Dr John Snow's Pump

Replica of Dr John Snow's pump, key to beating Cholera.

Location: Broadwick Street, Soho, London

Description: At its junction with Poland Street is a replica of the Broad Street (as Broadwick Street was then known) pump, the handle of which Dr John Snow removed in 1854. The original pump is believed to have been outside what is now the John Snow pub, located on the opposite side of Broadwick Street.

Broad Street (as it was then known) was notorious as the centre of an 1854 outbreak of cholera. Dr John Snow traced the outbreak to a public water pump on the street and disabled the pump, ending the outbreak. Before this time, the disease was widely thought to be caused by air-borne miasma; Snow's findings showed it be water-borne.

Themes: Medical Medical Theme