CHOLERA 1866

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The fountain on Castle Square, opened by the Prince of Wales in 1868, and which was the culmination of the fight to improve the water supply to the town and conquer the dreaded cholera. © K. Morris

Sir Llewelyn Turner. © T. M. Hughes

I do not intend to cover this outbreak in great detail as it is already well served by T. Meirion Hughes's excellent bilingual book: "The Cholera and the New Water Supply/Y Colera a'r Gronfa Ddwr Newydd" (ISBN 09252493616). Suffice to say that this was the last, and by far the worst, outbreak of the disease to hit the town. The severity of this outbreak led directly to the introduction of a fresh water supply to all inhabitants, which was heralded by the opening of the fountain on Castle Square in 1868.

Briefly, the town of Carnarvon had always been served by an inadequate, and very unhealthy, water supply, which was compounded by the rapid expansion of the town during the boom years of the slate trade in the first half of the century. This was fertile ground for a disease such as cholera, and as has been seen it was only through good fortune that decimation on a grand scale had been avoided over the last forty years.

The appalling state of the town's sanitation had attracted attention many times over the years, most specifically by the Mayor, Sir Llewelyn Turner. Up until 1866 his attempts had fallen on deaf ears and nothing had been done. This was not an unusual situation as the Town Council had an enduring record of failing to agree on a multitude of projects aimed at improving the town. Most often this was down to sheer pig-headedness and personality clashes on the part of individual councillors, and a cynical reluctance to spend any money on the poor.

This was the sad state of affairs then as the summer of 1866 progressed. On the 17th. of October four-year-old Simon Hobley, of Turf Square, became the first official victim of the outbreak, although there had been sporadic deaths from diarrhoea and similar ailments since mid-June. The following is a list of all the victims.

The list is compiled from the Civil Registration Death Register and the Llanbeblig Parish Burial Register. I have included any instances of deaths due to diarrhoea and "gastric fever" as they might possibly be Cholera related.

In all there were 78 confirmed Cholera victims, with a further 20 possible cases having died from Diarrhoea or Gastric Fever.

