Page 21 - Smallwood Hospital

Smallwood Hospital Redditch Heritage

then proceeded to an eruption on the skin that left the face and limbs covered with cratered
pockmarks, or pox. Those who survived were permanently immune to a second infection, but
they faced a lifetime of disfigurement and in some cases blindness. In 1796 Edward Jenner
discovered vaccination as a means of preventing smallpox. Vaccination, based on Jenner's
observation that milkmaids were generally immune from smallpox safeguarded people
against smallpox by giving them the harmless cowpox. It spread quickly and sharply reduced
the impact of smallpox as a killing disease by the 1850s.

The Vaccination Act was first introduced in the UK in 1840 to provide free smallpox
vaccination for the poor. The Vaccination Act went even further in 1853 making vaccination
compulsory for all infants aged less than 3 months and threatened any uncooperative parents
with fines and imprisonment. The Vaccination Act of 1867 expanded the age bracket for
compulsory vaccination from 3 months to 14 years, leading to cumulative penalties for those
that would not comply. Cumulative fines meant that defaulters could be repeatedly fined,
with the fine increased on each occasion until the original default was rectified. In addition,
the post of Vaccination Officer was created for local authorities to oversee and implement the
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safe practice of vaccination in their area. Penalties for not vaccinating your child were not
always idle threats. For example, George Curnock of Claines was summoned to Petty
Sessions for neglecting to have his child vaccinated. Since being served with the summons,
Curnock had taken his child to be vaccinated. ‘A fine of one shilling with 14s. 10d. costs,
was imposed, or ten days’ hard labour.’ 36

Smallpox returned to Redditch in 1865 and 1872. In July 1965 the Worcester Journal noted
that smallpox was still prevalent in various parts of Redditch, and of a virulent, but not fatal,
character. One ‘medical gentleman’ was reported to have 17 cases. 37

In January 1872 Mr Smith, the Redditch Medical Officer of Health, wrote to the King’s
Norton Board of Guardians, stating that there were several cases of smallpox in Redditch and
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the Beoley letter-carrier was one of the victims. In nearby Beoley, people panicked and
many were vaccinated and revaccinated by Mr. Smith, without waiting for advice from the
Board of Guardians. Thus the progress of the disease in Beoley was arrested, and
unsurprisingly, the Board approved of Mr. Smith’s actions. 39

At first smallpox in 1872 spread slowly in Redditch, so that as one patient recovered another
person was taken ill. Thus the number of patients, about two or three, continued about the
same. In early March the Medical Officer declared that smallpox had disappeared. 40
However, in December 1872 the Local Board met as it was concerned that there had been
several fresh outbreaks during the first week of December. It was agreed that for the time

35
Available at http://www.victorianweb.org/science/health/health10.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination_Act [Accessed 15 Dec 2012]
36
Worcester Journal 22 June 1872
37
Worcester Journal 29 July 1865.
38
Beoley was in the Kings Norton Poor Law Union from 1836 to 1911.
39
Birmingham Daily Post 1 February 1872.
40
Worcester Journal, 3 February 1872, 9 March 1872.

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