Page 23 - Smallwood Hospital

Smallwood Hospital Redditch Heritage

Boards of areas near Birmingham, including Redditch, advised inhabitants not to attend the
Birmingham Onion Fair. 45

Postcard in Lindley Series ‘THE OLD ROUND HOUSE REDDITCH’ 46

Typhoid

Typhoid was another disease that was linked to insanitary conditions in Redditch. It was only
in the 19th century that doctors began to distinguish between typhus and typhoid. Typhoid
became more common and during the 1830s doctors at the London Fever Hospital noted the
47
presence of a new type of fever, requiring different management from typhus. For the first
week the typhoid victim felt listless and suffered headaches, insomnia, and feverishness. His
temperature gradually increased over this period, though fluctuating between morning and
evening hours. His stomach was painful and distended. He probably had diarrhoea and
perhaps red patches on his skin. These symptoms usually intensified for a few weeks, but in
most cases the patient recovered. Depending on the severity of the attack, however, and the
patient's ability to resist, the victim sometimes died from exhaustion, internal haemorrhaging,
or ulceration of the intestine. The resistance to the theory of polluted water as a source of
infection contributed to the continued presence of typhoid in the second half of the century. 48

In the 1870s the link between typhoid and polluted water was certainly recognised in
Redditch. In September 1873 Mr Fox, the Medical Officer of Health, reported that there
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were a few cases of typhoid fever, none of which had proved fatal. In November 1873 Mr.
Fox stated that during the past month there had been many cases of continued fever of a
typhoid character in the district, and there had been many cases of diarrhoea, especially in the
neighbourhood of Edward Street and Britten Street where the drainage was ‘most inefficient,
and the effluvium arising from some of the drains most prejudicial to health’. Mr. Fox added
that in Redditch there were many uncovered bog-holes near to the wells used for drinking
purposes, so that the soakage into the wells was considerable. The Local Board resolved that
in all neighbourhoods where typhoid existed, the drinking water would be analysed. If the

45
Birmingham Daily Post 24 September 1874; Worcester Journal 26 September 1874.
46
In Redditch Library archives (6F).
47
Available at http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192629500.001.0001/acref-
9780192629500-e-494 [Accessed 8 April 2013]
48
Haley, B. (1978) The Healthy Body and Victorian Culture. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press.
49
Worcester Journal 6 September 1873.

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