Name	Abode	Date of Death	Date of Burial	Age	Cause of Death
Richard Jones	Treffynon	June 14	June 18	16 months	Diarrhoea 7 Months
John Jones	Union Workhouse	June 18	June 19	79	Diarrhoea
William Roberts	Union Workhouse	June 23	June 26	79	Debility & Diarrhoea
William Ellis	Union Workhouse	August 08	August 08	52	Debility & Diarrhoea
Mary Elizabeth Williams	Segontium Terrace	August 12	August 15	241	Gastric Fever 7 Weeks 2
Mary Roberts	Crown Street	October 05	October 10	02	Diarrhoea
Simon Hobley	Turf Square	October 17	October 22	04	English Cholera
Hugh Owen	Castle Square	November 07	November 08	51	Asiatic Cholera
Edward Williams	Segontium Terrace	November 20	November 21	34	English Cholera 22 Hours
Ellen Thomas	Victory Tavern	November 21	November 22	50	Cholera 27 Hours
Jane Grindley	Twthill Terrace	November 21	3	82	Diarrhoea 3 Weeks
Edward Thomas	Castle Ditch	November 22	November 23	52	Cholera 30 Hours
Thomas Jones	New Poorhouse	November 22	November 23	69	English Cholera
James Williams	Tanrallt	November 22	November 23	25	English Cholera
Margaret Cowell	Pool Street	November 25	November 25	25	Cholera 26 Hours
Ann Pritchard	Crown Street	November 25	4	30	English Cholera
Ellin Foulkes	Baptist Lane	November 26	November 26	35 5	Cholera 11 Hours
Henry Edwards	Baptist Street	November 27	November 28	20 months	Diarrhoea 8 Hours
Emma James	County Gaol	November 27	November 28	41	English Cholera
Ann Owen	Castle Square	November 27	November 27	57	Asiatic Cholera
William Daniel	Vinegar Hill	November 27	November 28	41	Cholera
Ellin Williams	Pool Street	November 29	November 29	62	Cholera 2 Days
Margaret Edwards	Baptist Street	November 29	November 29	46	Asiatic Cholera
Hannah Jones	Wesley Street	November 30	December 01	33	Asiatic Cholera
Henry Williams	Bank Quay	December 01	December 02	73	Cholera
William Williams	Court y Bragwr	December 01	December 01	82 6	Choleraic Diarrhoea
Morris Williams	Penditch	December 02	December 03	70	English Cholera
Griffith Hughes	Pool Hill 7	December 02	December 03	02	Cholera
Ann Ellin Lewis	Greengate Street	December 02	December 03	07	Cholera 6 Days
Mary Morris	March Lane	December 03	December 04	68	Asiatic Cholera
Hugh Hughes	Cae adda goch	December 03	8	74	Diarrhoea
Catherine Rowlands	New Poorhouse	December 04	December 04	31	English Cholera
Thomas Davies	Tanybont	December 04	December 04	27 9	Cholera 24 Hours
Ellen Hughes	Skinner Street	December 04	December 05	26	Cholera
Benjamin Rowlands	Baptist Street	December 05	December 05	32	Asiatic Cholera & Uraemia
Catherine Williams	Court y Bragwr	December 05	December 07	02	Gastric Fever
David Williams	Court y Bragwr	December 06	December 07	10	Cholera
Elizabeth Evans	Crown Lane 10	December 09	December 10	09	Cholera
Agnes Morris	March Lane	December 10	December 11	24	Cholera 8 Days - Pneumonia
Owen Evans	Hendy	December 11	December 12	64	Cholera 28 Hours
John Roberts	Tanrallt	December 11	December 12	01	English Cholera 11
Robert Jones	Crown Street	December 12	December 13	46 12	Cholera
John Jones	Pool Street	December 12	December 13	38	Cholera 12 Hours
Thomas Ellis	County Gaol	December 13	December 13	45	Cholera
Mary Evans	Pool Street	December 13	13	57	Gastric Fever
Robert Henry Thomas	Wesley Street	December 13	December 14	14 months	Cholera 24 Hours
Edward Roberts	County Gaol	December 13	December 14	57	Cholera
Jane Ellen Griffith	Pool Street	December 13	December 14	14	Cholera 32 Hours 14
Mary Ann Richards	St. Helen's Terrace	December 13	December 14	49	Cholera & Congestion of Brain
Catherine Jones	Pool Side	December 14	December 15	33	Cholera 13 Days 15
Margaret Jones	Tyddynhen	December 15	16	34	Gastric Fever & Congestion of Brain
Ellen Griffith	Mount Pleasant	December 15	December 17	70	Cholera 15 Hours
Ann Ellen Evans	Mount Pleasant	December 15	December 17	06	Cholera 13 Hours
Margaret Cowell	Pool Street	December 15	December 17	77	Cholera Coma
John Ishmael	Uxbridge Square	December 15	December 16	49	Cholera
Ellen Addie	Castle Ditch	December 16	December 17	24	Cholera 24 Hours
Thomas Hugh Roberts	Shirehall Street	December 16	December 17	23	Cholera
Thomas Jones	Skinner Street	December 16	December 17	31	Cholera
William Smith	James Court	December 16	17	12 hours	Cholera 18
Robert Smith	James Court	December 17	December 18	03	Cholera 3 Days 18
Sarah Griffith	Pool Street	December 17	December 18	66	Cholera Coma
Jane Griffith	Pool Street	December 18	19	19	Cholera
Owen Roberts	Chapel Street	December 18	December 19	54	Cholera 8 Hours
Mary Grace Williams	Pool Street	December 18	December 19	11	Cholera 24 Hours
Ellen Hughes	Baptist Street	December 18	December 19	51	Cholera 18 Hours
Glynne Williams	Chapel Street	December 18	December 19	54	Cholera 15 Hours
Ann Thomas	Chapel Street	December 19	December 20	36	Cholera
Elias Williams	South Penrallt	December 20	December 21	28	Cholera
William Pierce	Patent Slip	December 20	December 21	69	Cholera
David Evans	South Penrallt	December 21	December 21	53	Cholera
Jane Hughes	Castle Ditch	December 21	December 22	62	Cholera
Thomas Williams	North Penrallt 20	December 22	December 22	02	Diarrhoea
David Jones	Tanybont	December 23	December 24	49	Cholera
Mary Ishmael	Uxbridge Square	December 23	December 24	61	Cholera 36 Hours
Christopher Maughan	Dillon's Cottage	December 23	December 24	36	Cholera
David Prichard	Crown Street	December 23	December 24	18 21	Asiatic Cholera
William Owen	Harbour Office	December 25	December 25	58	Cholera 43 Hours
William Griffith	Skinner Street	December 25	December 26	57 22	Cholera
Jane Jones	Castle Square	December 26	December 27	30	Cholera 27 Days
Sarah Blackburn	Pool Hill	December 26	December 27	27	Cholera 5 Days
William Henry Morgan	Patent Slip	December 27	December 28	05	Cholera 3 Days Coma
Elizabeth Rowlands	Albert Inn	December 27		57 23	Cholera 9 Days 24
Robert Thomas	Mount Pleasant	December 27	December 28	56	Cholera 12 Hours
Jannet Owen	Baptist Street	December 28	December 28	62	Asiatic Cholera
Phoebe Davies	Palace Street	January 01	January 01	60 25	Cholera 46 Hours
Elizabeth Evans	London House 26	January 02	January 04	31	Diarrhoea 5 Days
Ellin Jones	Palace Street 27	January 03	January 03	54 28	Cholera 12 Hours
Gwen Jones	Tanyard Court 29	January 04	January 05	14	Cholera 40 Hours
John Hughes	Bridge Street	January 05	January 05	52	Asiatic Cholera
Catherine Jones	Tanybont	January 07	January 08	44	Cholera Pneumonia
John Davies	Palace Street	January 09	January 10	70	Cholera 6 Days Debility 9 Days
Rumsey Rumsey Wms	Bontnewydd	January 10	January 11	58	Cholera

