Joseph Rogers, M.D.: Reminiscences of a Workhouse Medical OfficerRogers, Joseph
History
Joseph Rogers, M.D.: Reminiscences of a Workhouse Medical Officer
Rogers, Joseph
Charities, Medical -- Great Britain; Poor laws -- Great Britain
afterwards, and probably was anointed on a great many subsequent
occasions.
I was constantly encountering odd stories and odd people--many of them
profligates who had seen better days. One person in particular attracted
my attention, as he had evidently been a gentleman; indeed, he assured
me that he had once a large estate in Yorkshire, and was Master of the
Hounds. I had no reason to doubt him. He did not live very long after
his admission to the sick ward. After his death I received from five
different solicitors written requests for a copy of my death
certificate. It was accompanied in each case by a fee of a guinea. This
poor fellow had insured his life in five different offices, and had sold
the policies. It will be seen that I shared in the pecuniary advantages
that sprang from his death.
The immediate successor of Mr. and Mrs. Catch did not stay very long.
The matron's health broke down, and she had to resign. They were
followed by Mr. and Mrs. Thorne, who remained master and matron until
the death of the former some years afterwards. Mr. Thorne was a
kind-hearted person, who had filled a position of responsibility in the
parish of Marylebone; whilst Mrs. Thorne was a well-educated, ladylike
woman. They managed the House well, and treated the inmates with
kindness and consideration, but do as they would they could not alter
the structural deficiencies of the building, make it larger, nor prevent
the fearful over-crowding with its disastrous results, nor improve upon
the wretched system of pauper nursing, which was the curse of that and
all similar institutions, and which the powers that were in those days
at Whitehall made no genuine effort to change.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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