Henry Whitehead (22 September 1825 – 5 March 1896) was a Church of England priest and the assistant

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of St Luke's Church in Soho, London, during the 1854 cholera outbreak. A former believer in the miasma theory of disease, Whitehead worked to disprove false theories, but eventually came to prefer John Snow's idea that cholera spreads through water contaminated by human waste. Snow's work — and Whitehead's own investigations — convinced Whitehead that the Broad Street pump was the source of the local infections. Whitehead then joined with Snow in tracking the contamination to a cesspool that leaked into the water table which led to the outbreak's index case. Whitehead's work with Snow combined

demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

study with scientific observation, setting important precedent for the burgeoning science of epidemiology. Whitehead served in several other London parishes before moving to Brampton, now in Cumbria, in 1874, where he was appointed the local vicar. He was instrumental in instigating a movement to build a new church in Brampton, which culminated in Phillip Webb's St. Martin's Church, the only church design of Webb's ever built and now a Grade I listed building. Whitehead moved on to Newlands in

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

in 1884, finally becoming vicar of

Lanercost Lanercost is a village in the northern part of Cumbria, England. The settlement is in the civil parish of Burtholme, in the City of Carlisle local government district. Lanercost is known for the presence of Lanercost Priory and its proximit ...

for five years until his death.

References

External links

"The Broad Street Pump:An Episode in the Cholera Epidemic of 1854"
The Reverend H. Whitehead in ''Macmillan's Magazine'', Volume XIII, Nov. 1865 - Apr. 1886, pp. 113–122 {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead, Henry 1825 births 1896 deaths British epidemiologists People from Brampton, Carlisle 19th-century English Anglican priests Cholera