Source: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol3/pp101-108
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 16:25:19+00:00

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In tracing the history of health in Cambridge we are once more confronted by the two characteristic governing motifs: geography and the presence of the University. Harrison said in 1577 'Cambridge standeth very well, save that it is somewhat low and near to the Fens, whereby the wholesomeness of the air there is not a little corrupted', (fn. 1) and the very slight elevation above sea-level makes the disposal of refuse by water a serious problem. From the first coming of the clerks, the concern of the University for the health of its members (fn. 2) has acted as a stimulus to raise hygienic standards, and has led to much fruitful co-operation between the two communities.
The King's Ditch gradually disappeared underground. By 1574 it was covered over in Mill Lane and part of Pembroke Street; in 1688 in Walls Lane (now Hobson Street). In 1798 Sidney ditch was covered in. In 1815 it was considered most unlikely that 'a very ancient sewer called the King's Ditch, and for the most part covered in' could have contributed to the epidemic of that year. (fn. 38) The remaining uncovered portions in Park Street, Tibbs Row, and the Botanical Garden on the site of the Austin Friars were built over in the 19th century; (fn. 39) the ditch can still be located under the science laboratories.
In 1815 it was supposed that the 'proper persons' would take steps to remove any obstruction in the ancient sewer that might cause trouble; (fn. 40) but those proper persons were no longer the Corporation. As in many other localities, (fn. 41) an authority had been constituted by Act of Parliament to see to the health and amenities for which the town government had in effect abandoned all responsibility. As the population increased and standards rose, conditions deteriorated, and the state of the roads was a public scandal. Gunning's description of Trumpington Street, with the channel of running water dividing the road into two unequal parts, has often been cited. (fn. 42) From 1769 onwards, when Tunwell's efforts met with violent opposition, (fn. 43) attempts were being made to establish a statutory authority. Finally in 1788 an Act was passed which superseded that of 1544. It created a body of Paving (later Improvement) Commissioners, who were empowered to pave, light, and cleanse the town, and to levy rates for those purposes. Seventeen were nominated in the Act; the remaining 52 were to be elected by the Corporation, the University, and the 14 parishes of Cambridge. (fn. 44) In 1794 18 more representatives of the University and 14 more of the parishes were added, bringing the number up to 99.
The census of 1851 reported the demolition of old tenements as well as the clearance due to the fire of 1849 in the Market Place, (fn. 51) but the opening up of the old yards and courts is best followed in the maps of the town. A fresh-water supply was obtained from Cherry Hinton in 1855, later supplemented from wells at Fulbourn and from Shardelowes near the Fleam Dyke. (fn. 52) Its exceptionally pure water-supply has never been known to fail, even in the driest summer. The foundation at this time of the Cambridge University and Town Water Company was one of the most important events in the sanitary history of the town. It now serves a very wide area, including much more than the City. (fn. 53) From 1864 onwards the question of a main drainage system was under hot discussion, schemes being propounded in 1864, 1866, 1870, 1871, and 1886. (fn. 54) The Rivers Pollution Act of 1876 made it more difficult, as the growth of the town made more unpleasant the use of the Cam for sewer outfalls. The Bursar of Trinity in 1884, one of the Improvement Commissioners since 1869, could say that 'a sweet pellucid stream was from a sanitary point of view more a luxury than a necessity'. (fn. 55) It had been felt for some time that the health authority was out of date. (fn. 56) As remodelled after the Local Government Act of 1835, it consisted of 88 members, 9 ex officio, 36 elected by the University and 43 by the Corporation and the 14 vestries; the quorum was seven. Under the provisions of the Public Health Act of 1875 the Improvement Commissioners eventually ceased to exist. Their powers were handed over to the Town Council on 9 November 1889, (fn. 57) and it was a new health authority that carried through the main drainage system in 1895. This solved the problem of the levels by a system of deep sewers and a pumping station two miles from the centre of the town.
