School for Young Ladies

14/07/1855

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The following notice appeared in the Peterborough Advertiser:

The MISSES STRICKLAND RESPECTFULLY inform their Friends and the Public that they intend opening a School after the Midsummer Vacation, for the instruction of young Ladies. With hopeful confidence they solicit a share of public patronage, assuring their friends that every effort will be used for advancement of the pupils entrusted to their charge. The First Quarter will commence on Monday July 16th 1855. TERMS - Young Ladies are Boarded and Instructed in Writing, Arithmetic, Geography, History etc., at £18 18s per annum. Day pupils: 10s 6d per quarter. Laundress: Two Guineas per annum. A Quarter's Notice previous to the removal of a young lady. Each young lady to be provided with a pair of sheets, a fork and spoon, which will be returned on their leaving. 34 Cowgate Street, Peterborough.

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.

Peterborough Infirmary , x rays , Peterborough Photographic society , Mr Andrew Carnegie , Mr harry Cox , Freeman , Radiation poisoning , Alfred Caleb Taylor

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Alfred Caleb Taylor and the First X Ray Machine Outside London

1896

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Alfred Caleb Taylor was born in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire in 1861 and came to Peterborough aged ten. He worked at the Peterborough Infirmary on Priestgate from 1880 as a dispenser. He also served as Secretary of the Infirmary from 1889 until his retirement in 1926.

Mr Taylor had a keen interest in photography and chaired the Peterborough Photographic Society. This carried over into an interest in X-rays being an early advocate of X-ray technology. In 1896 he designed and built his own equipment under the stairs in the infirmary. This device, the first X-ray machine in the United Kingdom outside London, was powered by accumulators. They were recharged at a local flour mill as there was no public electricity supply at that time. When an electricity supply was available in Peterborough, Mr Harry Cox, from London, was consulted regarding a larger installation. Many people made donations towards the new x-ray apparatus; Mr Andrew Carnegie, Peterborough’s first Freeman kindly donated £125 towards the installation. As with the photography of the time the images produced by the X-ray machines were positives rather than negatives.

Radiography

As the science of radiography was so new, the danger of exposure to X-rays was unknown. Taylor worked with the x-rays so often, that it badly affected his health. He contracted radiation poisoning resulting in the loss of four fingers, three on the left hand and one on the right. Despite this he never expressed any regrets and said,

“I have only done my duty, and if I have sacrificed bits of my fingers so that I am not able to tie up my shoes laces, I feel I have been compensated, for I have loved the x-ray work and its excitements. For all the trouble I had at the beginning I have been more than compensated by your appreciation, and although I have lost bits of fingers, I would still do the same if I had my life to come again.”

Alfred Caleb Taylor died on the 6^th of July 1927, a pioneer and martyr.

References:

https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5982837 - Paul Bryan

Peterborough Museum

Peterborough Infirmary , x rays , Peterborough Photographic society , Mr Andrew Carnegie , Mr harry Cox , Freeman , Radiation poisoning , Alfred Caleb Taylor

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School for Young Ladies

14/07/1855

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Alfred Caleb Taylor and the First X Ray Machine Outside London

1896

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Radiography

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