and the Surveyor pronounced it to be "a pest to the neighbourhood, which ought to be entirely removed." In the triangle of which it is the nucleus, 16 of the inhabitants died during the epidemic. 21 AGES OF THE VICTIMS. Died Living 1832. 1849. 1853. I Died Living 1832. 1849. 1853. in the in 1851. Ch. Ch. D. Ch. Di. in the in 1851. Ch. Ch. Di. Ch. Di. lstyr. 750 0 0 6 516 51st yr. 412 6 3 0 10 0 2d 963 6 10 2 15 12 52d 225 4 10 2 0 3d 600 5 3 0 24 5 | 53d 200 2 0 0 3 0 4th 775 5 4 1 13 1 54th 112 5 6 0 7 0 sth 625 4 2 2 8 0 55th 125 5 4 0 1 <> 6th 550 4 3 0 14 1 56th 163 5 10 0 0 7th 675 2 6 0 2 1 57th 100 5 10 4 0 Bth 637 3 10 5 2 58th 112 3 2 0 10 9th 525 1 10 6 0 59th 62 5 3 0 2 0 10th 600 1 1110 60th 75 4 5 14 0 11th 525 0 10 3 1 61st 187 3 3 16 0 12th 525 3 0 0 0 0 62d 113 0 2 0 3 0 13th 625 2 1 0 1 0 63d 62 3 10 3 0 14th 525 1 0 0 3 0 64th 125 3 10 5 0 15th 600 5 10 10 65th 125 2 10 5 0 16th 588 1 2 0 3 0 66th 200 2 3 0 11 17th 462 0 0 0 10 67th 113 ¦ 2 0 0 3 0 18th 525 0 10 5 0 68th 100 12 0 3 0 19th 562 2 2 0 2 0 69th 50 3 0 0 2 0 20th 325 3 10 4 0 70th 75 2 0 0 4 0 21st 513 1 10 3 0 71st 87 0 0 0 0 0 22d 575 3 4 0 3 0 72d 38 2 0 0 4 0 23d 550 1 2 0 2 0 73d 75 2 1 0 4 0 24th 425 1 3 0 6 0 74th 37 3 1 0 1 1 25th 313 2 10 3 0 75th 12 2 10 11 26th 412 5 10 6 1 76th 13 110 3 0 27th 488 2 10 7 0 77th 25 0 5 0 0 0 28th 425 0 3 0 12 1 78th 12 0 2 0 2 0 29th 412 3 4 0 9 0 79th 37 1 0 0 1 0 30th 253 3 2 0 4 0 80th 12 0 10 3 0 31st 612 6 5 0 9 0 81st 0 1 0 0 1 0 32d 313 1 5 0 5 0 82d 50 2 0 0 0 0 33d 325 2 4 1 3 0 83d 0 0 1 0 0 0 34th 212 1 3 0 6 0 84th 12 0 0 1 0 0 35th 400 2 2 0 13 0 85th 13 1 0 0 1 1 36th 500 3 5 0 4 0 86th 0 2 0 1 0 0 37th 375 2 10 7 0 87th 0 0 0 0 0 0 38th 225 5 3 0 5 0 88th 0 0 0 0 0 0 39th 262 1 2 0 8 0 89th 0 0 0 0 0 0 40th 175 2 10 3 0 90th 12 0 0 0 O 1 41st 412 11 4 0 16 0 91st 12 0 0 0 0 0 42d 275 3 3 0 1 0 92d 0 0 0 0 0 0 43d 312 4 2 0 4 0 93d O 0 0 0 0 0 44th 263 5 10 6 0 94th 12 0 0 0 0 0 45th 162 2 5 0 5 0 95th 0 0 0 0 0 0 46th 300 8 0 15 0 96th 0 0 0 0 0 0 47th 200 5 1 0 10 0 97th 0 0 0 0 0 0 48th 187 4 0 0 4 0 98th 0 0 0 0 0 0 49th 225 6 3 0 4 0 99th 0 0 0 0 0 0 50th 225 1 3 0 8 0 lOOdth 12 1 0 0 0 0 No age named 0 8 10 0 0 25,495 234 168 18 387 46 The ages contained in this table are derived from the Parish Registers of Burials in 1881-33, and the Register of Deaths in 1849 and 1858. The column showing the number of persons living at different ages in 1851 is partly conjectural, being founded upon the actual numbers so living in that year in three " enumeration districts," namely, Wrekenton, Whickham, and the Oakwellgate-and-Garden-Street district). D 22 DEATHS IN EACH DECADE. Decade. Living in 1851.* Mortality of the Three Epidemics. 1. I 2. I 3. c. I c. d. tot. I c. d. tot. First 6,700 31 31 11 42 93 38 131 Second 5,262 17 9 1 10 23 I 24 Third. 4,366 21 22 0 22 55 2 57 Fourth 3,399 25 31 1 32 63 0 63 Fifth 2,561 49 22 1 23 63 0 63 Sixth 1,586 44 26 1 27 34 j 0 34 Seventh 1,158 21 13 1 14 35 1 36 Eighth 340 11 12 0 12 19 2 21 Ninth 87 6 123 213 Tenth 36 1 0 0 | 0 01 1 Estimated population ... 25,495 226f167j | 18 185 1387 46 433 Actual population 24,805 1 Population in 1841 19,505 Population in 1831 15,177 I * Ascertained as in preceding table. •\- Wanting 8, no age given. J Wanting 1, no age given. The writer has now closed his record of the mortality of the three cholera epidemics of Gateshead. The proportion which it bore to the amount of sickness, it is impossible to state, there being no complete record of "cases." The returns, however, made by Mr. Wilson, the medical officer of the northern (or town) district, may be taken as some measure of the prevalence of the visitation, and of its fatal character. Subdividing his district into seven sections, he made the following report thereon, commencing with the 4th of September (the date of his first case), and ending with the 19th of October. The initials signify — "Diarrhoea," "Approaching Cholera" and " Cholera." WEST SIDE OF HIGH-STREET. D. A.C. C. Barn Close district 207 ... 