Pant Fever Hospital – The Melting Pot

The Pant Fever Hospital – part 2

by J Ann Lewis

Mr James Ricketts was Superintendant of the Hospital for several years; he was given a Rechabite funeral after his death in August 1899. The Independent Order of Rechabites, also known as the Sons and Daughters of Rechab, is a fraternal organisation and friendly society founded in England in 1835 as part of the wider temperance movement to promote total abstinence from alcoholic beverages. His wife Mary Ann then had charge of the hospital until her death a few months later. Their gravestone lies in Pant Cemetery.

During another outbreak of Typhoid Fever in September 1900, it was felt that the infection might have come from the common food supply, such as milk, or dust carried in the atmosphere from one infected district into another. The bacteria would grow on potato peelings, in water containing small quantities of animal matter, in urine and other excreta. When we remember that in many districts, the common method of disposing of urine slops was into the gutter, it is easy to understand how the disease spread, and it did indeed frequently spread down the street in the direction of slop water. The children playing in polluted puddles that collected in bad and broken surfaces were soon infected, and this would cause the spread of the disease.

There was also much debate as to who should care for the families of men stricken with Smallpox or the like; the committee deciding that poor families should be given 8s per week relief rather than make them paupers and admit them to the Workhouse.

In 1902, one patient suffering from Smallpox slipped away from the hospital and was found talking to several children; the parents were justifiably upset and sent a letter of complaint to the Committee. On another occasion, during their convalescence, two male patients also slipped away and visited the local public house, and on returning to the hospital, broke several windows and some furniture. In due course they were fined for the damage and for exposing themselves whilst suffering from an infectious disease.

I was fascinated to read that in 1906, my grandmother was fined 5s for allowing my father, aged three years old at the time, to sit on the front doorstep of their home in Lower Elizabeth Street, Dowlais whilst suffering from Scarlet Fever.

In October 1902, one man suffering from Smallpox walked from his home in the High Street, Dowlais to the Penydarren Surgery, and came into contact with at least 50 people; this caused great concern as many children had yet to be vaccinated. Another man had tramped all the way from Glasgow looking for work, only to arrive in Merthyr destitute, and dying just 20 days later from Typhus Fever which he had contracted on the journey.

Over time, the residents of Pant and Dowlais became increasing distraught that patients in the hospital were able to receive parcels and converse with outsiders over the wall, and were also seen receiving ice cream from the local ice cream vendors. They were also worried about the precautions undertaken by the nurses and other staff for disinfecting themselves on leaving the hospital.

During the 1902 Smallpox outbreak, at least 13 patients were nursed at the hospital. A petition, signed by 640 people, was presented to the council asking that a temporary hospital be erected away the area and the building be removed. In the meanwhile, Pant School was to be closed while patients were nursed there. It is hard to understand why a school was built so near a fever hospital, and, so fearful were people that some carried Camphor tablets in a little bag around their neck to ‘ward off’ the infection when passing the hospital.

A map showing the proximity of Pant School to the Fever Hospital

When the new Mardy Central Fever Hospital was officially opened in 1907 (a temporary iron structure having been constructed on the Mardy Estate for nursing Smallpox patients a few years earlier), the Pant Fever Hospital was no longer required, much to the relief of the people of Pant and Dowlais. The hospital was destroyed by fire, as planned by the committee, on 24 August 1907.

A photograph showing Pant Fever hospital (in the background)

The Pant Fever Hospital – part 1

by J Ann Lewis

In 1868 an epidemic of Typhoid and Typhus Fever started in Dowlais in 1868, and spread to Merthyr by April 1869.

The living conditions were poor; many houses were small and overcrowded, with no proper ventilation, having windows that could not be opened. One Dowlais family consisting of a mother and four children suffering from Typhus Fever were nursed in a bedroom that measured eleven- by seven-foot. Many were without proper toilet facilities, and others sharing facilities with three or four other families. The practice of throwing waste matter onto the road was still undertaken, thus polluting the vicinity, and many were fined for continuing to do so.

Fifty-three people died by the end of March; the reported cases of the diseases reached 360, during this epidemic, three of the four nurses employed and a doctor died after contracting the disease.

The Local Board of Health, under Section 37 of the Sanitary Act 1866, had the power to provide hospitals or temporary places for the reception of the sick, but not places for the admittance of people not affected by the disease. It was hoped that once they had provided a place for the sick to be nursed, the people that had been in contact with them could remain in their homes, if a policy was adopted of cleaning, whitewashing and disinfecting the houses from which the sick were removed.

The Board of Health decided that they had to open a hospital to stem the spread of the disease and try to relieve the appalling suffering of the local people. At first it was decided that a large tent would be ideal for the purpose, a committee member pointing out that tents had been well used by troops for years, but another member added that he knew where a building, or part of one, could be obtained for £1,000.

