Looking for Mr. Cholera: London, 1832

Cholera arrived in Britain in the autumn of 1831. For decades the disease had been moving relentlessly from India to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. 

Attempts to keep cholera out of the UK by quarantine and inspection of ships failed, despite the determined efforts of John Bull to send Mr. Cholera back to India (first cartoon). The disease appeared in the port of Sunderland in October and spread to London and other British towns during the following year.

Most Western doctors believed cholera arose from miasmas, or bad air. Others thought it was contagious and spread from person to person by touch. Neither was true. The fruitless attempts of health boards to locate the source of the disease stimulated much satire, as in the cartoon below.

The main source of cholera infection was/is water polluted by human wastes. The first person to demonstrate the water borne theory was John Snow, a London surgeon, in 1855. Robert Koch demonstrated that the cholera vibrio was the causative microbe in the early 1880's.

Some people suspected the water long before Snow and Koch. In the cartoon from 1832 below, George Cruikshank indicates that some people even then pointed to the sewage-polluted Thames as the source of cholera in London. "We shall all have the cholera" one person cries, as numerous sewers empty their virulent contents into the river, the source of many people's drinking water. No wonder so many people drank gin and beer.

The Church that Inspired the Tiered Wedding Cake: St. Bride's Fleet Street

London's St. Bride's Church on Bride Lane, just off Fleet Street, has a tower that looks like a tiered wedding cake. You might think that the cake inspired the spire, built to the design of Sir Christopher Wren. It was the other way round. The spire inspired a local baker to design a wedding cake that looked like St. Bride’s tower. The name of the church no doubt helped with the inspiration. Spire, spire, please inspire.

Although the current version of St. Bride's, like many London churches, was built after the Great Fire of 1666, a church has been here since Anglo-Saxon times, possibly earlier. Part of a Roman street can be found in its crypt, along with other artifacts and a detailed history of the church and surrounding area. 

St. Bride’s was once known as the printers’ church. The church contains a memorial to Wynken de Worde, the first man to set up a printing press on Fleet St., in 1500. Many other printers followed, and newspapers began to be printed there in the 18th century. 

In Victorian times Fleet Street became synonymous with the newspaper press, and St. Bride's became known as the journalists' church. The interior was largely destroyed by enemy bombing during the Blitz but has been beautifully restored. Today the church contains a memorial to journalists killed in the line of duty, many quite recently. It is well worth a visit.

London's Iconic Newgate Prison, 1188-1902

For centuries, Newgate Prison was a London landmark and almost a synonym for incarceration. It stood on the site of a gate in the Roman Wall for more that 700 years. It was located just to the south of the equally old St. Bartholomew's Hospital, at the corner of today's Newgate Street and Old Bailey. The first Newgate Prison was built in 1188 and looked something like this:

It was rebuilt several times, including by Christopher Wren (who else?) after the Great Fire of London in 1666. The last version, pictured below, was erected in 1782. It was designed by another prolific architect, George Dance the Younger.

"New" Newgate became the scene of public executions the following year, when they were moved from Tyburn (near today's Marble Arch) to outside the prison gates. The authorities made the move because the traditional processions to Tyburn and the hangings attracted large and boisterous crowds, and sometimes produced riots. 

Nevertheless, large crowds also gathered to watch the hangings at Newgate. They often paid large sums for good observation posts. Hawkers sold "confessions" of the condemned as well food and drink to the crowds. Public executions were much like modern sports events, except everyone knew in advance who was going to lose. 

 

That sort of entertainment ended in 1868, when the authorities removed the executions from the public gaze altogether. Henceforth, they took place inside the prison walls. An illustration by French artist Gustave Dore of the prisoners' exercise yard around that time captures the grimness of life in Victorian Newgate.

Newgate closed in 1902 and was demolished. It is now the site of London's Central Criminal Court, which was moved from its earlier location nearby. It has long been known as the Old Bailey after the street it fronts upon.  A statue of Justice upon its roof announces its purpose, if not always its results.

Famous prisoners of Newgate included Ben Jonson, Daniel Defoe, alleged pirate Captain William Kidd, Casanova, and William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Of this group, only Kidd was executed, but he was hanged at Wapping Dock on the River Thames, as was the custom with pirates.

London's Fascinating Fleet Street: Printers, Prisons, Publishers and Pubs

London's Fleet Street starts at the bottom of Ludgate Hill, a street atop which sits St. Paul’s Cathedral. Fleet Street derived its name from the nearby River Fleet, which today runs underground beneath Farringdon Street and New Bridge Road. 

Fleet Street was once the center of England's printing trade and later became a metonym for its newspaper industry. 

Just north of Fleet Street beside the River Fleet, lay the Fleet Prison which incarcerated people for debt from medieval times until the 19th century. Alas, it is no longer there.

Just south of Fleet Street Henry VIII erected a royal residence, Bridewell Palace. After his death his heir Edward VI gave it to the City of London. The City Fathers used it for a house for punishing “disorderly women” and a school for young lads, an interesting juxtaposition. One can only wonder about the curriculum. 

The boys moved out later and Bridewell became a general house of correction. Eventually all such establishments became known as “bridewells.” All that is left of the palace is the gatehouse, which boasts a relief portrait of Edward VI, a king whose main claim to fame was dying young and being replaced by Bloody Mary.

One of the most popular spots on Fleet Street is just a short walk down a lane on the north side of the street: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. The pub, as its sign tells you, was “Restored in 1667,” the year after the Great Fire of London. It seems to have been untouched since. It’s dark, with all sorts of little nooks and crannies for drinking, plotting, and whatever. And lots of history.

Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Conan Doyle, Tennyson, and other literary figures are among those claimed as "regulars." Dr. Samuel Johnson of dictionary fame lived at nearby Gough Square and is said to have popped in here occasionally with friends, such as his biographer James Boswell and the writer Oliver Goldsmith.

Goldsmith is buried next to nearby 12th century Temple Church, built as the spiritual home of England's crusading Knights Templar. The church gained some recent fame from the novel and film The Da Vinci Code.

Another nearby church, St.Bride's, has a fascinating history as well. An earlier church was destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666. 

Sir Christopher Wren, who designed nearby St. Paul's and many other rebuilt churches after the fire, designed the current St. Bride's. Its steeple and name later inspired the layered wedding cake! 

St. Bride's was once known as The Printer's Church because Fleet Street became the center of the city's printing industry. It is now known as the Journalists' Church and contains an altar dedicated the memory of journalists killed covering various conflicts around the world. The crypt contains remains of a Roman street and a small museum.

Johnson’s house at Gough Square is open to the public. It is well worth a visit. Johnson was a fascinating, idiosyncratic fellow. Pictured below is his house and a statue of his cat Hodge.

Inside the house is a portrait that some believe to be of Francis Barber, a former slave who Johnson basically adopted and educated at his own expense. At his death, Johnson left Barber a large sum of money.

To the west of Gough Square are many buildings related to the law. The ancient law schools and courts are nearby. At the end of Fleet Street, where it becomes The Strand, stands the massive neo-Gothic pile of the Royal Courts of Justice (Opened, 1882). 

On an island at the end of Fleet Street lies St. Clement Danes church, made famous by the nursery rhyme, “Oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clements.” It sounds nice until you get to the last couplet: “Here comes a candle to light you to bed, And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!” [Image: St Clement Danes]