5 ... 29 South of Railway Bridge 168 ... 20 ... 19 North of Railway Bridge, including Pipewellgate 233 ... 16 ... 68 EAST SIDE OF HIGH-STREET. East of Hillgate and East-street, including the South Shore and New Gateshead 213 ... 12 ... 15 South of Oakwellgate-chare 287 ... 18 ... 34 North of Oakwellgate-chare to Cannon-street, including Oakwellgate 205 ... 23 ... 47 Hillgate and Churchwalk district 190 ... 9 ... 49 Cases of diarrhoea prior to September 14, not recorded in sections 127 Total cases 1630 ...103 ...261 Deaths 6 ... 0 ...159 Mr. Wilson reported, that the mortality was confined, almost without exception, to the cases enumerated in the third column, which had assumed the form of malignant cholera before medical aid was obtained, and of which more than one-half ended in death. By this destructive visitation, 106 husbands were deprived of their wives in 51 days. How many wives lost their husbands — how many children their parents — the records do not say ; nor is it possible to estimate, to the full extent, how heavily the pecuniary resources of the community were taxed by the epidemic of 1853 — a calamity arising from causes which are removable — which lessen the enjoyment and shorten the duration of human life, and are at once our punishment and our reproach. 23 CHESTER-LE-STREET UNION. The epidemic of 1849 having raged on the boundary-line between Gateshead and Lamesley, at Wrekenton and Eighton Banks, the extent of the mortality on both sides has been obtained, and is stated on page 7- The facts of the rural epidemic are instructive. Lamesley is a member of the poor-law union of Chester-le-Street, which lies southward of Gateshead, and is intersected by the high road from this place to the city of Durham. The whole union comprises the parish of Washington, the parish of Chester-le-Street, and three of the fifteen townships constituting the parish of Houghton-le- Spring. Its area in statute acres is 33,079 ; and in 1851 it had a population of 20,907 persons, chiefly engaged in mining and agriculture. 135 of the inhabitants died of cholera and 7of diarrhoea in 1 849, in the following districts of the union : — the one marked thus (*) being in Washington — thus (t) in Houghton — and the remainder in Chester :—: — Population, Township or Date of Date of DIE:p - I 1851. Chapelry. First Death, Last Death, c. Id. tot. I 2,051 *Usworth 28 January 20 February 6 0 6 1,614 Harraton 2 February 15 October... 11 0 11 1,914 Lamesley 3 August ... 14 " ... 46 1 47 747 Waldridge 6 " ... 23 September 3 0 3 1,758 Witton Gilbert 12 " ... 8 October... 6 0 6 891 fίournMoor 27 " ... 14 September 31 1 32 2,580 Chester-le-Street ...28 " ... 24 October... 25 4 29 1,730 Great Lumley 1 September 11 September 112 300 Ouston 5 " 5 " 10 1 337 Little Lumley 6 " 6 " 10 1 348 Edmonsley 27 " 27 " 10 1 1,823 Birtley 9 October... 17 October... 3 0 3 16,103 135 7 |142 I The Harraton deaths occurred — 6 in February at the hamlets of Harraton and Fatfield, and 5 in October at Peel's Houses. The Lamesley deaths occurred — 4 in August, up to and including the 25th; and 42 in September, from the 9th to the 27th; all at Eighton Banks, with the exception of the last, the death of a tramp at Millgreen Cottage. The solitary death from diarrhoea took place on the 14th of October, when the epidemic had passed away. It has been seen that Gateshead, urban and rural, with 24,805 inhabitants in 1851, unequally spread over an area of 3,255 acres, lost 185 men, women, and children, in 1849, by cholera and diarrhoea. In the adjoining union of Chester-le-Street, comprising an area ten times more extensive, 142 died