The Peel Web

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A cholera poster

The first cholera epidemic in Britain began in Sunderland in October 1831. By January 1832 it had spread north to Edinburgh and south as far as London. At the time, the Reform Act campaign was in full swing. Posters such as this one appeared throughout the country: no-one knew the cause of cholera and there was no cure. In fact, it was a water-borne disease, exacerbated by the polluted water supplies