Quote:
Originally Posted by janwhin
The outbreak of fever in 1864 was smallpox. The Board of Guardians of Alnwick met on 27th February 1864 and passed the following resolution: "In consequence of the state of Radcliffe Terrace and of 40 or 50 cases of small pox now existing there, and 4 deaths having happened,.
|
There seems no way to dispute that there was smallpox in Radcliffe in 1864. However, I have a problem with the statement from the Alnwick Mercury 14th of April 1877 (quoted earlier in this thread) which says:
“The water scheme was then gone into and Mr Watson examined, who said that in 1864 the village of Radcliffe was visited with an outbreak of fever, having 200 cases and about 20 deaths. The burn where the people got their supply of water was found to be in a wretched condition and very much polluted, and this served to be the cause of the fever.”
This states that the polluted burn was responsible for the 1864 “fever”. The smallpox virus is air bourne. Cholera is spread by people using polluted water. Could there have been both a cholera and a smallpox epidemic in Radcliffe in 1864? A horrendous thought!