Gateshead, Church of St. Edmund, monument to cholera victims

HER Number:
10924

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Gateshead, Church of St. Edmund, monument to cholera victims

Place:
Gateshead

Map Sheet:
NZ26SE

Class:
Commemorative

Site Type: Broad:

Site Type: Specific:
Commemorative Monument

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
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".

Easting:
2570

Northing:
6313

Grid Reference:
NZ25706313

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
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