How did hospitals work during the XVIII century?
Is there a novel or a history book that talks about hospitals during the 1700s? I have this idea for a novel set on a french hospital during this time period. I’ll be thankful if any of you good people from planet earth could help me with this.
Actual novels are few, about this subject but Dickens has many of his books laced with accounts of Poor Houses and Hostels or Hospitals.
The need for charity
London in the eighteenth century was a swirling mass of contrasts. A rowdy hedonistic, gin-swilling public rubbed shoulders with gentlefolk keen to do good work. One of the worst problems affected by the social conditions in London in the early eighteenth century was the large numbers of children either entirely abandoned or thrown on the tender mercies of the parish – illegitimate children were handed over to parish officers for a lump sum.
A rowdy hedonistic, gin-swilling public rubbed shoulders with gentlefolk keen to do good work.
But London was late in providing welfare for these children in comparison with many other European cities. Rome, for example, already had its Conservatorio della Ruota, founded by Pope Innocent III in the thirteenth century, and Venice had La Pietà, a fourteenth-century orphanage for girls. Apathy, puritan morality and disapproval of illegitimacy (the usual reason for deserted children) produced inaction in Britain. The only establishment dealing with foundlings as well as legitimate orphans was Christ’s Hospital, founded in 1552, but by 1676 the illegitimate were prohibited.
During the 1720s and 30s poor children were dying at an alarming rate – medicine was not winning the battle against disease and death after decades of severe epidemics (typhus, dysentery, measles, influenza) and the Gin Craze (11.2 million gallons of spirits consumed in a year in London – roughly seven gallons per adult) was sweeping the nation with disastrous consequences. And in general, the only provision for illegitimate babies was the parish poorhouses or, from 1722, the workhouses where they frequently died of neglect. Mortality rates were extremely high: over 74% of children born in London died before they were five. In workhouses the death rate increased to over 90%.
The Foundling
The Foundling Hospital was one of the sights to which foreigners were taken. This hospital, built in Lamb’s Conduit Fields, so that its inmates might enjoy pure country air, was one of the beautiful things of London and it lasted until the philistine authorities of our own day suffered it to be destroyed. As early as 1713 Addison, in an essay in the Guardian, had called attention to the plight of unwanted infants, who were often exposed to die upon the highway. It was not, however, till 1742 that, thanks to the exertions of Captain Thomas Coram, a place of refuge to be called the Foundling Hospital was built by public subscriptions. Three of Hogarth’s pictures, which that great painter had presented to the Hospital, hung upon its walls; Handel had given an organ for the chapel and every year a benefit of his oratorio, The Messiah, which he conducted himself.
Bedlam
Bedlam, incredible as it may seem, was one of the sights of London. The gentle, kindly Sophie de la Roche paints it in softened if not glowing colours. There were, she said, no chains or straps, though the worst of the patients wore strait-jackets, which were tied with cords to the corners of the rooms. These rooms were bright and comfortable and the inmates were encouraged to read and occupy themselves quietly. Sophie found Mrs. Nicholson, who had tried to murder George III, reading Shakespeare, and asking for some more quill pens. The man at that time in charge of the asylum was Dr. Monroe, who insisted on fresh air and cleanliness, and that the patients should be treated kindly. "This" he told Sophie "is a fever of the mind, tender, gentle handling is the only cure for this." Unfortunately very few doctors agreed with Monroe and when he was not at Bedlam things were very different. De Saussure saw dangerous maniacs chained and terrible to behold. "On holidays" he says "numerous persons of both sexes, but belonging generally to the lower classes, visit the hospital and amuse themselves by watching these unfortunate wretches who often give them cause for laughter." Von Uffenbach says that "in Holland such places are managed with far greater propriety ".
Actual novels are few, about this subject but Dickens has many of his books laced with accounts of Poor Houses and Hostels or Hospitals.
The need for charity
London in the eighteenth century was a swirling mass of contrasts. A rowdy hedonistic, gin-swilling public rubbed shoulders with gentlefolk keen to do good work. One of the worst problems affected by the social conditions in London in the early eighteenth century was the large numbers of children either entirely abandoned or thrown on the tender mercies of the parish – illegitimate children were handed over to parish officers for a lump sum.
A rowdy hedonistic, gin-swilling public rubbed shoulders with gentlefolk keen to do good work.
But London was late in providing welfare for these children in comparison with many other European cities. Rome, for example, already had its Conservatorio della Ruota, founded by Pope Innocent III in the thirteenth century, and Venice had La Pietà, a fourteenth-century orphanage for girls. Apathy, puritan morality and disapproval of illegitimacy (the usual reason for deserted children) produced inaction in Britain. The only establishment dealing with foundlings as well as legitimate orphans was Christ’s Hospital, founded in 1552, but by 1676 the illegitimate were prohibited.
During the 1720s and 30s poor children were dying at an alarming rate – medicine was not winning the battle against disease and death after decades of severe epidemics (typhus, dysentery, measles, influenza) and the Gin Craze (11.2 million gallons of spirits consumed in a year in London – roughly seven gallons per adult) was sweeping the nation with disastrous consequences. And in general, the only provision for illegitimate babies was the parish poorhouses or, from 1722, the workhouses where they frequently died of neglect. Mortality rates were extremely high: over 74% of children born in London died before they were five. In workhouses the death rate increased to over 90%.
The Foundling
The Foundling Hospital was one of the sights to which foreigners were taken. This hospital, built in Lamb’s Conduit Fields, so that its inmates might enjoy pure country air, was one of the beautiful things of London and it lasted until the philistine authorities of our own day suffered it to be destroyed. As early as 1713 Addison, in an essay in the Guardian, had called attention to the plight of unwanted infants, who were often exposed to die upon the highway. It was not, however, till 1742 that, thanks to the exertions of Captain Thomas Coram, a place of refuge to be called the Foundling Hospital was built by public subscriptions. Three of Hogarth’s pictures, which that great painter had presented to the Hospital, hung upon its walls; Handel had given an organ for the chapel and every year a benefit of his oratorio, The Messiah, which he conducted himself.
Bedlam
Bedlam, incredible as it may seem, was one of the sights of London. The gentle, kindly Sophie de la Roche paints it in softened if not glowing colours. There were, she said, no chains or straps, though the worst of the patients wore strait-jackets, which were tied with cords to the corners of the rooms. These rooms were bright and comfortable and the inmates were encouraged to read and occupy themselves quietly. Sophie found Mrs. Nicholson, who had tried to murder George III, reading Shakespeare, and asking for some more quill pens. The man at that time in charge of the asylum was Dr. Monroe, who insisted on fresh air and cleanliness, and that the patients should be treated kindly. "This" he told Sophie "is a fever of the mind, tender, gentle handling is the only cure for this." Unfortunately very few doctors agreed with Monroe and when he was not at Bedlam things were very different. De Saussure saw dangerous maniacs chained and terrible to behold. "On holidays" he says "numerous persons of both sexes, but belonging generally to the lower classes, visit the hospital and amuse themselves by watching these unfortunate wretches who often give them cause for laughter." Von Uffenbach says that "in Holland such places are managed with far greater propriety ".
References :
I googled ‘books and novels on hospitals work during the 18th century’
French hospitals often had nuns as nurses, and I believe they were better organised than English hospitals were at this time (english hospitals had become dirty and chaotic places, they continued to deteriroate until the reforms of Florence Nightingale in the 1850s).
References :