Mapping London's Water Companies and Cholera Deaths

John Snow has become a legendary figure partly for his use of spatial data to support his once controversial theory that cholera is a water-borne disease. For his study of London south of the Thames, Snow used data compiled by William Farr for the Registrar General during the 1853-4 epidemic. Using...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:London journal 2015-03, Vol.40 (1), p.21-32
Main Authors: Cicak, Tessa, Tynan, Nicola
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cholera
Geographic Information Systems
John Snow
Water Companies
William Farr
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Summary:John Snow has become a legendary figure partly for his use of spatial data to support his once controversial theory that cholera is a water-borne disease. For his study of London south of the Thames, Snow used data compiled by William Farr for the Registrar General during the 1853-4 epidemic. Using a larger data set compiled by William Farr in 1868, we use geographical information system-based software ArcGIS to spatially illustrate the cholera mortality rate in London subdistricts during the Asiatic cholera epidemics of 1848-9, 1853-4, and 1866. We then map the waterfields of London's eight water companies allowing us to highlight the connection John Snow saw between the rate of cholera mortality within a subdistrict and which water company operated within that particular subdistrict. Our maps also show the connection between the rate of cholera mortality in each subdistrict and average subdistrict elevation, a variable which Farr initially believed was more significant than water source.
ISSN:0305-8034
1749-6322
DOI:10.1179/0305803414Z.00000000057