It was decided to go ahead with the purchase, and appoint carpenters for the erection of the buildings on the chosen site at Pantyscallog. Chris James, the farmer who owned the land, had a reduction of 10s per year on his land for releasing it through the Dowlais Iron Company for the hospital.

A map from the 1800s showing the site of the Pant (Dowlais) Fever Hospital

It was clear that the cases of Typhoid and Typhus fever should not be mixed – it was necessary to have separate hospitals for these diseases, and these again were sub-divided into male and female wards. Suitable rooms were erected as a kitchen and wash-house, and placed between the two hospitals to be used by both. To prevent trespassing on the adjoining grassland, fencing of post and rail was erected.

After the foundation was finished, the building took just four weeks to complete, being a wooden structure with a felt roof. During the building of the hospital, the death-toll had risen to 77, with the number of cases reaching 426. By the end of July, the furnishing of the hospital was complete, but by that time the epidemic had subsided, and it remained unused until the next epidemic.

The hospital was first named the Caeracca Fever Hospital, but was also referred to as the Pant or Dowlais Fever Hospital. It was able to accommodate 32 patients, and was only occupied when epidemics of the infectious diseases occurred – Typhoid, Typhus, Scarlet Fever, Smallpox and Measles.

Mrs Clark of Dowlais House obtained permission from the Board of Health for the private use of part of the hospital. Sixteen beds were allocated for eight male and eight female patients. There would be compulsory admissions – patients would only be admitted with their permission. This was a wise decision as the changes of recovery would be poor; if the patients were terrified of being admitted – believing they had been taken there to die instead of to recover. This fear was somehow connected with Mrs Clark’s hospital in Dowlais, and largely due to the ignorance of the people as to the type of nursing required.

Mrs Clarke’s hospital in Dowlais. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

There was great concern among the committee as to whose responsibility it was to pay for the patients’ food. They wrote several times to the Home Office, and the Chairman of the Committee wrote privately to the Home Secretary dealing solely with the question of feeding. As no satisfactory answer was obtained, the Board of Health decided they would bear the expense themselves. When the question was asked “Who would pay for the beef tea?” the Clerk replied “Can’t you make the beef tea medicine?”. “We must”, came the reply, “and take the consequences”.

To be continued………

A Short History of Merthyr General Hospital – part 1

by Ann Lewis

I suppose it’s difficult for us to imagine what life would be like without a hospital in an hour of need, but before 1888 Merthyr had only a small six-bedded Cottage Hospital for children at Bridge Street.

There was the workhouse for the sick paupers and Mrs Clark’s Hospital at Dowlais which had closed six years earlier. There was also a Fever Hospital at Pant, built in 1869, and another at Tydfil’s Well. These were totally inadequate for the needs of a town the size of Merthyr, with the many accidents that occurred at the Ironworks and collieries. When accidents did occur the doctors would have to perform operations on a kitchen table or at the doctor’s surgery.

The Voluntary Hospital had for some time existed in London and other large cities. These were maintained by gifts and bequests from individuals and groups. The patients did not have to pay for treatment, for the doctors gave of their skills freely and in doing so gained a great deal of prestige and power in the management of the hospital.

By February 1886 the caring people associated with the Cottage Hospital formed a group with the sole aim of improving the facilities in Merthyr for the sick and injured. They included Drs. Biddle, Cresswell, Webster, Ward and Dr Dyke who had founded the Children’s Hospital at his home called ‘The Hollies’ in Bridge Street, Merthyr with the Rev J Griffiths the then Rector of Merthyr and Sir W T Lewis, who later became Lord Merthyr.

Unknown Dr, Dr Biddle, Dr Cresswell & Dr Ward

It was through Sir W. T. Lewis that the Marquis of Bute offered the sum of £1,000 towards the building of a voluntary hospital at Merthyr, and £1,000 towards the upkeep, provided the people of Merthyr raised the remainder of the money for the building. A meeting was held at the Temperance Hall and the people of Merthyr responded by raising £5,220 – a very large sum of money in those days.

The Clock field was chosen as a suitable site between Dowlais and Merthyr because Dowlais was equally as important as Merthyr at that time. It was opposite the Old Penydarren Works and the freehold cost £300. The foundation stone was laid by Sir W T Lewis in June 1887. Lewis was greatly involved with the hospital and had donated ‘35,000 pennies’ which he had received from the members of the Provident Society, which he had helped found, on the occasion of his knighthood.

The new hospital had two ten-bedded wards. The first, The Lady Ann Lewis Ward, was named after Sir W T Lewis’ wife, who was the grand-daughter of Robert and Lucy Thomas the first exporters of steam coal in South Wales. The second ward was St Luke’s Ward. There was also a small four bedded ward for children, which was the room used as the operating theatre opposite Ann Lewis Ward for many years. The original theatre had been opposite St Luke’s Ward, in what later became the General Office. Next to the original theatre were the splint and instrument rooms and the Dispensary.

