FARNHAM ISOLATION HOSPITAL BRIEFING PAPER Farnham an Unhealthy Town in Victorian Times Great Concern Was Expressed About the Health of the Nation
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FARNHAM ISOLATION HOSPITAL BRIEFING PAPER Farnham an Unhealthy Town In Victorian times great concern was expressed about the health of the nation. The government was identifying a worrying increase in infectious diseases. The Farnham area was especially backward in creating a healthy environment for its residents. The twin essentials for good health, a supply of wholesome water and the provision for the removal of human waste were far from a reality in the town and its surrounding districts. A Farnham Water Company had been set up in 1836 but, by 1884, only about 1 in 4 of the houses in the town had a piped water supply and it was not the early part of the 20th Century that the surrounding districts, including Wrecclesham, were able to access mains water. Most houses at this time were dependent upon water obtained from wells and springs, which were found both to the north and south of the town. In Farnham, for those who had no access to wells or springs, there were communal facilities in the form of the town pump or the water carrier known as ‘Old Tom’. George Sturt describes: ‘Old Tom’ ladling out water from his barrel and delivering it to customers at a penny or a halfpenny a bucket. 1 In the 1890’s the Medical Officer for the Farnham Urban Council reported at each monthly meeting on the state of the town’s health. He reported that: ‘Illnesses that beset the town at this time included Diphtheria, Typhoid, Scarlatina, Erisypelas, Scarlet Fever, Smallpox and Croup.’ 2 Farnham a Smelly Town Even in Victorian times open ditches carried human waste products of the town to the River Wey. There was no mains drainage and most houses relied for their sanitation on cesspits and privies. In some cases, there was only a single septic tank serving more than one home. Emptying cesspits and privies was done by men specially employed for the job, called the Night Soil Men. House owners were required to pay for this service and poorer families frequently deferred emptying which led to very offensive smells. In 1866 Farnham appointed an ‘Inspectors of Nuisances’ who would report overflowing privies or offensive cesspits. Apart from the nuisance of smell, the practice of releasing sewage into the rivers and the frequency of overflowing privies and cesspits led to contaminated liquids entering the water table where the wells and streams became contaminated. Writing in a book concerning the mode of contamination by diphtheria of water in London, Dr John Snow wrote: ‘The least trace of filth from a cesspit drain, or a manure heap, converts drinking water into an insidious poison fraught with disease and death.’ 3 A very detailed analysis of deaths and infectious diseases in the town is contained in the excellent publication by Brigid Fice, ‘Death in Victorian Farnham.’4 1 George Sturt – A Small Boy in the Sixties 2 Bill Ewbank Smith – Victorian Farnham -1971. 3 Dr. John Snow – On the Mode of Communication of Cholera -1849. ~ 1 ~ Ill Health in Wrecclesham The situation in the village of Wrecclesham was equally worrying. Information gained both from church records and school log books confirms the situation to be most unsatisfactory. In the period 1840 – 1886 the St Peter’s Church burial records show that 384, or 44%, of the 873 burials were for children under 10. The supply of clean drinking water was a constant problem. In the 1850’s there were several instances of boys at St Peter’s School being sent down to the river to collect this basic necessity. People living in the Hatches were known to obtain their water from the nearby River Wey. The Vicar, Rev Henry Julius, set to work to try to alleviate this problem. His daughter Florence Stevens in a book of her memoirs, ‘To the Vicarage Born’, records that: ‘in 1855 water became very scarce and I remember seeing men and women carrying two pails from yokes on their shoulders. My father determined that this should not happen again, so he consulted Mr. John Paine who gave two plots of land, one at the entrance to the village, and one further up, and they had two enormous tanks made and fitted with pumps, and the water from above drained into them and gave an excellent supply. This was free to everyone…. These tanks went on for many years and were a great boon.’ 5 To raise funds for this facility the Vicar organised a bazaar. Although Florence Stevens suggests that the water was free, the residents had to pay a small sum - 1d. a week - to use the facility. Unfortunately, it had to be closed later