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and the Lambeth, which derived their water from
the Thames—the one in the neighbourhood of
Hungerford Bridge, the other in that of Battersea
Fields—and supplied it in a very imperfectly filtered
condition. At that time all the sewers of London
discharged themselves into the Thames, the water
of which was consequently very foul. The Cholera
epidemic of 1854 also was very severe in South
London. But between 1849 and 1854, the Lambeth
Company had removed its intake from Hungerford
Bridge to Thames Ditton, and consequently furnished
an infinitely purer water than it had done in 1849;
the other company continued to draw its water from
the neighbourhood of Battersea Fields. At this
time the two companies were acting in rivalry, so
that in many streets their mains ran side by side,
and houses, under the same sanitary conditions in
other respects, received a different water supply.
A careful investigation of the distribution of Cholera
in South London in this year, conducted mainly by
Dr. Snow, but with the assistance of the Registrar
General gave the following results :—
Population
in 1851
Cholera deaths in
14 weeks.
Cholera deaths
per 10,000
In houses supplied by the
Southwark Company
266,516
4,093
153
In houses supplied by the
Lambeth Company
173,748
461
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