There were also six persons noted in the Llanbeblig Burial Register as having died of Cholera, but the official cause of death in Civil Registration Registers was otherwise noted.

Name	Abode	Date of Burial	Age	Cause of Death
Betsey Daniel	Vinegar Hill	November 26	03	Cholera
Hugh Owen	Court in Palace Street	November 29	30	Cholera
Henry Thomas	Pool Lane	December 03	02	Cholera
Catherine Williams	Market Street	December 33	68	Cholera
William Jones	South Penrallt	December 20	60	Cholera
Griffith Closs Davies	Well Street	January 08	01	Cholera

1 Age in Burial Register recorded as 27	2 & Haemorrhage From the Stomach
3 Not buried at Llanbeblig	4 Not buried at Llanbeblig
5 Age in Burial Register recorded as 36	6 Age in Burial Register recorded as 80
7 Moriah Square in Burial Register	8 Not buried at Llanbeblig
9 Age in Burial Register recorded as 31	10 Crown Street in Burial Register
11 John Hughes age 2 of Tanrallt in register	12 Age in Burial Register recorded as 44
13 Buried at Caeathraw	14 & Cerebral Congestion
15 & Congestion of Brain 5 Days	16 Not buried at Llanbeblig
17 Buried at Llanbeblig, but not recorded in register	18 Brothers
19 Not buried at Llanbeblig	20 South Penrallt in Burial Register
21 Age in Burial Register recorded as 17	22 Age in Burial Register recorded as 58
23 Not buried at Llanbeblig	24 & Congestion of the Kidneys 3 Days
25 Age in Burial Register recorded as 59	26 High Street
27 Pool Street in Burial Register	28 Age in Burial Register recorded as 58
29 Crown Street

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SOURCES

Llanbeblig Parish Burial Registers.
General Register Office - Register of Deaths.

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INDEX