Michael S Kemp Bookseller

POSTER - CHOLERA EPIDEMIC 1866

Description

CHOLERA Board of Works to the Limehouse District. Comprising Limehouse, Ratcliff, Shadwell & Wapping. In consequence of the appearance of Cholera within this District, the Board have appointed the under-mentioned Medical Gentlemen who will give Advice, Medicine, and Assistance, Free of Charge, and Upon Application, at any hour of the day or night. By Order, Thos. W. Ratcliff, Clerk to the Board. Board Offices, White Horse Street, 26th July 1866. Broadsheet, 445 x 285 mm. A little spotted. This item may have at some time been mounted and will bear traces on the reverse of adhesive or removal of mounts. The Cholera Epidemic of 1866 was the last major epidemic of the disease to hit England with the East End of London being particularly hard hit; an estimated 4,000 deaths occurred in this area alone between July and November. Thomas Orton, named as one of the doctors here, was the author of two pungent reports 'Special Report by Thomas Orton, Medical Officer of Health, Limehouse, on the cholera epidemic of 1866', London, 1866; and ‘Report of the Medical Officer of Health Limehouse (1867) with supplementary and conclusive remarks on the cholera epidemic in east London.’ He was particularly scathing towards Captain Tyler, the Board of Trade inspector, whose training, like so many public health functionaries of the time, had been military rather than medical.

Price

£650.00