1846 Leicester

[raewyngillian]

Hi All,

I have ancestors who were born and bred in Leicester and was wondering if someone can tell me if there was an outbreak of some disease or the flu in 1846??

The reason I am asking is because at least 3 died in the year 1846, .....a husband, wife, and at least one child.  This family was very well off so it wouldn't have been from malnutrition or similar, I shouldn't think so anyway .

Hope there is someone out there who can help.

Cheers

Gille in Brisbane

[Annie65115]

This might be a possibility:

1846
 

Excessively hot summer, drought – all diseases flare up across the country; ‘famine fever’/Irish fever (typhus) 500,00 to 1 million died between 1846 & 1848 Lancashire & Cheshire very badly hit, floating hospital ships o the Mersey Birmingham, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury, Leeds, Hull, York, Sunderland all systematically saw dramatically increased death rates
 

http://www.kdfhs.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=30

[cath151]

A snippet from the Leicester Chronicle Sep 1846 under The Health of the Town
"Now it is only too well known that fever and cholera are prevalent in Leicester to an unprecedented extent at the present time."
Other newspaper accounts of that year mention Typhus fever.

Cathy

[raewyngillian]

Thank you so much for the reply….That certainly sounds like it may have been the cause as the son was 19 years old and the parents were not "old"

Cheers

Gillie