Debts by Installment

02/03/1897

Information

At the Peterborough County Court sitting of this day, a number of orders were made that give us a glimpse of the time. Charles Jenks, a labourer from Water Newton, had debts totalling £21 4s that had accrued due to his loss of work caused by illness. He offered to meet his debts to 8s 6d in the pound at the rate of 3s per month. An order was made allowing this situation. Daniel Monk, a labourer from Eye, was in deeper trouble with debts of £40 10s 4d. He was offering 9s in the pound on the debts - an offer accepted by the court and requiring him to pay at a rate of 6s per month. If my sums are right, that's five years of payments. Among the undefended cases we find that Charles Tebbs, butcher of Midgate, was seeking payment of £26 15s 6d from one W. Chapman of Robin Hood Chase in Nottingham. The claim was upheld and Chapman was required to pay the debt at 10s a month. Tebbs has to wait over four years for settlement of the debt - if he's lucky. (Peterborough Citizen)

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

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The Black Death

1349

Information

The Black Death (or the Great Pestilence as it was known then) hit Peterborough in 1349. This terrible disease, now called bubonic plague after the enlarged lymph nodes (buboes) resulting from the infection, is caused by an organism called Yersinia pestis carried by the fleas on black rats, though at the time it was thought to have been caused by bad air known as 'miasma'.

Approximately a third of the townspeople and 32 of the 64 monks at the monastery perished in a matter of weeks, and many of those who died were buried in mass burial pits to the west of the town and in the burial ground of the leper hospital of St Leonard. A higher proportion of monks died perhaps because they were helping tend to the sick.

The plague returned to Peterborough on many occasions causing a great deal of death and suffering until the last outbreak in 1665.

The image shows the Triumph of Death by P. Bruegal (1562) inspired by the Plague.

Victorian Operating Theatre

1897

Information

The first purpose-built operating theatre was opened in 1897. It was built as an extension to Peterborough Infirmary.

It provided state of the art care for the people of Peterborough, incorporating the most up to date medical ideas. These ideas included the use of anaesthesia and keeping the theatre meticulously clean. So many things we take for granted in the twenty-first century were new ideas to the Victorians. However, these new ideas still save lives now. It was originally lit by gas lighting and had a glass roof to maximise light.

The funds to build the operating theatre came from two Peterborough women who chose to remain anonymous, they went by the name 'Heliotrope'.

The Victorian operating theatre is open to visitors to Peterborough Museum. It still contains many of its original features including the glazed white tiles. Replicas of the tools used in the past are also on show. A small case details some of the people who worked in the operating theatre.

Hospital , Peterborough Infirmary , Operating Theatre , Gas lighting , Heliotrope , Medicine , Health

Alfred Caleb Taylor and the First X Ray Machine Outside London

1896

Information

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 , Medicine , Health

Death of Florence Saunders

1904

Information

Florence Saunders was the youngest daughter of Augustus Saunders, Dean of Peterborough. Inspired by her many visits to the poor and sick as a child accompanying her father, she joined the Evelina Hospital for Sick Children to become a nurse. On her return to Peterborough she committed herself to caring for the sick using modern remedies. In 1884 she founded the Peterborough District Nursing Association to bring modern nursing to more people.

She died aged only 48 years old and her obituary in the Peterborough Advertiser read:

"Notwithstanding the fact that her duties as Superintendent occupied much of her time, Miss Saunders never gave up her active work of visiting, soothing and healing. almost to the last she moved about in the much-loved uniform among her humble friends."

A memorial in her name was hung on the building created by Miss Saunders as the first purpose-built nursing home in the city. The building, a neo-gothic design probably built by John Thompson is now surrounded by the Bishop Road Gardens.

Hospital , Nurse , Medicine , Health

Pharmacy Act Prosecution

1884

Information

In April 1884 Mr Henry Bellamy of Padholme Road, Peterborough, was prosecuted under the Pharmacy Act for hawking drugs and for selling poisons for which he did not have a licence. The court case was brought by the Chemists and Druggists Trade Association of Great Britain who claimed that Bellamy had been travelling around with a caravan similar to that of showmen, but it was in fact a travelling chemist. Bellamy was not qualified to dispense medicines and was said to have been working for Arthur Carlton of Long Causeway, Peterborough whose bottles were found in the caravan. Despite Carlton's supportive words for Bellamy the Peterborough Police Court found him guilty of selling poisons without a licence, but fined him only 6 shillings on account of his probable ignorance to the matter.

Arthur Carlton received no charge and continued to employ men to hawk his Chemists caravan for many years after the case, as adverts for new hawkers in the local press confirm.

Reference

Important Prosecution Under the Pharmacy Act, Tamworth Herald, Saturday 12th April 1884, p. 8.

Medicine , Health

A Cautionary Tale About Plums

1894

Information

Five-year-old Master Bellamy had watched his mother cut up plums to make into jam. When she left the kitchen he gobbled up what he could, which was unfortunately 28 plum stones! Thankfully he relayed the information to his mother who sped him to Peterborough Infirmary in Priestgate. There he received not one but two emetics, bringing up 14 stones each time. No harm appeared to have been caused by his actions, but he may well have avoided Plum jam for a while!

