Mr. William Shaw a nail maker of Barrell's Row, Westgate, sent a letter of complaint to the Rotherham Advertiser on the 6th July 1872 regarding his treatment while he was in the workhouse hospital. This led to an inquiry by the guardians on the 20th July the same year. Mr. Shaw was admitted into the hospital on the 6th June at about nine o'clock he had entered the Smallpox hospital thinking he was doing what he could to prevent the spread of the disease. The porter who had taken him to the assistant nurse Anne Yarnold had met him; she took him to the infectious ward. There were several empty beds and three patients in separate beds. He complained when he went into the hospital as he was put into a bed on which another Smallpox patient had been laying. The linen had not been changed and the bed had "scales" which had fallen off the previous occupant. Anne Yarnold corroborated his story. However Nurse Smith said he did not enter the bed in the manner in which he had stated. Thomas Garner was a patient in the hospital when Mr. Shaw came in, he witnessed that Mr. Shaw was asked to get in a dirty bed. He said a patient called Crisp had occupied the bed and there was an interval of between half an hour and an hour between patients and the bedding had not been changed. While he was on the ward for 8 days the sheets had only been changed once and the pillowcases twice. He complained that some butter and oranges had been sent for him but he never got them. After the eight days he went onto the recovery ward until the 19th June. Dr. Hardwick and his assistant came onto the wards twice a day he reported that Dr. Hardwick had always treated him with perfect kindness.
Mr. Shaw also complained about the food in the workhouse. He received six ounces of dry bread and tea without milk in the morning a plate of rice pudding without either milk or sauce for dinner and dry bread and tea again for supper. He was also given a can of water and some milk that had been watered down. He said the assisted ward man Mr Lomas had two pints of beer a day while he was in the hospital. He did not see the nurse have beer or any of the other patients. Mr Shaw said he had been unconscious part of the time due to his illness and on one occasion , he woke up and Mr Lomas was trying to throttle him. He also believed that Mr Lomas had also stolen his knife.
A public meeting was held on the 27th July 1872 at Mechanics Hall to protest against the decision of the Guardians in reference to Mr. Shaw's statement as to his treatment. The room was crowded, around 1100 persons were present as the chairman Mr. R. H. Sharp opened the meeting. Mr. Shaw came forward with six or seven witnesses to give evidence in a most straightforward manner and most substantially and fully corroborated. Loud cheers and hear, hear was heard from the crowed, Dr. Hardwick acknowledged that the ward man at the hospital ill-treated the patients. (Read More on 27th July 1872).
After the public meeting a smallpox committee was set up to look into the welfare of the patients in the fever hospital. The committee would meet on Monday mornings and would go fully into the cases relieved at the union hospital. Other responsibilities of the committee were to deal with the costs of treating paupers and non-paupers in the hospital including the cost of coffins, most of these cost were chargeable to the Corporation. By November another epidemic had hit the borough and many people wished to know under which conditions would people be allowed to enter the hospital. Ald. Moorhouse said his brother needed to enter the hospital as he was in lodgings with a large family and it was dangerous if he was left. Moorhouse called on some kind of agreement with respect to the conditions on which a patient would be admitted. If they were not to do so, undoubtedly the Corporation would have to provide some means for isolation of cases. Mr. Radley suggested a fixed charge so if private individuals were willing to pay their could take them in. Ald. Moorhouse remarked that in the meanwhile parties bringing cases could be informed that they would be required to pay something for the maintenance of the patients and a charge would be settled hereafter. This appeared to be the general opinion of the members of the Board. Smallpox remained a killer throughout the eighteenth century but its effects were slowly becoming less severe.
On the 1st February 1873 an advertisement for a new medical officer of health was advertised in papers. The advertisement explained the medical officer would contain an area of 50,669 acres and a population of 57,382. He would be appointed on the approval of the Local Government Board on a salary of £600 per annum. Candidates had to be legally qualified medical practitioner registered under the "Medical Act" 1858 and must produce their diplomas, certificate, or license to the Sanitary Authority and engage not to enter into private practice during this engagement. The newly appointed Medical Officer's skills were needed straight away as Rotherham was struck by an Enteric (or typhoid) epidemic. A few cases of Enteric fever had occurred in the town and neighbourhood before becoming an epidemic. Dr. Ballard remarked that the fever was seldom away from the Town. He called on the Corporation to help clean up the town which in his opinion was in a filthy state and the dirty habits of the occupants was allowing one disease after another attack the good people of Rotherham. A number of cases were admitted into the hospital and the epidemic would last for six months and there were a number of deaths.
© Neil and Janet Croft 2005