Nursing on the Western Front 1914-1918 On Saturday 3rd November 2018 our guest speaker was Professor Christine Hallett. She is a professor at Huddersfield University and a trained nurse and has PhD in Nursing and History. Christine has written several A Christmas Carol.
The topic she chose for her talk ‘ Lines of evacuation,’ concentrated on how the casualties were evacuated and treated from no-man’s land, taken to Casualty Clearing Stations and perhaps on to hospitals in Britain. With the aid of a series of photograph of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service and Volunteer nurses, Christine explained that QAINS were fully trained professional nurses while the volunteers may have had some training but actually gained experience while serving at the Front.
In casualty clearing stations stock was taken of the severity of injuries and treatment needed. Then the wounded might be taken on motorised ambulances or train to base hospitals near the French or Belgium coasts. Nurses from many nations cared for the traumatised and damaged men in often difficult situations. Nurses themselves could come under shellfire and were vulnerable to aerial bombardment. A number were killed or injured while on active service. The rate of casualties that had to be cared for, particularly on the opening days of the Battle of the Somme and later Passchendaele, would be overwhelming.
Christine also described some of the horrific injuries suffered by soldiers from exploding shells, sniper bullets and mustard gas. Many would be treated successfully and returned to fight another day. Others, whose injuries were so severe, would be transported back to Britain and hospitalised often in makeshift premises located in country houses. Christine showed photos of one such stately home at Dunham Massey in Cheshire.
What was brought home for us was the extraordinary work done that revealed the courage of nurses, orderlies and surgeons and their resilience and compassion with which they did their work.
Death and Disease in Victorian Leeds On Saturday 1st September 2018 our guest speaker was Patrick Bourne. He is Assistant Community Curator at Abbey House Museum, Kirkstall, Leeds.
Like most other growing cities in 19th century Leeds there was a high death rate at a young age brought on by overcrowded housing conditions, bad sanitation and lack of personal hygiene. The most common diseases were cholera and typhoid. Patrick, with the aid of maps of Leeds, photos of back to back housing and the overcrowded yards of Quarry Hill area to the east of the city centre, showed how statistically this area was where high rates of the above diseases occurred.
The work of Dr. Robert Baker of Leeds , John Snow of London and Robert Koch in Germany, proved that cholera was a water borne disease caused by infected water. Periodic outbreaks of cholera in 1832 and 1848/9 prompted eventual legislation to empower the creation of fresh water from reservoirs at Fewston and Swinsty, the building of sewers and improvements in domestic sanitation. In the meantime those that could afford to moved to better housing provided in the suburbs in Park Square, Little Woodhouse and Headingly.
Patrick went onto describe how improved hospital treatment occurred with the new Infirmary on Great George Street opened in 1868, the provision of a House of Recovery on Vicar Lane and a dispensary on North Street. New cemeteries were opened once the local churchyards became full. These were at St George’s Field, Beckett Street and Lawnswood.
Patrick concluded his talk with a description of funeral arrangements. Black suits for men and fashionable outfits for women. Popular also were funeral jewellery, brooches, lockets and earrings, often made using jet from Whitby. The wealthy might have black horses pulling a glass covered hearse while the less well- off might have a bier pulled by hand! Patrick’s talk provided a huge wealth of information which was delivered at some pace but one which certainly had the attention of his audience.
Next meeting is October 6th 2018 when John Brown will talk on ‘Crime & Justice in 19th century.