Cholera in Lidköping : A study of the cholera epidemics in the town 1834 & 1853.

This study is divided into two major investigative chapters and a smaller concluding one. The first part concerns the town Lidköping and its surroundings during the 1834 cholera epidemic, while the second part focuses exclusively on the town of Lidköping during the 1853 epidemic. A final smaller chapter provides a summary of the preceding two. The purpose is to investigate both of the cholera epidemics that affected Lidköping. The chapter on the 1834 epicemic also adresses the town of Skara, the nearby village Järpås, and the community of Otterstad whereas the second chapter centers solely on the town of Lidköping 1853, as other locations were not affected that year. aditionally, the study highlights some local and regional decisions made within the Skaraborg County during both epidemics. In addition the study also aims to classify the deaths from both epidemics in Lidköping by class and age. The primary sources used for the study include birth and baptism records, county proclamations and, to usser extent, Otterstad community record. Specific to the 1853 epidemic, local newpaper editions were utilized to provide broader context, trace cholera reporting, and to highlight the general discourse surrounding the disease and its victims. The main result show that in 1834, 46 people died in the town of Skara, 68 in the village of Järpås and 51 in the town of Lidköping where 44 of these belonged to the working class. The community of Otterstand was spared from the epidemic that year. In 1853, all the previously mentioned locations escaped the cholera outbreak, except for the town of Lidköping where 171 died, and 126 of these belonged to the working class. Overall, the results indicate that cholera affected all age groups, with the fewest deaths occuring among individuals aged 2029, excluding those over 70. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that national, regional and local decisions during the epidemics were based on the contagionist theory of disease transmission.