Tyne and Wear HER(10924): Gateshead, Church of St. Edmund, monument to cholera victims - Details
10924
Gateshead
Gateshead, Church of St. Edmund, monument to cholera victims
Gateshead
NZ26SE
Commemorative
Commemorative Monument
Early Modern
C19
Structure
A 14ft high sandstone obelisk dating to around 1832. The inscriptions read "Here lie buried two hundred and twenty two persons who died of cholera in Gateshead from Dec. 26 MDCCCXXI [1831] to Nov. 5 MDCCCXXXII [1832]" and "In the midst of life we are in death" and "Watch therefore for ye know not what for your Lord doth come". This was the first outbreak of cholera in Gateshead, and it led to the founding of the Gateshead Dispensary on 2nd November 1832. Manders notes that there were 234 victims of the epidemic. 42 of these lived in Pipewellgate, 22 in Oakwellgate and 29 in Hillgate. The very first victim was a Mary Hymers or Hindmarsh "a rag-gatherer of depraved habits".
2570
6313
NZ25706313
Ian Ayris, Peter Jubb, Steve Palmer and Paul Usherwood, 1996, A Guide to the Public Monuments and Sculpture of Tyne and Wear, p 32; F.W.D. Manders, 1973, A History of Gateshead