The cholera outbreak in the summer of 1849, saw 13,000 Londoners dead within three months.

The social reformer, Henry Mayhew, set out to investigate the impact of the cholera outbreak on the working class district of Bermondsy, Southwark, London. He described it as being at the very centre of the summer outbreak.

On Monday 24th September 1849, the London Chronicle published his article and so started an investigation into the appalling conditions of the working classes not only in London but throughout Britain.