The deaths
greatly exceeded the average. In the winter quarter 134,605 deaths were
registered, or 20,000 in excess of the average; and this excess was
distributed over the whole kingdom. To the immediate effects of the cold
must be added the great dearness of all the necessaries of life. Wheat,
which in March, 1853, was 45s. 7d. a quarter, had risen in March, 1854,
to 79s. 6d-, and in 1855, to 69s. 11d.; and the sale had fallen from
1,236,493 quarters to 780,232 and 1,143,999 quarters. Potatoes ranged
from 105s. to 110s. per ton, at wholesale prices.
The cold weather covered the ornamental waters with ice, and gave
opportunity for the healthy and exhilarating exercises proper to
the season. Those who ventured before the ice was well formed ran
considerable risks, and many persons were immersed; but the only
disastrous accident occurred on the 20th of January, when four lads
were drowned in St. James's Park. The ice everywhere was crowded with
performers on the slide and the skate, both male and female, and with
innumerable spectators; the long-continued frost also brought forward
many splendidly-equipped sledges. The Thames was encumbered with large
masses of frozen snow or ice, which had formed on lakes and ponds
communicating with it. These masses, in their passage up and down, were
ground together by the tide, and made a loud murmuring noise,
which could be heard at a great distance. At low water these masses
became jammed together, so as to form a rough and dangerous passage from
shore to shore; while the stranded pieces formed miniature icebergs.
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