Middleton Road, Salisbury

Middleton Road is on the northern side of Salisbury, close to Saint Paul’s Church.

Middleton Road is by no means in the ‘middle of town’. At the time it was built, ‘by the 1890s’ (¹), it would have been on Salisbury’s outskirts.

It could be that ‘Middleton’ is the name of the one of the developers of the area – roads in the same development are seemingly random forenames (or possibly surnames) – for example Sidney Street, George Street and James Street.

I would prefer to think, though, that the naming of Middleton Road was, and is, a tribute to Dr Andrew Middleton.

Doctor Middleton and the 1849 Salisbury cholera epidemic

The epidemic – ‘the sickness pervades the whole city’

The sad story of the 1849 cholera epidemic is best told by Ruth Newman in:

• the book ‘Salisbury Past‘, co-written with J Howells (²)
• the article ‘Salisbury in the time of Cholera’ in Sarum Chronicle, Issue 6 (³)

Much of the material presented on this page is used by kind permission of Mrs Newman.

192 people died in the epidemic. At the time this was roughly 1 in every 45 of the population of Salisbury.

It’s perhaps worth considering the numbers. In today’s larger Salisbury schools this death rate would equate to two kids dying of cholera in every year group.

The London Times reported that:

the sickness … pervades the whole city. Deaths have occurred in nearly every street.(⁴)

Salisbury Cholera Deaths Road by Road

A subsequent Board of Health report listed the deaths in each street (⁵):

Barnards St	1
Bedwin Street	14
Blue Boar Row	2
Brown Street	7
Bugmore Hospital	2
Castle Street	31
Catherine Street	3
Chipper Lane	6
Culver Street	3
Endless Street	10
Gigant Street	6
Greencroft Street	5
High Street	5
Ivy St	4
Love Lane	2
Milford Street	11
New Street	2
Oatmeal Row	1
Paynes Hill	1
Queen Street	3
Rollestone Street	6
St Ann Street	2
St John St	1
St Martins Church St	3
St Edmunds Church St	11
Salt Lane	3
Scots Lane	17
Silver Street	4
The Workhouse	4
Trinity Street	2
Winchester Street	16

Localized cholera epidemics occurred throughout Britain in the 19th century, but no other town of comparable size suffered as badly.

The cholera epidemic has come up now and again whilst I’ve been researching Salisbury’s road names. A couple of examples:

• the economist John Maynard Keynes’ grandfather’s first wife ‘died in a cholera epidemic’(⁶)
• the Godolphin School moved out of Salisbury up onto Milford Hill ‘to escape the cholera epidemic in the city’(⁷)
• Mrs Louisa Caswell, wife of the Edward Caswell, who was a writer, and curate at Stratford-sub-Castle died of the cholera(⁸)

Disagreements and the Salisbury Journal’s censorship

Dr Middleton argued that the unsanitary living conditions in Salisbury were spreading the disease. He argued that the system of water channels throughout the town were a significant part of the problem. He organized a petition for a Board of Health enquiry.

The city council, with some popular support, opposed Middleton. A petition against an enquiry was organized, and gained a greater number of signatures.

The Salisbury Journal remained silent about the outbreak, ostensibly because it didn’t want to scare its readers. The Journal was forced to break its silence when letters appeared in the London Times. The Times specifically attacked the Journal for its suppression of the story.

Why were the council and many of the people opposed to an enquiry?

It’s not easy to say.

Lack of scientific knowledge was a factor – the cholera bacillus wasn’t discovered until 1854(⁹) and cholera itself had been unknown in Britain until 1829. The dominant theory at the time was that cholera, and other diseases, were spread by ‘bad air’ or miasma(¹⁰)

Perhaps the idea that the sanitary conditions were to blame ran contrary to ‘common sense’. The channels and the courts had been there for hundreds of years ‘without doing anyone any harm’. Nobody had suggested that the watercourses played a role in other epidemics, such as the Plague. In a time before the different ways in which diseases are transmitted was understood perhaps it was more ‘sensible’ to attribute the epidemic to bad luck?

Perhaps also it was easier to blame ‘bad luck’ rather than to admit that the 192 deaths could have been prevented?

On the other hand, there may have been a degree of self interest involved. The members of the council would have been some the landlords who would have to bear much of the financial brunt of sanitary reform.

The disagreement was particularly heated on the subject of the water channels. A City medical officer, John Winzar stated that:

‘Neither nature nor art could possibly have formed channels better adapted for effectually carrying away the sewage of the city’. (¹¹)

There were stories of trout being discovered in channels in the middle of the city – ‘proving’ how healthy and clean they were (¹²).

