Mr. John Spear's report to the Local Government Board upon an inquiry concerning an outbreak of typhus fever at Nazareth House, Hammersmith : with special reference to the alleged neglect in that institution of house and personal sanitation.

  • Spear, John.
Date:
1883
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mr. John Spear's report to the Local Government Board upon an inquiry concerning an outbreak of typhus fever at Nazareth House, Hammersmith : with special reference to the alleged neglect in that institution of house and personal sanitation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    patients ; and as to the statement to this effect made afterwards I beg to forward you the enclosed correspon¬ dence. I wish further to add, that since I have been the medical attendant to this institution its condition as lo cleanliness, amount of air space, &c., is as you have found it. I have, &c., John Spear, Esq., T. Gunton Alderton. &c., &c., &c. Copy. 5, The Grove, Hammersmith, W. Dear Sir, 30th APril 1883- You will have seen the charges made with regard to Nazareth House. Certain children who were removed to the Western District Fever Hospital from that institution on the 22nd February are said to have beeu so dirty, and fleabitten, as to hinder (according to a statement by Mr. Collier to prevent) diagnosis. You saw some of these children before their removal. Will you kindly inform me in what condition you found their persons. Yours faithfully, To Dr. Mahomed, Assistant Physician to Guy’s Hospital, T. Gunton Alderton. and Physician to the London Fever Hospital. E. C. Barnes, Esq., M.R.C.S. and L.S.A., Hammersmith. H. Walker, Esq., L.R.C.P., Hammersmith. Memorandum. The children seen by Mr. Barnes and Mr. Walker on the 17th February include (of those said to be dirty) — Julia Graham, 16. Mary Penn, 6. (Removed, W'estern District Fever Hospital on the morning of February 22.) Lottie Avery, 15. Alice Whitham, 7. Theresa Nichols, 14. (Removed on the evening of the same day.) Dr. Mahomed’s statement refers to the three children removed on the evening of February 22nd. T. Gunton Alderton. 12, St. Thomas’s Street, S.E. My Dear Sir, May 1, 1883. In reply to your inquiry I have much pleasure in stating that when I visited Nazareth House with you on Thursday, February 22nd, I examined the four sisters of mercy, and several children who were then ill. I did not find their persons unclean, nor their surroundings dirty ; they appeared to me thoroughly well cared for, and I was much impressed by the excellent arrangements for isolation, the good accommodation for the sick, and the good ventilation obtained. I have seen the extracts from Mr. Collier’s report published in the British Medical Journal, and elsewhere. In my opinion, the injurious statements he makes are quite unjustified. 1 may add that I found no difficulty in recognising the rash, or in making a diagnosis of typhus. I ought, perhaps, to mention that I noticed lice in the heads of one or two of the patients, but this I did not regard with surprise in cases of fever, especially in an establishment containing a large number of poor children. Yours faithfully, T. Gunton Alderton, Esq. F. A. Mahomed. 4, The Cedars, Hammersmith Road, W. Dear Sir, April 30th, 1883. In answer to your letter of to day, I beg to say that I visited some patients at Nazareth House on the 17th February 1883. There was nothing in the condition of the bodies of those patients to hinder me from forming a diagnosis of the disease. The children were clean, and appeared to be well cared for. I examined seven children ; they were all undoubtedly suffering from typhus fever. I remain, yours faithfully, T. Gunton Alderton, Esq., H. Walker, L.R.C.P. (Lond.). 5, The Grove, Hammersmith, W. Gloucester House, Hammersmith. Dear Sir, 30th April 1883. I have seen, with surprise, the charges made against Nazareth House. The seven children visited by me on 17th February were undoubtedly suffering from typhus fever, and there was nothing in their bodily condition to obscure the diagnosis; indeed, I expressed my opinion as to the nature of the disease emphatically, and without doubt. The children were in an airy.room, of sufficient cubic space; and, although fleabitten, were personally as cleanly as the children of industrious, painstaking, worthy, and respectable poor parents. After 20 years in general practice I may add that fleas are no respecters of persons. Yours faithfully, T. Gunton Alderton, Esq. Edward Charles Barnes, M.R.C.S., L.S.A. [It may be said that I ought to have added to this evidence the statements of the medical attendant, and of the sisters who nursed these children before their removal to the hospital. It is fair to make it known that such statements were offered to me with specific references to occasions of bathing, &c. ; but, rig'htly or wronglv, I decided to exclude the evidence of those officially connected with the institution.]