author
William Isaac Coppard
d. 1865
A Devon clergyman who turned lived experience into a vivid record of crisis, he is remembered for a firsthand account of the 1832 cholera outbreak in rural England. His writing blends pastoral care, local observation, and a strong sense of human endurance.
1 Audiobook
Cottage scenes during the cholera : being extracts from a diary written in July and August, 1832
by William Isaac Coppard
About the author
William Isaac Coppard was a 19th-century English clergyman and author best known for Cottage Scenes During the Cholera. The 1848 book presents extracts from a diary he kept during July and August 1832, when cholera struck the parish of Plympton St. Mary in Devon.
The book identifies him as the Rev. W. I. Coppard, M.A., incumbent of Plympton St. Mary, Devonshire, and domestic chaplain to the Earl of Morley. In its pages, he records the spread of disease through scattered villages, the suffering of parishioners, and the practical and spiritual demands placed on a minister during an epidemic.
Although little biographical information is easily confirmed beyond his published work, Coppard's writing remains valuable as both social history and personal witness. His diary-style narrative offers a clear, compassionate view of how one rural community faced fear, loss, and resilience in the early Victorian era.