Page 17 - Smallwood Hospital

Smallwood Hospital Redditch Heritage

must have been when the moat was in existence, a sort of manor house, or better kind of
farmhouse. However, at this time, 1843, its character may be judged from the many aliases it
had – “Tanner’s Pool”, “Sheward’s Pool”, “Big Pool”, etcetera, etcetera. It was filled with
stagnant water, dotted over pretty freely with the mortal remains of murdered dogs and
slaughtered cats. It seemed to be the receptacle of all the refuse of the town, and a walk along
its banks on a warm day was sufficient to satisfy the appetite for the next six hours. Had the
place existed in its old form until the present day, it must, with our increased population, have
kept plague and fever ever in our midst. In the olden times the pool was open to the road at the
st
end, and I can remember that William Turner’s wife was drowned in it January 1 , 1829,
th
andThomas Nash met with the same fate on the 10 February, 1837.
Reclaiming the costs from the Poor Rate

Although the Board of Health's minutes did not include the accounts, the daily entries gave
some idea of the expenses incurred. These included payments made to the doctors, nurses,
the secretary of the Board of Health, and William Johnson ‘for attending the Hearse 36 times
at the Funeral of Cholera Patients’. There was also the cost of replacing beds, bedding and
clothes that were burnt to avoid contamination. When there were no more cases of cholera in
the district, the local Board of Health focused on reclaiming the costs from the Poor Rate.
However, the Warwickshire part had no cases of cholera and refused to pay a proportion of
the total expenses. The Board argued that as it was a single parish, with one parish church
and one rate collected, each part ought to pay its fair share. A letter was sent to the Lords of
the Privy Council in November, and the reply on November 29th stated that the
Warwickshire part of the parish should pay its share. The Warwickshire part still refused, so
in February 1833 the Board wrote again to the Privy Council. The reply received by the local
Board of Health in February referred to an Order of Council that appeared in The London
Gazette on 8 February 1833. Three local newspapers summarised the Council’s instructions
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in the Gazette. The following paragraph was taken from the Worcester Journal.

Tuesday’s Gazette contains an Order in Council empowering the Board of Health for
Tardebigg to apply to some Justice of the Peace, in or near that parish, to make an order upon
the parish officers, guardians of the poor, or district churchwardens of that part of the parish
situate in the county of Warwick, to pay the sum of 55l.[£] and sixpence out of the rates for the
relief of the poor, being their proportion of 224l. 15s. [shillings] required for the purposes of
the Board. The vestry of that part of the parish situated in the county of Worcester had
previously assented to pay their proportion.

On 20 February 1833 the chairman of the Board, Rev. John Clayton was to attend the Public
Office at Alcester in Warwickshire to make application to the Justice of the Peace for an
order in respect of sums due. The outcome was not mentioned in the minutes or any
newspaper.

The minutes showed that the voluntary subscriptions were under the management of a
separate Committee, over which the Board of Health had no control. Most of the money was

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Birmingham Gazette 11 February 1833; Worcester Herald 16 February 1833; Worcester Journal 14 February
1833.

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