hea 11 Causes of death 1789 – Stoke-upon-Trent.

Filthy, unsanitary areas of Pool Dam and Seabridge of Newcastle like in 1872? describes areas of Newcastle under Lyme as filthy, unsanitary areas of Pool Dam and Seabridge perhaps of Newcastle like in 1872. Mainly small cottages and hovels all occupied at the time and occupied by the poor population of the town. It was reported to be entirely neglected by the Newcastle authorities with a filthy sewage stream or brook about ten feet wide running through the area of Pool. In time of flooding the water from the stream rose at least eighteen inches to flood nearby properties and in some of the adjoining houses together with the condition of the cesspools and privies loaded with excrement, leaking and horribly offensive, give rise to a large number of complaints from many of the inhabitants and classed as disgraceful.

The water supply was from wells sunk into the ground along saturated with the filth of generations upon generations of inhabitants. Some of these wells are said to be dry many times during the year. The attention of the Newcastle Corporation was reported as paying no attention to the area nor enforcing the rules regarding sanitation etc.

The main problem was that from 1738 the populations of the district had increased causing additional issues of water and sanitation. The areas covered for the stats are:- Tunstall, Burslem, Sneyd, Rushton Grange, Hanley and Shelton, Penkhull, Boothen, Stoke, Fenton and Longton and Lane End.

This report is a perfect study for colleges or people interested in Social History. Three x A4 pages.

The inspectors reports identified Penkhull where several privies, were imperfectly covered with stone slabs and full and overflowing, the liquids running over the ground or down the gardens.
Stoke town complained of the water supply of Penkhull was also a serious problem because of its height and reported that it had little pressure to work the pumps in the case of a house fire. Other parts of the township are included such Boothen which is described as entirely neglected with regards to the removal of nuisances, and the drainage is defective. Privy nuisances abound everywhere throughout the hamlet.

I discovered that it was only a matter of months that chloroform was demonstrated for its properties on humans in 1847 by Scottish obstetrician, Sir James Young Simpson.  The report stated that Simpson was the first to demonstrate chloroform, most likely to an audience of his peers. It was described as “this new and important anaesthetic agent – the peculiar powers of which produced insensibility to pain and used widely from the early 1850s.

However, my research proved that it was first discovered, not in Scotland as reported in medical papers but in Etruria at the Peoples Dispensary for the sick with a 15-year-old girl in 1848. Skill and care were required to differentiate between an effective dose (enough to make patient insensible during surgery). In fact, in December 1846 the Potteries Mercury which pre-dates the official published date of the discovery in 1847.