Of the medieval hospitals, St. John's was for the poor rather than the sick. Sturbridge leper hospital ceased for lack of patients and that of St. Anthony and St. Eloy (Eligius) became an almshouse, as has been told elsewhere. (fn. 66) They were both outside the town ditch and the second, commemorated today in St. Anthony Street and St. Eligius Street, gave to the suburb outside Trumpington Gate the name of the Spittle End. It is a remarkable fact that a site so near by should have been chosen in the 18th century for Addenbrooke's Hospital.
Though Addenbrooke had set no geographical limits, the rules drawn up for the hospital secured that normally only poor Cambridgeshire patients should be received. (fn. 74) Three Cambridge parishes appear on the first subscription list, and three county parishes in 1768; (fn. 75) by 1803 all the Borough parishes and 52 country parishes were subscribers, of which six were in adjoining counties. (fn. 76) In the first year 106 in-patients and 157 out-patients were treated; the average annual number of in-patients rose from 282, 1770–9 to 379, 1780–9, but fell to 333 in the next decade. The average number of out-patients rose in the same period from 324 to 376. (fn. 77) Infectious and incurable patients were not received and patients were normally discharged after two months. (fn. 78) The subscribers' governing rights were exercised by a quorum of nine in quarterly general courts at which appointments were made, accounts passed, contracts approved and rules revised, whilst a weekly board, with a quorum of five, regulated the admission of patients and dealt with current business. (fn. 79) Town, county, and University co-operated in steady support, and two prominent members of the anti-Mortlock faction in the Corporation served the hospital long and faithfully, Alderman Newling as treasurer from 1770 to 1815 and Alderman Bond as a visiting surgeon from 1775 to 1803.
1. Harrison, Description of England, cited Cooper, Annals, ii. 349. Cf. ibid. i. 85 (1330).
2. See section on Town and Gown, p. 81.
3. See above, p. 3 and n. 26.
4. Cal. Pat. 1266–72, 196.
5. Cooper, Annals, i. 258, 268; Palmer, Camb. Boro. Docs. 148.
6. Palmer, Camb. Boro. Docs. p. xlvii; C.A.S. Comm. ix. 33.
7. See the maps, H. C. Darby, Cambridge Region, 163, 167.
8. Cooper, Annals, i. 134.
9. Ibid. i. 140 (1391).
10. Ibid. 148 (1402), 196 (1445). See also 173 (1425), 180 (1429), 238 (1490), 258 (1502).
11. Cooper, Annals, i. 209.
13. Ibid. ii. 250, 279, 332–8.
14. 'To Mr. Thomas Brackyn for putting forthe of a booke into the parliament howse for the pavinge of the streets in the Towne of Cambridge, vli.': ibid. i. 407.
15. Ibid. 409–12. The responsibility had previously rested with the Mayor and Bailiffs, who obtained grants of pavage, e.g. in 1290, 1301. Cal. Pat. 1292–1301, 336, 581.
16. See above, p. 14; Maitland, Township and Borough, 102 sqq.
17. Cooper, Annals, ii. 398, 521; iii. 127, 159, 252.
18. J. Saltmarsh, 'Plague and Economic Decline in the later Middle Ages', Camb. Hist. Jnl. vii. 31–32.
19. Cooper, Annals, iii. 41, 521. The worst years were 1574, 1593, 1610, 1625, 1630, 1638, 1665–6.
20. Ibid. ii. 322, 523; iii. 41, 228, 415.
21. Ibid. 110 (1556), 523 (1593); iii. 41 (1610).
22. Ibid. ii. 321 (1574).
23. Ibid. ii. 523 (1593); iii. 229 (1630).
25. Ibid. 465 (1656), 521 (1666).
27. Ibid. iii. 179 (1625); 222–3; v. 374–5 (1630); iii. 284 (1636); C.A.S. Comm. xvii. 121 (1666).
28. Cooper, Annals, ii. 322–3; Bodl. MS. Tanner 59a, f. 121.
29. For an account of Hobson, see W. D. Bushell, Hobson's Conduit, c. ix. Hobson's portrait in the Guildhall formerly hung in the 'Black Bull', Bishopsgate, London. It was given to James Burleigh, alderman and carrier of Cambridge, in 1787 and acquired by the Town in 1849.
