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I’m not too sure where to put this but I found the following, article about belief in Miasma at the time of ‘The great stink’ in London and before the general public really understood what was causing the Cholera and typhoid outbreaks among others.

http://richardjohnbr.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/disease-in-victorian-city-extended.html

We have quite a few ancestors in more than one line that were lost to these and smallpox, both in London and Wales and would like to understand more about how the dread of these diseases affected people, their beliefs, habits and attitudes to death in the face of so much of it.

I am hoping there is something that is not so much academic but more a historical novel, about London. Something like the Philip Roth book, ‘Nemesis’ where he describes the reality of how the dread of Polio affected a small town in the USA, something he actually experienced and remembered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(Philip_Roth_novel)

Are there any books on this that are London and or Welsh based, that anyone can recommend that are a genuinely good read, historically accurate and yet not too heavy going or morbid?

Dear SallyYorks,

yet another amazing post, thank you so much. You and Rena have moved me hugely.

I take it from this that things were not quite so bad in Trowbridge but you have helped me to really FEEL the history and I am very grateful. I am embarrassed to admit I knew nothing of this and had a 'Larkrise to candleford' fantasy about  my ancestors spinning and weaving happily in pretty country cottages with chickens all about their feet and lambs skipping happily in the fields. Therefore, although truly awful.... I am so glad to know all this.

And did those feet in ancient times – William Blake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Jerusalem - Last Night of the Proms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8VH0sbEU20

I have to confess that I always stand for this but it will be personal from now on and I don't know how on earth I will be able to get through singing it for tears.

Bless you Rena and Sally, beautiful post.
xx

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love your avatar. For me, portraits are the icing on the cake. Too few in our lines alas but this is a great place to get the contextual portrait. We all seem to be so much at the mercy of the fates and the laws of cause and effect. It all seems such a path of snakes and ladders. I do wish I had known all this years ago.

Again, thanks so much for adding depth to one of my lines. 

Avm and Ruskie

Yes! That's it! Fantastic - thank you so much - but I wonder how on earth did he managed this as a blind man. Maybe he wasn't completely blind. It just says 'blind' on the census. Here is the job description.

"A gun percussioner received the gun with the gunlocks inletted in place, but without hammers. He then chose and fitted suitable hammers with the correct "throw" so that the hammer nose fell neatly and squarely onto the nipple (Percussion) or striker (Centre fire). He then passed the gun back for engraving. The hammers could not be fitted to the gunlock by the gunlock maker, as he would not know what the "throw" was going to be. The "throw" is the distance from the centre of the pivot of the hammer to the centre of the nipple or striker."