as the Medical Officer of Health felt that the water was impure. It was not until 1909, 50 years later, that a guaranteed water supply was provided in the village, and mains drainage was not secured until the 1930’s. There were many larger houses in the village that had their own wells, or pumped water from the lower strata of the ground, but these were not felt to be totally reliable. The Old Vicarage The Old Vicarage had a somewhat sad record. The first Vicar of Wrecclesham, Rev Durant Buttemer provides a tragic example. Between 1848 and 1852 he and his wife had 14 children. Of these 7 died before they reached their 10th birthday. Five of Buttemer’s children had been born in the Old Vicarage, three of whom died in, 1850, within five years after leaving the Wrecclesham Vicarage. Nor was this the end of the sadness’s associated with the Vicarage. In 1870 Rev Julius’s youngest daughter, Madeline, died, at the tender age of 14, while suffering from typhoid. Moreover, Henry’s niece, Ella, also died of typhoid in that same year, whilst staying in the vicarage with her uncle.These sad events may be coincidental; however, it is known that typhoid is a water borne disease. 4Brigid Fice, Death in Victorian Farnham. Farnham and District Museum Society Occasional Publication, 5 Florence Stevens. To the Vicarage Born. Farnham and District Museum Society Publication. ~ 2 ~ In 1896, Farnham had the worst figures in Surrey for the prevalence of typhoid, which was thought to be due to the substantial number of polluted shallow wells which were in use for drinking purposes.6 St Peter’s School The Head Teacher’s Log Book of St Peter’s School, at the turn of the century, provide further evidence of issues that may reflect on the health of the young people from the parishes in South Farnham.7 1881 A very hot summer we have had no water on the premises for a long time. 1885 Water very scarce in the neighbourhood – this makes it bad for the girl’s sewing. 1889 Sickness – measles, diphtheria, mumps, whooping cough – are recorded over and over once again during the next few years – The village seems to have been very unhealthy in this period. 1891 The Water supply of the Parish is nearly exhausted. In my own house we have used snow water for a long time – I have come to school without washing and without breakfast. 1892 We are quite out of water; the boys have to fetch every drop. 1900 Absence of water ‘We have only rain water to depend on’ We have to send out and beg for water from place to place. 1900 Mr Parratt sent up some water from River Row twice during the week. Mr Blake brought a barrel to hold it. 1901 School closed by Medical Officer due to prevalence of Scarletina. - 42 children still in isolation hospital. School fumigated; 1903 Pit Closets converted into earth closet. 1903 Water laid on at the school. 1906 Difficulty with drainage, cesspits etc reported. In December 120 children absent on account of mumps, diphtheria and scarlet fever. 1907 Permission for swimming lessons in the river granted. 1910 The school should have re-opened but only 97 children out of 218 were present - absence due to a) Hopping b) Whooping Cough. The Hatches I conclude this part of the Briefing Paper by quoting from the memory of a lady who once lived in the Hatches. The Hatches today is probably a little-known part of Wrecclesham. In the 19th Century, before the advent of motor cars, it was an important thoroughfare and one of the principal walking routes to Farnham. The byway, which leaves the village on the Wrecclesham Road at the end of Fairthorne Terrace, extended beyond Weydon Mill to enter Red Lion Lane, which emerges in the centre of Farnham, at Bridge Square. The track, for it is little more than that, is bounded on its northern side by the River Wey which meanders through attractive fields. Situated literally in the flood plain of the Wey, the Hatches is bounded to the south by rising ground, which has constrained the buildings on that side. Although probably built at a slightly earlier date, the main cluster of houses in the Hatches is shown in the Winchester Pipe Rolls as being in existence in 1819. Referring to her grandfather she records that: 6 Annual Report of the Registrar General 1847 p. xiii. 7 Children at St Peter’s School at this time were drawn from parishes across the southern part of the town, including Wrecclesham, Upper and Lower Bourne, Tilford, Rowledge and Frensham ~ 3 ~ ‘Life was hard. He was the eldest of 12 and his morning wash was in the River Wey that ran just along the house. Sometimes he would have to crack the ice. Poor chap he must have been not much more than 12 years old when he started working in the gravel pit.