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
provided her with an outfit, and arranged with the captain of the
steamer to take charge of her, and send one of his trustworthy officers
to see her to the station in New York for Chicago, and parting with her
to put into her hands the balance remaining. Some months afterwards I
had a letter from the captain, stating that he had carried out my
request, and had finally given her the £25 or thereabouts. There was
every reason to believe that one of the subscribers was Her Majesty the
Queen, though it was not so distinctly stated in a letter I received
from a gentleman connected with the Court.
In the early part of 1865 the Guardians appointed a superintendent
nurse. She was a young, and very respectable-looking woman. The
Guardians had been moved to do this by the evidence of Miss Twining
before the Select Committee, and by the general feeling excited by the
revelations made in Gibson's case in St. Giles's, and that of Timothy
Daley in the Holborn, Union. In the winter of 1863 and 1864, and again
in 1864 and 1865, as also in 1865 and 1866 the admissions had been so
many, and the crowding so great, as to tax the resources of the
establishment to the utmost, notwithstanding that I had moved the sick
ward to the top of the building, and gained additional cubic space by
removing the ceiling and re-ceiling the rafters; but I could not by any
contrivance increase the area. The beds therefore were placed so close
together that the patients had to get out at the end of their beds,
there being no possibility of getting out at the side. It was a task
beyond this young woman's strength to effectually supervise the numerous
patients, but she could check some of the graver abuses connected with
pauper nursing. This she did to the best of her ability. In the same
spring that she was appointed--that of 1865--the late Dr. Francis Anstie
called on me. He said he was deputed by the late Dr. Wakley to call and
state that he had decided to appoint a commission for the purpose of
investigating the state of London workhouses, and he thought I could
suggest the best course to follow to obtain admission to them. I told
him I would introduce him to the Chairman of the Board, who alone had
the power to grant permission to a stranger to enter the Workhouse,
unless special application had been made to Board, and leave given. He
called on the Chairman, who gave him a letter to the master, authorizing
his admission. Before he left, I told Dr. Anstie that when he went over
the House I would accompany him. Some short time after, he wrote, making
an appointment. I showed him through the whole House, pointing out the
defects and shortcomings, and told him of my continued efforts to get
the place improved, and of the determined hostility of the majority of
the Board to any efforts I had made. I also showed him a list of the
fever cases I had attended, and how constantly fever was developed when
the numbers increased and the overcrowding was greatest. Dr. Anstie took
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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