Relief from Cholera

The day of 26 September 1849 was designated in Portsmouth a day of humilation and prayer for relief from the scourge of cholera. The Dockyard and other local businesses were closed for the day while special prayers were said in all the local chapels.

Raging through the summer, at the height of the epidemic mass burials for the victims were being held before 8am in the churchyard of St Thomas's Church, now the cathedral.

The epidemic had run its course by November and on the 15th general celebratory and thanksgiving services were held across the town.

Cholera in Portsmouth

160 years ago in the summer of 1849, Portsmouth was in the grip of an epidemic. Hundreds perhaps thousands of the population, particularly children, were first feeling giddy, then a prickling sensation in their limbs before their nails became blackened and more serious symptoms followed. Often an unpleasant death was not far behind and subsequent burials of at least 700 inhabitants took place in the churchyard of St Mary’s alone. This was the third outbreak the town had suffered and there was little understanding of the cause (infected water). However, this instance enabled the more enlightened members of society to recognise the strong correlation between the disease and the dreadful sanitary circumstances endured by many of the population. Nevertheless conditions barely improved until 1863 when the relatively new Council took some responsibility for public health.