Fear and frustration—the Liverpool cholera riots of 1832

Public mistrust in the medical profession is not new. We describe a series of street riots that took place in the city of Liverpool in north-west England in 1832 during a cholera epidemic. The disturbances were directed primarily against the local medical fraternity. The episode is of interest, sinc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Lancet (British edition) 2001-07, Vol.358 (9277), p.233-237
Main Authors: Gill, Geoffrey, Burrell, Sean, Brown, Jody
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude to Health
Bacterial diseases
Biological and medical sciences
Cholera
Cholera - epidemiology
Cholera - history
Disease Outbreaks - history
Dissection - history
England
Epidemics
Grave Robbing - history
History
History, 19th Century
Human bacterial diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Police
Public health
Quarantine regulations
Riots
Riots - history
Tropical bacterial diseases
Tropical medicine
Waterborne diseases
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Summary:Public mistrust in the medical profession is not new. We describe a series of street riots that took place in the city of Liverpool in north-west England in 1832 during a cholera epidemic. The disturbances were directed primarily against the local medical fraternity. The episode is of interest, since the same city recently experienced a similar crisis of confidence between doctors and public. On this occasion the cause was not cholera, but rather the reports from Alder Hey Children's Hospital that organ parts from deceased infants undergoing necropsy had been kept for several years without parental consent.
ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)05463-0