Despite the local opposition, the Board of Health sent Thomas Rammel, who reported in 1851. (¹³)

Thomas Rammel’s report

Rammel found that (¹⁴) :

• the water channels were no use for removing sewage. Rammel pointed out that 114 deaths were in streets with open channels, 47 in streets with closed channels and 29 in streets with no channel.(¹⁵)
• the courts, in the centres of the chequers, were ‘indescribably filthy’ (¹⁶)
• the wells were contaminated by seepage from toilets and graveyards

Sanitation – a ‘New Sarum’

The town council was forced to adopt the 1848 Public Health Act, and to start filling in the water channels. Over the next few years (¹⁷):

• a water works was built to the north of the city
• deep sewers were built, to which households were gradually connected
• land for new cemeteries was purchased on the Devizes Road and at Bishopdown

Middleton wrote:

I shall always be happy to plead guilty to the charge of having caused the destruction of the ‘English Venice’ since by that destruction a ‘New Salisbury’ has been created, and very many hundreds of human beings saved from an untimely death (¹⁸)

Middleton Road and the honouring of Andrew Middleton

Was Middleton Road named after Dr Andrew Middleton?

I don’t yet know for sure.

In retrospect the campaign waged by Middleton and others did indeed save many in Salisbury from an untimely death, but I don’t know whether this would have been recognized by the time of the building and naming of Middleton Road.

Cholera today

People still die from cholera today.

In 2005, 2272 deaths were reported to the World Health Organisation, across 52 countries.

It’s a highly preventable disease – the fact that there were no further outbreaks in Salisbury after 1849 shows this. However the WHO says:

There is clear trend that cholera is re-emerging in parallel
with the ever-increasing proportion of vulnerable
populations who live in unsanitary conditions. Cholera
remains a global threat and one of the key indicators of
social development. While the disease no longer poses a
threat to countries where minimum standards of hygiene
are met, it remains a challenge in those countries
where access to safe water and adequate sanitation cannot
be guaranteed for all. (¹⁹)

Wateraid

One charity that is working to provide access to safe water and adequate sanitation is WaterAid.

WaterAid is working in 17 countries to provide water and sanitation to people that need it.

As the Salisbury experience shows, it’s an easily preventable disease.

If you would like to continue the fight against cholera and other water-borne diseases please visit the WaterAid website, sign up to their newsletter and perhaps consider a donation.

Footnotes

1. Salisbury – The expansion of the city; Milford | British History Online [↩]
2. Newman, R. and Howells, J.: Salisbury Past (Chichester: Phillimore, 2001), pages 84-85. [↩]
3. Sarum Chronicle, Issue 6. Hobnob Press October 2006, 64-page illustrated paperback, price £4.50, ISBN10 0-946418-54-3; ISBN13 978-0-946418-54-1 [↩]
4. Sarum Chronicle, Issue 6. pages 11-19. Hobnob Press October 2006, 64-page illustrated paperback, price £4.50, ISBN10 0-946418-54-3; ISBN13 978-0-946418-54-1 [↩]
5. Newman, R. and Howells, J.: ‘Salisbury Past ‘ ,Chichester: Phillimore, 2001, pages 85. [↩]
6. ECONOMISTS PAPERS Series Two: John Neville Keynes [↩]
7. Wiltshire Council – Wiltshire Community History Get School Information [↩]
8. Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Edward Caswall – Wikisource [↩]
9. Who first discovered cholera? [↩]
10. 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [↩]
11. From: ‘Salisbury: City government since 1836′, A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6 (1962), pp. 113-117. URL: Salisbury – City government since 1836 | British History Online Date accessed: 24 September 2009. [↩]
12. ‘Salisbury in the time of Cholera’ in Sarum Chronicle, Issue 6. Hobnob Press October 2006, price £4.50, ISBN10 0-946418-54-3; ISBN13 978-0-946418-54-1 [↩]
13. From: ‘Salisbury: City government since 1836′, A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6 (1962), pp. 113-117. URL: Salisbury – City government since 1836 | British History Online Date accessed: 24 September 2009. [↩]
14. From: ‘Salisbury: City government since 1836′, A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6 (1962), pp. 113-117. URL: Salisbury – City government since 1836 | British History Online Date accessed: 25 September 2009. [↩]
15. Newman, R. and Howells, J.: ‘Salisbury Past‘ ,Chichester: Phillimore, 2001, pages 85. [↩]
16. quote from the Victoria County History [↩]
17. From: ‘Salisbury: City government since 1836′, A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6 (1962), pp. 113-117. URL: Salisbury – City government since 1836 | British History Online Date accessed: 25 September 2009. [↩]
18. ‘Salisbury in the time of Cholera’ in Sarum Chronicle, Issue 6. Hobnob Press October 2006, 64-page illustrated paperback, price £4.50, ISBN10 0-946418-54-3; ISBN13 978-0-946418-54-1 [↩]
19. WEEKLY EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RECORD, NO. 31, 4 AUGUST 2006, World Health Organisation [↩]