History of Seaham - Stories and remarkable and memorable events in the history of Seaham The Londonderry Family and Seaham The Sunderland Cholera Outbreak and Lord Londonderry (1831)
The 1831 Cholera Outbreak at Sunderland:
The 1831 cholera outbreak at Sunderland began to alarm the residents of Seaham Harbour. Lord Londonderry attempted to ease the concerns of the residents of the town. He published a letter in the local newspapers from one of his old army comrades, a Doctor Brown, who makes a number of observations about the recent outbreak to ease concerns of local residents.
The underlying reason for Lord Londonderry’s letter was to lobby the Port Authorities at Sunderland to abandon their embargo on shipping in the port. The Port Authorities had angered local shipowners by arranging for a Royal Navy ship of the line to blockade the mouth of the River Wear to enforce a 15-day quarantine which was disrupting the shipowners’ trade.
Lord Londonderry’s letter to the newspapers is reproduced here.
His friend Doctor Brown responded with this letter to the newspaper:
He concludes that the typhoid outbreak is nothing to be alarmed about, it is not contagiious, it only attacks residents of the "lower order" and it is not communicable!
I wonder how many medical practitioners would agree with Doctor Brown's conclusions today?
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