History - Corpus

Acts of Kindness

11 December 2017 1 Comment

Barbara Brookes

Recently I visited the Foundling Museum, in Coram Fields, Bloomsbury, London. Near there, in 1989, my first son had played happily in Coram Fields, where no adults are allowed unless accompanied by children. Later, when my youngest son was around seven, I discovered Jamila Gavin’s Coram Boy, a gripping tale set in eighteenth century London and Gloucester, centered on the ‘Coram man’ who wanders the countryside glibly and deceivingly promising unwed mothers that he will deliver their babies to the Coram Foundling Hospital.

We read it together, hooked by the dark tale of cruelty to children and the boys that overcame their tragic beginnings.

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Sugar: “the most pleasant, salubrious, and useful vegetable to mankind”

11 December 2017 1 Comment

Sue Wootton

In 1752, the London-based Gentleman’s Magazine published a review of an essay on sugar. The essay contained reports drawn from the Transactions of the Royal Society, and proved, concluded the reviewer, that sugar is “the most pleasant, salubrious, and useful vegetable to mankind.”

He went on:

A Dr Slare … relates that his Grandfather, who was a great eater of sugar, had all his teeth in his mouth at 80, strong and firm; never had any pains or soreness in his gums or teeth, which in 3 years came out, and he had a new set; and his hair grew darker, and he continued in health and strength till 100. The Great Duke of Beaufort, who died in 1702 aged 80, used to eat a pound of sugar daily. Being opened his viscera were as sound as a person of 20; never troubled with coughs, and had his teeth firm; his housekeeper gave this as a reason:

‘That which preserves apples and plums
will also preserve life and lungs.'”

“A Prescription for Action”

4 December 2017 1 Comment

Tree Cocks

A Prescription for Action: The Life of Dr Janet Irwin by Susan Currie tells the fascinating life story of New Zealand born and trained Janet Irwin, medical doctor and social activist.

Born in 1923, Janet’s childhood in the Hokianga was free-ranging, but not without significant challenges, which may have influenced her subsequent interests in medicine. From her mother, Lucy, Janet inherited a voracious appetite for reading. Her father, “Doc Smith” (or “GM” as he was also known) was a legendary and revered doctor in the Hokianga in the early part of the twentieth century, when life there was remote and co-operation arose out of shared hardship. He had come from a farming background in Scotland and, like other early settlers in the area, he could be described as having been “successful in villainy, public service and philanthropy”: he was not above breaking the law in pursuit of what he considered the greater good. He was also charming, warm and empathetic, characteristics shared by his daughter. GM was an iconoclast, as was Janet, who had the gift of forcefully challenging ideas without creating offense.
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Six months in a grey gown: an epidemic of rheumatic fever

30 October 2017 4 Comments

Beatrice Hale

child with rheumatic fever — Erythema marginatum on the back of a child with acute rheumatic fever.

When I was nine-going-on-ten – nearly 70 years ago! – I was hospitalised for six months with rheumatic fever. There was an epidemic in Aberdeen, Scotland, at the time. And there were two long wards of children. Those of us with rheumatic fever had grey gowns, and those of us with something else had red gowns. I never discovered quite what all those something elses might be.

Two boys, one in red and one in grey, stand out in my memory. Tommy Nobbs had a red gown. He had the bed opposite mine, across the central passageway, so I always had a fairly good idea of what he was up to. He was probably seven or eight, and mischievous. He did not like being in hospital, nor did he like staying in bed most of the time. He was allowed to move around a bit, and was directed to the children’s room, with its toys and books, and sometimes to the ward kitchen. But these weren’t enough for our Tommy. He used to lie angelically in bed, waiting until the nurses were occupied in other areas. Then he’d squirm out of his bed and slide under other beds, poking the unhappy occupant. We couldn’t yell at him, because that would have brought the staff running, and result in DISCOVERY.

Silverstream Hospital and the Marines

16 October 2017 6 Comments

Susanna (Susi) Williams

When we talk about World War 2, we usually tell the stories of people, but I would like to highlight the role of Silverstream Hospital in saving soldiers’ lives and connecting New Zealanders with Americans at a time when New Zealanders felt very vulnerable to the threat of invasion by the Japanese. Japanese military successes in early 1942, especially the fall of Singapore, had made the possibility of an invasion of New Zealand very real. In this context the presence of two Marine divisions was welcomed by the New Zealand government. With the Marines here, New Zealand would be safer, our own soldiers could stay in North Africa, and New Zealand could be a base for American operations against Japanese-occupied Islands in the South Pacific.

Marines receiving Purple Heart, Silverstream Hospital 1943 — Colonel J H Nankivell, United States Military Attache in Wellington, handing citation orders to United States Marines receiving the Purple Heart decoration for gallantry at the United States Naval Base Hospital in Silverstream, Upper Hutt, 31 January, 1943. Image courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library.

Dr Emily Siedeberg-McKinnon’s account of the history of maternity care in Dunedin

9 October 2017 Leave a Comment

Dr Emily Siedeberg-McKinnon

No records appear to have survived of the pioneering work in training midwives carried out at St Helens Hospital in Dunedin. The St Helen’s Hospitals provided early women doctors with a secure base and regular salary which was sometimes hard to achieve in general practice. Dr Emily Siedeberg-McKinnon wrote the following account of its initial years, which were subject to controversy. The account was retrieved from a storage box at the Dunedin Pioneer Women’s Hall by historian-in-residence Rachael Fraser, and edited for publication on Corpus by Dr Barbara Brookes.

Liberal Premier, Richard John Seddon established the first State Maternity Hospital in Wellington in June 1905 and called it St. Helens Hospital after the town of his birthplace In England. The hospitals were to cater for working men whose wives earned less than £4 per week and were to provide training for state-registered midwives, under the 1904 Midwives Registration Act.