Plum stones contain small levels of amygdalin which converts into hydrogen cyanide in the body. Even though plum stones contain only around 9mg of amygdalin, 28 stones in the body of a 5-year-old could be enough to cause serious problems.

Reference:

Peterborough Swallowing Plum-Stones, Northampton Mercury, Friday 31st August 1894, p. 8.

Peterborough Infirmary , Food , Medicine , Health

The Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr

1174-77

Information

Said to have been founded at the gates of Peterborough monastery, the Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr was originally named St Thomas of Canterbury. It was founded by Abbot William of Waterville (1155-75) and provided a hospital for the poor. Abbot Benedict completed the building between 1177 and 1194 and Abbot Acharius granted money from the chapel of St Thomas the Martyr (a huge draw to pilgrims and therefore a good source of income) to pay for the nuns who cared for the patients and to provide provisions for the sick. Many of the pilgrims visiting the abbey at this time would have been unwell, so this was a rather clever plan to use pilgrims' money to pay for the sick.

References:

'Hospitals: St Leonard & St Thomas Martyr, Peterborough', in A History of the County of Northampton: Volume 2, ed. R M Serjeantson and W R D Adkins (London, 1906), p. 162. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.... [accessed 12 July 2019].

A Peterborough Cathedral Timeline https://www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/history.aspx [accessed 12 July 2019]

A List of the Abbots of Peterborough https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbot_of_Peterborough [accessed 12 July 2019]

Hospital , Peterborough Abbey , Thomas Beckett , Abbot Benedict , Nurse , Plague , Infection , Medicine , Health

The Miracles of Lawrence of Oxford

1313

Information

A most peculiar story has survived from 1313 regarding a man known as Lawrence of Oxford. Records explain that he was hanged for 'evil crimes', and that miracles were taking place around his burial. What is intriguing is that he may have been buried in the Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr in the grounds of Peterborough Abbey, or at least in the burial ground of the hospital. When news reached residents of Peterborough, they started to flock to the site, happy to pay to receive a miracle. The monks were happy to profit from the situation too but, unsurprisingly, Bishop Dalderby, the presiding Bishop from Lincoln put a stop to such profiting from a criminal's demise, informing the monks that anyone who benefited from the situation would be excommunicated.

Sadly, nothing is else known about who Lawrence was, what his crimes were and how he ended up in Peterborough, but perhaps his remains are still in place and miracles are still happening...

Crime , Hospital , Medieval , Peterborough Abbey , Medicine , Health

Southorpe Hospital

1294

Information

Southorpe is a small linear hamlet to the south of Barnack. Today there are few houses in the hamlet, which has, until recently, maintained a strong agricultural heart based around the farms on the main road. However, there is a greater history to Southorpe, most of which remains as earthworks.

To the south of the hamlet are the remains of fishponds, clearly identified on the ground, as well as on maps and aerial photographs. The fishponds were thought to belong to Southorpe Hall, but may date to an earlier medieval hospital. Southorpe hospital was created by Peterborough Abbey, with a reference made to it in 1294, but very little else is known about the hospital or why it was sited there. Local belief is that the site, which is on the Hereward Way and adjacent to Ermine Street, was a popular route with pilgrims, which may explain its location.

Hospital , Peterborough Abbey , Abbey , Medicine , Health

Influenza Pandemic

1918

Information

The 1918 influenza pandemic also known as Spanish flu, was a deadly influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza virus. It infected 500 million people around the world killing 50 million but possibly as many as 100 million people. It was one of the deadliest epidemics in human history. Where it originated is unclear but it certainly spread to Britain from France with returning soldiers, with Peterborough suffering as much as the rest of the country.

The name Spanish flu arose because Spain, being neutral in the First World War, did not censor the news to maintain wartime morale, so the epidemic’s effects were freely reported, falsely making it appear that Spain was particularly hard hit.

This particular pandemic had a very high mortality rate because of several factors including malnutrition due to the war, overcrowding in hospitals, lack of hygiene and the movement of troops all around the world. The pandemic also came in 2 waves, the first in the spring of 1918 producing a more usual ‘Three Day Fever’ followed by recovery except in the very vulnerable, the very old and very young, but the second wave, peaking in October 1918, was more virulent and targeted particularly young adults; nearly half of all deaths were people aged between twenty and forty years.

By the summer of 1919, the flu pandemic came to an end, as those that were infected either died or developed immunity.

References:

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed The World, Spinney, Laura. Vintage 2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

Images (in the Public Domain)

A chart of deaths in major cities, showing a peak in October and November 1918

World War I , Infection , Pandemic , Medicine , Health

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Debts by Installment

02/03/1897

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1897

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1896

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1904

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1884

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1894

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1174-77

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1313

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1294

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1918

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Death of Florence Saunders

Pharmacy Act Prosecution

A Cautionary Tale About Plums

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Southorpe Hospital

Influenza Pandemic