Sunderland

Sunderland is a port city located at the mouth of the River Wear in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear in northeast England. Historically, the port traded coal and salt, and from the fourteenth century it had been a hub of shipbuilding. It was the first British town to suffer a cholera epidemic in 1831. Related BRANCH article: Pamela K. Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England."

Coordinates

Latitude: 54.898229549051
Longitude: -1.424843072891

View on the COVE Master Map

Timeline of Events Associated with Sunderland

Date Event Manage
Sep 1831 to Dec 1832

Cholera Epidemic

The first major cholera pandemic to cross the Channel began in Sunderland in September 1831, spread throughout the country, and was not determined to be over until more than a year later, in December of 1832.

Articles

Pamela Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England"
Jul 1842

Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population

Photo of ChadwickIn July 1842 Edwin Chadwick, with Dr. Thomas Southwood Smith, published his ‘The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population,’ at his own expense. The report detailed the sanitary conditions of the poor and advocated reform, tracing public health problems directly to the awful state of urban housing the poor endured. Chadwick’s report launched the mid-century sanitary movement, though it had a slow start because change was expensive. Image: Photograph of Sir Edwin Chadwick. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

Related Articles

Pamela Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England"

Barbara Leckie, “‘The Bitter Cry of Outcast London’ (1883): Print Exposé and Print Reprise”
31 Aug 1848

Public Health Act

British Coat of ArmsSpurred by the 1848 cholera epidemic and Edwin Chadwick’s report on The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population, a Central Board of Health was established that provided for taxation to enforce sanitary reform and the creation of local Boards of Health. Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Articles

Pamela Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England"

Barbara Leckie, “‘The Bitter Cry of Outcast London’ (1883): Print Exposé and Print Reprise”
Oct 1848 to Dec 1849

Cholera Epidemic

The second major cholera epidemic in the UK began in Scotland in October 1848 and is generally agreed to have largely subsided in the UK by the end of 1849.

Articles

Pamela Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England"
Aug 1853 to Nov 1854

Cholera Epidemic

The third major cholera epidemic in the UK began in August 1853 and extended through November 1854. It is during this epidemic that John Snow deduced the mode of transmission, by water contaminated with feces.

Articles

Pamela Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England"
Nov 1865 to Nov 1866

Cholera Epidemic

The last cholera epidemic is conventionally termed “of 1866” as that was the period of the highest mortality. The epidemic arrived in Britain in September 1865 and ended in November 1866.

Articles

Pamela Gilbert, "On Cholera in Nineteenth-Century England"