How many people in Cardiff died from the 1854 cholera epidemic?

• A. 225 people
• B. 150 people
• C. 300 people
• D. 500 people

Answer: (A)

This question checks your knowledge of how severe the 1854 cholera outbreak was in Cardiff. Cholera outbreaks hit cities hard in the mid-19th century, and local records show Cardiff’s 1854 wave caused a substantial number of deaths. The best-supported figure from parish burial records and local health reports is about 225 people, so this option fits the evidence most closely.

Think of it in context: the town’s population at the time was in the tens of thousands, and outbreaks often claimed a few hundred lives in a single year in smaller cities. A figure like 150 would underestimate the impact for Cardiff, while 300 or 500 would imply a larger disaster than the sources typically show for this town in 1854. So 225 sits in a plausible, well-supported middle that historians commonly cite when summarizing Cardiff’s experience of the epidemic.