Infirmary

From Chester Wiki

Chester has had several hospitals of which the most significant in the history of medicine was possibly the Infirmary (1755-1993). The infirmary stands on the site of a Roman Graveyard which would have been outside of the city walls prior to their extension in post-Roman times. The remains were described as follows in Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology (Liverpool, 1914, vol. vi, pp. 121-67) - as referenced by "Roman Britain in 1914", by Professor F. Haverfield

• Prof. Newstead describes and illustrates fully the thirty-five graves found in 1912-3 in the Infirmary Field, Chester, of which I gave a brief account in my Report for 1913 (p. 14). Save for a few first-century remains in one corner, the graveyard seems to be an inhumation cemetery, used during the second half of the second century—rather an early date for such a cemetery. I do not myself feel much doubt that some at least of the tombstones extracted in 1890-2 from the western half of the North City Wall were taken from this area. They belong to the first and second centuries and suggest (as I pointed out when they were found) that the Wall was built about A.D. 200. That, however, is just the date when the cemetery was closed; the seizure of the tombstones for the construction of the Wall would explain why the Infirmary Field has yielded no tombstones from all its graves. By the kindness of [42] Professors Bosanquet and Newstead I can add some illustrations of the graves themselves, from blocks used for Prof. Newstead's paper. Fig. 17 shows two of the simpler graves, fig. 18, two built with tiles. Fig. 19 illustrates some curious nails found with the bodies.

The Infirmary hosted John Haygarth from 1767 to 1798. In 1778 Haygarth helped found the Smallpox Society of Chester; the group advocated inoculation, an unpopular position at the time, and tried to educate the populace so as to avoid casual contraction of the disease. Only four years after this effort began, Chester's smallpox mortality rate had been reduced by almost 50%.

Other towns, such as Leeds and Liverpool, adopted the Society's methods. They were assisted by Haygarth's "Inquiry how to Prevent the Small Pox (1784)" which included statistical calculations supported by John Dawson. The book was translated into French and German and made Haygarth an internationally-known figure. Haygarth further elaborated his ideas in "Sketch of a plan to exterminate the casual small pox from Great Britain and to introduce general inoculation" (1793). Unfortunately, the plan to inspect homes and provide general inoculation was resisted in the increasingly conservative 1790s.

Notably, Edward Jenner only tested vaccination in 1796. Some years after Haygarth had published his "sketch". Is someone going to make the case that Haygarth was the real pioneer?

As befits the "most haunted city" - when the Royal Infirmary was still standing, the ghost of "Soldier Mackenzie" was well known. He was reputed to be a Scottish soldier admitted with serious wounds during the 1914-18 war. He died of his wounds, and is said to have been buried in a hospital shroud instead of his uniform. As a consequence, he is believed to be carrying out an eternal search for his missing uniform.

[edit] sources and links

• Virtual Stroll on The Infirmary
• John Haygarth, FRS (1740-1827): A Physician of the Enlightenment by Christopher Charles Booth
• John Haygarth's Inquiry
• Another page on the Infirmary
• An article by Miss H E Boulton
• More on Haygarth
• More on the Infirmary