Rotherham Cholera Burial Ground
The Rotherham Cholera Burial Ground is situated on Park Road, East Dene.
Following renovations in March 2008, Reverend Hedley Richardson, Vicar of Clifton, conducted a service in which he blessed the burial ground in a special ceremony.
A sign details the history of the site and the names, where known, of the Rotherham people who were buried there during the national cholera outbreaks in the 19th century.
Those who died in 1832:
William Holmer 30th August
Martin Robinson 30th August
Thomas Ellis 30th August
James Scott 31st August
Esther Pashley 31st August
Mary Hodgson 5th September
A Stranger 11th September
Joshua Jenkinson 20th Sept.
Joseph Cundy 1st October
Elizabeth Lee 1st October
? Hobson 2nd October
Sarah Crowder 2nd October
Charlotte Lee 2nd October
Ann Woo(d)ger 4th October
Richard Pool 4th October
Mary Hudson 6th October
James Carlton 7th October
Charlotte Lound 9th October
Joseph Woodhead 14th October
William Mile 14th October
Askham Eyre 18th October
James Peace 18th October
Those who died in 1849:
Jsh.Goldsbrough 16th Sept.
James Ellis 27th Oct.
Dr.John Holmes 29th Oct.
Michael Bradshaw 29th Oct.
William Carmichael 31st Oct.
Charles Jackson 1st Nov.
Hannah Cottam 2nd Nov.
Ann Bayliffe 2nd Nov.
Cholera Outbreaks in 1832
Until 1827 there were large springs of water running in several streets which supplied the inhabitants with water. These were taken away by the Water Company, leaving the lower classes deprived of sufficient water to clean their premises, as a consequence alley ways and such became very dirty.
Commenting on the cholera outbreaks of 1832 in Rotherham, Edward James Shearman, M.D. was recorded as saying: 'The sanitary condition of this very thriving manufacturing town is very deplorable. When the cholera broke out in Rotherham in 1832, my attention was particularly directed to the imperfect state of the drainage of the town, which I then found had been totally neglected for many years. The cholera broke out in the narrow alleys from which there are no drains. The supply of water was so small that it was impossible to keep such places clean.'
The sewers at that time were imperfect and clogged, there were no drains from the narrow alley ways where the poorer inhabitants lived in close together housing without ventilation, all body and household waste was stored in the houses and then put in the alley ways for twice weekly collection, it was in these places that the Cholera broke out in 1832.
This seems to be only the tip of the iceberg, in the spring and summer of 1832 sewers were laid open for repair and few workmen worked on them making the process longer, gas pipes were broken during these repairs, the gases eminating from both gas and sewer pipes were lethal to say the least and all this while the fever was raging.
Another problem at the time was the churchyard in the centre of the town which was grossly overcrowded, with bodies being buried as little as three feet from the ground and in some cases even less, during burials there was a strong chance of already buried bodies being uncovered, the decaying bodies would often give off obnoxious smelling gases, and in some cases large quantities of foul smelling liquids would be drained from the newly dug grave and poured down into blocked sewers. In 1841, 40 graves were opened for burying people who had drowned in the Masbrough Boat Disaster.
Cholera Outbreaks in 1849
In January 1846 observations were made by Edward James Shearman. M.D. of the differences between localities in the causes, symptoms, duration, mortalities and treatments of the fever which had prevailed in Rotherham since March 1845. He presented his report at Sheffield Medical Society, on January 22, 1846
Rotherham is situated on the declivity of two hills, with, at the time plenty of decent drainage into the river which runs close to the town.
The high rainfall between June and September of 1845, along with a humid atmosphere, was thought to have contributed to the Cholera epidemic; apparently the risk was thought to be less if people lived in the upper storeys of their homes where it was drier.
Commenting on the outbreak of 1849, Dr. Shearman said:
In Pool Green, where the cholera broke out last year, there had been for many years an accumulation of drainage from two to three feet thick. There was no possibility of getting rid of it, except by carting it away. I laid two or three informations against the owners of these premises, but no notice was taken of them, nor any improvement made, until after the cholera had broken out, and carried off five or six persons in a very few hours.
Ever since I have resided in Rotherham, I have observed that when any epidemic or infectious disease has broken out, it has always commenced in the low, confined, undrained, and filthy parts, and by far the greatest mortality has occurred in those parts.
John Foster, house surgeon to the public dispensary recorded the following which was published in the London Medical Gazette:
From January 1847 up to July 31st 1850, 2,121 regular patients have been attended to at the dispensary, and 1,446 casual cases have been relieved.
Of the 1,446 casual cases about 480 were cases of diarrhrea, dysentery, and English cholera, which occurred between the months of September and October 1849.
Of the 2,121 regular patients, 757 have been diseases of a preventible character: fever of a typhoid character 307; diarrhoea, dysentery, and English cholera, 181; scarlatina 79; measles 34; small-pox 18; dyspepsia, chiefly induced by residing in unhealthy localities, 134 ; Asiatic cholera, 4.
One third both of the regular and casual patients were suffering from preventible disease.
It was not until December 1863, as a result of Dr. Shearman's reports, thar Rotherham's Board of Health sought Parliamentary Powers to create a reservoir. The Rotherham and Kimberworth Water Board was formed and advertised for tenders in July 1870 from builders willing to construct a storage reservoir at Ulley.
Symptoms and Treatment
The symptoms of Cholera were vast including a great thirst, headache, sleeplessness, bronchitis, delirium, pneumonia ... . Dr. Shearman said that the most successful treatment included a sufficient supply of pure air. He recommended carbonate of ammonia, wine, porter, and beef-tea, were found useful in the latter stages; but proper nourishment should never be overlooked.