30. Bodl. MS. 17754, f. 10.
31. Cooper, Annals, iii. 37–39. The structure of 1614 known as Hobson's Conduit (see Bushell, op. cit. 46–48) was removed from the market-place to the junction of Lensfield Road and Trumpington Street in 1855, and was replaced by a neo-Gothic erection commemorating Hobson among other Cambridge worthies, recently demolished.
32. Camb. Univ. Libr. MS. Baker, xxxvi, p. 224. For a full account of the scheme, with detailed maps at p. 34, see W. D. Bushell, Hobson's Conduit. A view showing the conduit is reproduced below, plate facing p. 119.
33. A survey of the Ditch in 1629 makes this clear: C.A.S. Comm. xi. 251–4.
34. J. W. Clark and A. Gray, Old Plans of Cambridge, pt. i. 109. But the name of the street is older: P.N. Cambs. (E.P.N.S.), 49.
35. 31st Rep. Com. Char. , pp. 128–30, H.C. (1837– 8), xxiv.
37. A. Gray, Town of Cambridge, 74–75; W. D. Bushell, Church of St. Mary the Great, 157; Hobson's Conduit, 95– 96.
38. T. V. Okes, Observations upon the Fever lately prevalent in Cambridge, 10.
39. Clark and Gray, Old Plans of Cambridge, pt. ii, Maps 6, 7.
40. T. V. Okes, op. cit. 11.
41. S. and B. Webb. Engl. Local Government; Statutory Authorities, p. civ.
42. Gunning, Reminiscences, i. 319. See map in Clark and Gray, op. cit., pt. ii.
44. Cooper, Annals, iv. 429.
48. Ranger says 1,032 houses were situated in 140 such alleys, passages or yards (see below); Custance's Map of 1798, in Clark and Gray, Old Plans of Cambridge, pt. ii, shows the layout.
49. Baths were available to the public for payment at Addenbrooke's Hospital.
50. Report of W. Ranger, Superintending Inspector of the Board of Health, 9 May 1849.
51. Darby, Cambridge Region, 172.
52. W. D. Bushell, Hobson's Conduit, 94; Cooper, Annals, v. 133.
53. Kelly's Dir. Cambs. (1933), 32.
54. See Camb. Univ. Libr., Clark Collection.
55. Cambridge Independent Press, 27 Dec. 1884. In 1860 a college squib suggested a long vacation diversion 'through a rank sewer drive a frail canoe'. Henry Sidgwick: a Memoir, by A. S. and E. M. S., 21.
56. Cooper, Annals, v. 189–90; Camb. Univ. Libr., Clark Collectn., Memorial from 130 Members of the Senate, 1884.
57. Kelly, Dir. of Cambs. (1937), 31. The Minute Bks. of the Commissioners are in Camb. City Archives, Shelf C, 36–39. For the Reports and Bye Laws of the Commissioners, 1851–89, see Camb. Univ. Libr., Clark Collectn.
58. An early instance is the Anti-Mendicity Society, founded in 1847 and reconstructed in 1879 under the influence of Henry Sidgwick as the Cambridge Charity Organization Society. In 1915 it took the name of the Central Aid Society: Henry Sidgwick, a memoir, 341–2: F.A. Keynes, By-ways of Cambridge History (2nd ed.), 102–3.
