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
In the month of May, 1866, Miss Beaton, the superintendent nurse,
informed me that she intended to resign her situation, and apply for
another as a nurse at a general hospital; at the same time asking me
whether I would give her a reference. Whilst expressing my regret that
she was going, I readily promised to do all I could for her, and with
that object gave her a letter of introduction to Dr. Anstie, assistant
physician to the Westminster Hospital, and to Mr. Hart, who was then
connected with St. Mary's Hospital. Dr. Anstie took her name and
address, and promised to do what he could for her; Mr. Hart asked her to
sit down, and proceeded to question her on the various matters
connected with the Strand Workhouse I had mentioned at the committee
meetings, &c. Ultimately he dismissed her, but not until he had a
promise from her that she would write down all her experience of the
wrong-doing she had witnessed at the Strand. She did this. On getting
her manuscript statement he sent it to Earl Carnarvon, one of the
committee, and asked him to apply to Mr. Villiers for an official
inquiry. I had not the remotest knowledge that anything of the kind had
been done, nor had my other colleague, Dr. Anstie. In the early part of
June Mr. Hart told me that there was to be an official inquiry into the
management and the condition of the Strand Workhouse, and that I should
be called as a witness, but he did not tell me how it had been brought
about. A few days after I received an official intimation that such
inquiry would be held, and that my attendance would be required. I had
hoped that the inquiry would be conducted by the Metropolitan Inspector,
Mr. Farnall; but it was not so. Mr. Fleming sent another member of the
staff. The inquiry was held, the first witness called being Miss Beaton.
She astonished me by the extent and character of her revelations, of
some part of which I was an eye-witness, and therefore knew to be true.
Her examination lasted all day. Next morning, the evidence she had
given appeared in all the papers, which commented thereon. On the second
day I was called. On taking my seat Mr. Caine said, "Oh! we have met
before;" I did not know where. I had not long been under examination
before Dr. Anstie, who was in the room, came behind my chair, and said,
"Take care how you answer questions; this inspector does not mean fairly
by you; he is trying to put you in a false position." Forewarned by
this, I simply answered his questions, and parried those which were
irrelevant and misleading. The next day my evidence, in full appeared in
every paper, and all the leading journals denounced the Board of
Guardians for their management of the House. It was unfortunate that my
Board should have been selected, inasmuch as nearly all the workhouses
in the metropolis were in very much the same condition. After the close
of the inquiry Mr. R. B. Caine returned to Whitehall, and made the
remarkable statement in his official report that the condition of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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