By 1832 Blackburn had a population of over 27,000 although only 627 of them were electors. This entitled the town to two seats in Parliament. Four candidates were in the field for the two seats: William Feilden of Feniscowles, John Fowden Hindle of Woodfold Park (who withdrew on the evening before the first vote), John Bowring of London, and William Turner of Mill Hill. William Feilden and John Bowring appeared to be the favourite candidates and it was expected that they would be returned together. But William Turner brought his local influence to bear – the story of his rolling out the barrels in the churchyard is true. Voting took place over two days and the electors had two votes. The result of the first day’s vote was: Feilden 346; Bowring 324; Turner 314. The second day’s poll ended with Feilden 376; Turner 347; Bowring 334. The narrow defeat of John Bowring resulting in rioting and disturbances in the town.

The 1832 Cholera outbreak

The summer of 1832 brought an outbreak of Asiatic cholera to Blackburn. It had been gradually spreading across the country since the first cases were reported in November 1831, despite efforts to quarantine ships coming from the Baltic. The first cases were in Sunderland and the disease seems to have spread to London on board coal ships from the Tyne. The victims’ extremities appeared to take on a blue tinge shortly before death, confirming that this was the feared ‘Asiatic’ or ‘blue’ cholera. The spread of disease was not properly understood and most doctors clung to the belief that cholera was spread by a miasma, a poisonous vapour which held particles of decaying matter and was characterised by its foul smell. In 1832, the advice given to patients was to eat and drink nothing until the sickness and diarrhoea had passed, and as it was also still common for patients to be bled, it’s possible that many of the deaths were actually caused by dehydration. There was an awareness that cleanliness was important and homes were cleaned and limewashed after cases were diagnosed, but it wasn’t until 1849 that Dr John Snow stated that cholera was spread through contaminated drinking water. It then took until 1854, when there was another cholera outbreak, for him to be able to begin to prove his theory by pointing to a single water pump on Broad Street in London that had poisoned hundreds of people. However it took many more years before his theory was taken seriously and it was not until sewers and drains and clean drinking water became commonplace that cholera was prevented.

Contraception in Victorian Britain

Whilst I was writing Mary’s story I began to research what forms of contraception were available to women in the 1800s. As well as douching, washing yourself out, one of the most popular methods seems to have been a sponge, as I’ve described in the book. If the sponge failed, as it often did, then women might turn to a version of Ma Critchley’s little pills, which were promoted as an aid to regulating monthly flow. Some were even called Pennyroyal Pills. Pennyroyal is a herb of the mint family, which like tansy and rue, has been used for a long time by wisewomen and herbalists to induce an abortion. Pennyroyal is a poison and taken in excess it can damage the liver. Many women died after taking it. I recently discovered that my great-grandmother died after a backstreet abortion. I don’t know the details, but I have dedicated this book to her memory.