59. The Cambridge Improved Industrial Dwellings Co. (1878–1923) was a pioneer in providing 'decent tenements' at low rates: F. A. Keynes, op. cit. 106–9. The Cambridge Housing Society, founded in 1927 by members of the Christian Council of Witness, was responsible in the years 1928–51 for building 88 houses: Annual Rep. of the Society (1951). See also Camb. Rev. 21 Apr. 1939. The Borough Council built 2,731 houses in 1918–39, and 1,915 houses, 1945–51.
60. E. Jebb, Cambridge, a Brief Study in Social Questions, 91.
61. The national average was 1 in 31: Registrar-General's Statistical Rev. for 1949, i. 8, 68.
62. Ex inf. Lady Clapham.
63. Memorandum of Mar. 1951; F. A. Keynes, Gathering up the Threads, 89–90.
64. T. V. Okes, Observations upon the Fever lately Prevalent in Cambridge, 9.
65. A. Gray, Town of Cambridge, 197; the Cambridge death-rate in 1949 was 107 per 1,000 as against a national average of 11–8.
66. V.C.H. Cambs. ii. 303–8. The history of the other almshouses in the town is dealt with below, pp. 146–7.
67. Biographical details from St. Catharine's Society Mag. (1935), pp. 44 sqq.; (1937), pp. 61 sqq. Camb. Univ. Libr., Clark Collectn. contains a series of Reports and Rules of the Hospital, the main source for the following account.
68. Cooper, Annals, iv. 160.
69. Rep. of Addenbrooke Hospital for the year ending 1769.
70. Cooper, Annals, iv. 342.
71. Rep. of the Hospital for 1768–9.
72. Cooper, Annals, iv. 345–50.
73. B.M. Add. MSS. 35626–9.
74. Ibid. 35627, Letter of Ewin to Hardwicke, 1 Jan. 1784.
75. Rep. of the Hospital for 1768–9.
76. Rep. of the Hospital for 1802–3.
77. Figures from Annual Reps.
78. Rules and Orders of the Public Infirmary built by Addenbrooke, 1766.
79. Cooper, Annals, iv. 348.
80. In 1828, for instance, three 'great miscellaneous concerts' were held at Commencement in the Senate House. See Camb. Univ. Libr., Clark Collectn. Cam c. 828.23.
81. Of the visiting staff, Sir Isaac Pennington, physician since 1771; Bond and Okes, surgeons since 1775; and T. Thackeray, surgeon since 1781; of the resident staff, Joseph Gray, apothecary since 1783 and Mary Williams, matron since 1785; of the officers, Newling, treasurer since 1770, and R. Gee, secretary since 1775.
82. Later reduced to 12.
83. Rules confirmed by General Court, held 4 Oct. 1802.
84. Annual Reps. of the Hospital for 1800–1, 1801–2, 1802–3.
85. Annual Reps. for years indicated.
86. Cooper, Memorials, iii. 152.
87. Rep. of the Hospital for 1889.
88. Concise Guide to Camb. (Bowes & Bowes, 1951), 104–5.
89. Atkinson, Cambridge Described, 225; for a view of the hospital c. 1830 see below, plate facing p. 119.
90. Cooper, Annals, iv. 506.
91. Atkinson, Cambridge Described, 225. The original building is illustrated in Harraden's Cantabrigia Depicta; as enlarged in 1822, in Cooper, Memorials, iii. at p. 148; as enlarged in 1865, ibid. at p. 152.
92. Concise Guide to Camb. (Bowes & Bowes, 1951), 104–5.
93. Camb. Univ. Libr., Clark Collectn. pamphlets.
94. Reps. of the Hospital for 1938, 1939. There are now 28 governors.
95. Addenbrooke's Hospital Maintenance Fund, Final Rep. 1948.
96. Reps. of the Hospital for years indicated.
98. Ibid. for 1889. In 1950 there were 190 nurses and probationers in the hospital.
99. Summary Rep. of the Hospital for 1896.
100. Annual Rep. of the Hospital for 1939.
101. Kelly, Dir. of Camb. 1951.

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