The Hospital had a Board of Governors and they were the policy making body. Anyone could be a governor for the sum of £2 per year. Thousands of people helped to maintain the hospital voluntarily. The workers at the Ironworks and Collieries were asked to contribute a farthing a week or a penny per month or one shilling per year towards the cost. It seems a very small amount to us now, but not in 1888. Any donation above £100 was recorded for all to see on a large board at the entrance hall.

Many people endowed beds in memory of loved ones and would maintain the endowment over 12 months. When the hospital opened, it required £500 per year to cover expenses; by 1940 – £6,000 and by 1950 – £52,000, but wages were blamed for the last increase.

In 1895, as part of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Celebration, an Accident Receiving Ward was endowed by Sir W T Lewis. A stained glass window was commissioned by the High Constable of Merthyr, Mr Frank James, a solicitor and clerk to the Board of Guardians, to honour Lewis’ gesture. On 4 April 1900 a statue of Sir W T Lewis was erected outside the hospital in recognition of these services and the honour conferred upon him by Queen Victoria, in raising him to the Baronetcy.

The General Hospital after the opening of the Accident Receiving Ward – built adjoining the hospital at the left of the picture

To be continued….

Pearson Robert Cresswell

by Laura Bray

You have probably never heard of Pearson Robert Cresswell, but had you lived in Dowlais in the late 19th Century, if you were lucky, he may have saved your life.

Pearson Cresswell was born on 24 July 1834, the second son of Charles and Ann Cresswell, a solicitor and his wife, then living in Henwick, near Worcester. It was in Worcester that Pearson grew up, although while he was still in school, the family emigrated to Australia. Indeed, it is in Melbourne, that his parents and siblings lived and died.

This was not to be Pearson’s destiny, however, as in the 1850s he returned to the UK to study medicine, training in Middlesex Hospital and the Medical Centre in London, qualifying in 1859 as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (he became a Fellow in 1873). But our interest in him dates from May 1860, when he secured the post of Chief Surgeon to the Dowlais Iron Company, an appointment he retained for the next 40 years, until his retirement and death on 22 Nov 1905 aged 71.

Pearson was a noted medic in Dowlais, running a private practice as well as working for the Dowlais Iron Company and running both the Dowlais Workman’s Hospital and the Merthyr and Dowlais General Hospital.

Dowlais Workman’s Hospital . Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

However, it was for his work on antiseptics, particularly for the treatment of gunshot wounds and fractures or other serious injury, that he was a pioneer. He published several papers on it, and influenced thinking and practice on surgical techniques, such as the use of gloves in operations. He also promoted vaccination, becoming both Public Vaccinator and Medical Officer of the First District of the Merthyr Tydfil Union and of the Pant Fever Hospital. He was a staunch advocate of First Aid, delivering lectures on the subject and encouraging ordinary people to understand the principles. As such, he became the president of the Merthyr Centre of the St John’s Ambulance Association from 1881, when it was founded in Merthyr, and indeed it is from this that he was awarded a special mark of distinction in 1897 as a honorary associate of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem in England.

You would have thought that all these activities would have kept Pearson Cresswell busy, but no. He was a Justice of the Peace for Glamorgan, held a special commission as a Justice in Lunacy, was Chairman of the Income Tax Commission and High Constable of Caerphilly Higher. In addition, he was a Church Warden of St John’s Parish Church in Dowlais, president of the South Wales Branch of the English Church Union and Chairman of the Dowlais Constitutional Club.

Perhaps it is his connection with the Volunteer Force that is the most difficult for us to understand today. Just after his arrival in Dowlais, Pearson was gazetted as an associate surgeon in the Administrative Battalion 2ndGlamorgan Rifle Volunteer Corps, founded the year before. By 1891 he had become the Lieutenant Colonel Commander of the Administrative Battalion for all the companies in the Taff Valleys, which by this point had been consolidated. He “professionalised” the Corps, turning it into first a territorial and then the Volunteer Battalion Welsh Regiment, standardising the uniform, creating a cycling corps and establishing an officers’ and non-commissioned officers’ mess, equipped the regiment with machine guns and cleared the debts. Thus it was that he was able to raise and send three companies from the Regiment to the South African War.

Glamorgan Rifle Volunteer Corps. Dr Cresswell is seated at the right

Pearson died after a short illness in November 1905, in Dowlais, leaving a wife, two sons and two daughters, both sons having followed him into the medical profession. He was buried in Malvern, next to his first wife and daughter.

A man of his time, he was part of a time of change in Dowlais, and it is recognition of the importance of Merthyr during the nineteenth century that a man such as Pearson Cresswell lived and influenced thinking and practise there and in the wider world, for 40 years.