out of 20,907, inhabiting 4,121 houses. Thus the rate of mortality was little greater in the parish of Gateshead than in the union of Chester ; nor is the sanitary condition of our villages much better than that of our towns. " A Traveller Underground," who has written of " Our Coal and Our Coal Pits, the People in them and the Scenes around them," 24 describing the "pit villages" of Northumberland and Durham, says: — " The space between each two rows of back-doors presents along the centre one long ash-heap and dunghill, generally the playground of the children in summer ; with a coal-heap, and often a pigsty, at the side of each door. There are no conveniences. '' In one of the mining districts here referred to, most severely visited by the epidemic of 1849, the compiler of these statistics asked a pitman's wife to what cause she ascribed the epidemic. She was as modest in her judgment as the most candid of medical men, confessing her perfect ignorance of its primary origin ; but this, she said, she knew, that the cleanest cottages were not exempt from attack. A neighbour, however, remarked, that while this was so, conveniences were uncommon ; and that, in a neighbouring village, where the cholera was peculiarly prevalent and fatal, there was not a single privy. The epidemic, she added, broke out in the township immediately on the opening of a very filthy drain. A These facts are important, as evidence that the cholera is not a disease of our large towns alone, or even principally, but is engendered also in our villages, and with equally destructive consequences. Bourn Moor and Lamesley were as severely scourged in 1849, as were Newcastle and Gateshead in any of the three epidemics. The dense population surrounding the Norman keep of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was but three times more fatally ravaged than the sparse population of the whole union of Chester-le- Street, surrounding the fair baronial halls of Ravensworth, and Lambton, and Lumley. Everywhere there is room for reform- While these pages are passing through the press, Matthias Dunn, Esq., who, as Government Inspector of Mines, has charge of the mining district now under consideration, is driven, by the unwholesome condition of his private residence in St. Mary'sterrace, on the outskirts of Newcastle, to apply to the Borough Magistrates for redress, the atmosphere of his house being poisoned by "an incessant discharge of noxious gases'" from " branch drains." " During the cholera,'' says Mr. Dunn, M there were 9 deaths out of 120 people in the neighbourhood/'* The Stipendiary Magistrate can only admit that " something should be done/ and express his regret that he has not the power, and others have not the will, to do it. The helpless Government Inspector retires with the remark: — "There will be plenty of cry when the cholera reappears." * Men talk of the " better parts" of our towns — and, looking only at the sur- face of things, when they see epidemics scourging such localities, deny the con- nection between fevev and filth, pestilence and poison. Such revelations, there- fore, as Mr. Dunn has so wisely made in the common ear, are above all price. They tear aside the veil, and force upon public observation the fact that not alone our Sandgates and Pipewellgates, our doggers-e ntries and our Leonards-courts, but also our St. Marys-t erraces and our West- streets, our Ridley- villas and our Mulgrave-terraces, however fair their exterior, are far from being, within, in a perfect sanitary condition. Less crowded than the more neglected localities — inhabited by persons of ampler means and superior habits — epidemic influences have not the same sway and power upon them ; but they do suffer, if to a less extent, from pestilential diseases, and also from excessive mortality. — Gateshead