The Fascinating Story Of The John Snow Pump In Soho

In Soho is an easily overlooked piece of street furniture. It does, however, have a fascinating history that goes right to the heart of story of Victorian London and to a man whose praises are not sung anywhere near enough. 

On Broadwick Street you will find the John Snow Water Pump. 

Cholera in Victorian London

Let me set the scene slightly. In the 19th century London’s population grew extremely rapidly from around 1 million in 1800 to 2.5 million in 1850 and by 1900 it was roughly 6 million. It grew so quickly the city’s facilities and amenities simply could not keep up, for example by the 1830s the inner-city graveyards were full to bursting and the ever increasing amounts of sewage flowed into cesspits and then usually into the Thames.

The water Londoners drank generally came from pumps and wells. However, due to their proximity to overflowing graveyards and cesspits, these would sometimes become contaminated by sewage or other gruesome material.

These issues led to a number of deadly disease outbreaks, including thyphoid and scarlet fever. In 1831 cholera arrived. Four major cholera outbreaks from from 1831-1866 killed tens of thousands and was particularly deadly in London’s overcrowded slums where the poor were living cheek by jowl. I have written previously of the terrible tale of the Aldgate Pump from the same period.

Science To The Rescue: Dr John Snow

Born in York in 1813, John Snow trained as a physician. During his training in Newcastle he treated many victims of cholera.

In 1837 he began working at the Westminster Hospital, set up a medical practice on Frith Street in Soho in 1844 and joined the Royal College of Physicians in 1850. 

Following the second major outbreak of cholera in 1849, John Snow was one of the founders of the Epidemiological Society of London to tackle cholera and other deadly epidemic diseases. 

The prevalent theory behind how most diseases spread in Victorian Britain was known as the ‘miasma theory’. This attested that cholera was spread through “bad air”. Snow was however sceptical of this and started to carry out research into London’s water supply. He particularly noted the varying cholera cases based on where the water was coming from.

The Broad Street Pump

In 1854 a cholera outbreak ripped through the population of Soho killing over 600 in just a couple of months. By speaking with local residents he realised that the victims had all been collecting and drinking water from a pump on Broad Street (now Broadwick Street). Cases had already started to decline but Snow recommended the handle of the pump be removed and the outbreak was contained.

He later used a dot map to show the proliferation of cholera cases around this one pump. This is seen as a transformative moment in the study of how diseases spread.

Researchers later found that the pump’s water supply was running very close to a cesspit, which had been leaking faecal matter into the supply and spreading the disease. 

However, it took a long time for Snow’s research to be properly acted upon. It was only when Sir Joseph Bazalgette (another London hero) put in place a new sewage system in the 1860s that cholera was finally defeated in London. John Snow sadly died in 1858, at the age of 45, of a stroke.

Click here for my blog post on Bazalgette’s stunning pumping station at Crossness, aka the “Cathedral of Sewage”.

The Pump Today

The aforementioned pump on Broadwick Street can be found outside the John Snow pub. It is not the original pump but is a replica installed in 2018, sans handle of course. In fact, the exact location of the original pump is marked by the pink paving stone next to the replica. You can see it on the photo above.

The replica pump is a fitting memorial to the man who doubtless saved many lives through his research.

We not only have Snow to thank as the founding father of epidemiology but he was amazingly also a leading pioneer in anaesthesia.

There is a John Snow Society, set up to promote his life and works. They meet annually at the John Snow pub for a ‘pumphandle’ lecture on the topic of public health. 

More blog posts on London’s quirky street furniture below!