Resource

The need to isolate those with a contagious disease has long been understood, and “pest houses” or “plague houses” date back to the 1400s. In response to the Great Plague of 1665 Charles-II stipulated that every parish must identify a house for isolation of those with the “pestilence”. Specialist isolation hospitals were introduced in London in the late 18th century, and elsewhere in the 19th century. However, most contagious diseases have always been treated at home.

Alnwick Dispensary was established in 1815, and had become an infirmary in 1849. Alnwick Union Workhouse was built on Wagonway Road in 1841, with a hospital at the eastern end of the site. It is well-known that Alnwick dealt with a serious outbreak of Cholera in 1849. We begin the story of Alnwick’s Fever Hospital a generation later, in the late 1860s. Back then some in Alnwick who caught a contagious disease might be treated on a charitable basis: in either the infirmary, or in the workhouse. Most would organise their own treatment and care at home.

At that time, in Alnwick, the idea of establishing a separate Fever Hospital was controversial. Some felt that the infirmary provided all the care necessary. Some were concerned that the resources needed to build and run a Fever Hospital would divert medical staff, and donations away from other causes. However, the greatest anxiety was that a Fever Hospital in Alnwick would attract infection into town. People feared that, during an epidemic, patients with contagious diseases would arrive in Alnwick from the surrounding countryside and become a burden on the town. The doctors and other medical staff who treated them would spread the infection to their other patients. Trade would suffer as people from surrounding areas stayed away to avoid the the risk of becoming infected themselves.

In 1871 the Infirmary was both dispensing medication and treating infectious diseases. There was a recognition that having these two functions in one building was not ideal, when people ought to be isolated. However, the combination reflected the original charitable purpose. Governors were divided on how best to proceed, and they rejected the proposal to establish a separate Fever Hospital by small majority on a vote of 22:17.

As time went on, various alternatives were considered. One way of isolating infection was to acquire a temporary “Iron Hospital”. Currogated iron structures, such as this, could be erected quickly, retained for long enough to deal with an epidemic, then removed when they were no longer necessary. That idea was rejected on the basis that it was impractical. The suppliers of such hospitals were in London – too far away.

The next important change was that the Public Health Act of 1875 allowed a local authority to establish a Fever Hospital. In 1877 the Rural Sanitary Authority suggested to the Alnwick Board of Health that they join forces to do this. They were rebuffed. In 1880 an independent committee advised that Alnwick needed to make some provision for isolating contagious diseases, but found it impractical to introduce a fever ward within the existing infirmary. Nothing was done.

Then in 1885, there was an event that helped to shift opinion. A railway navvy working on the Alnwick / Cornhill branch at Edlingham was diagnosed with Scarlet Fever. There was nowhere to isolate him. No Fever Hospital had been established, and there was no fever ward in the Alnwick Infirmary. He had to be accomodated in Alnwick Workhouse – where he could not be isolated.

It was clear that failing to make provision would not keep infection away from Alnwick. Within 18 months a site for a fever hospital had been identified, in a field off the Wagonway. The Duke agreed to provide the land, and the necessary approvals were obtained from the Medical Officer of Health, Local Government Board and Government Inspector.

The site was reasonably accessible from the town, but not close to the housing that existed at the time. Nevertheless, over 100 inhabitants of Duke Street, East and West Parade signed a petition objecting to the location. The objectors lived close to an existing hospital at the workhouse, and an Auction Mart. They were a similar distance from the Gas Works. The petitioners were not influential – only half were ratepayers. Similar objections were clearly going to arise, whatever site was chosen. So in September 1886 it was decided to proceed. Plans were drawn up, and funding obtained in the form of a loan of £1,050. The Fever Hospital was ready to be occupied in 1888.