Page 6 | How on earth did they cope...

Theyshallnotgrowold · 2022-11-11T21:21:43+00:00

I've been researching my family tree and looking at the 1841 census got me thinking. The woman at home, seven kids under 10 crammed into two rooms, husband out all hours scraping a living. No accessible healthcare, heating, bathroom, electric, running water, modern appliances, convince food - the list goes on. I'm in awe of them.

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · 05/01/2023 09:33

They aren't just medical books, BTW. There is a fair bit about her personal life and that of her fellow nurses, but also in those days patients stayed in hospital far longer - so she got to know them and their lives in ways medical staff these days don't.

caringcarer · 05/01/2023 10:16

My Dad was born in 1920. He weighed an ounce less than 2lb. The doctor who came out to deliver him 2 month's early told my Gran, who already had 8 children, he's the runt, he'll be dead by the morning. Just leave him at the bottom of the bed and I'll call to confirm his death in the morning. My gran breast fed him every 2 hours just a little milk and kept him warm. He survived against all odds. He also survived fighting in WW2 when most of his peers died. My Gran used to say he was as tough as old boots and nothing could kill him. In those days babies dying was an everyday occurrence and no one had expected my Dad to live.

woodhill · 05/01/2023 18:19

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · 05/01/2023 09:30

The Jennifer Worth books that Call the Midwife are based on give an idea of how late this sort of life carried on.

For a slightly earlier view, Evelyn Prentis was a nurse who began her training in the 1930s - her books cover the period from then (A Nurse in Time) through to her last job in the 1970s as matron of a 'home for distressed gentlewomen' as a PP mentioned above (which is not a workhouse/asylum type institution but almhouses - which were the precursor to sheltered housing; cheap housing for thr elderly, with an onsite caretaker or matron who made daily visits, helped with maintenance and daily tasks, and ones with a matron also gave some level of personal care if needed).

I read the first couple of her books as a teenager and enjoyed them, but going back as an adult I saw an awful lot more between the lines. Like the 'busy little clinic' tucked away near the maternity ward that is (I now clearly see) dealing with the aftermath of illegal abortions. She moved around several types of hospital - a general training one, then a TB San in the 30s, moves to London during the war, and back to a busy general hospital in the 60s just as everything is changing in both the NHS and wider world. It's a fascinating view of the world my grandmother would have known - she had a very similar start growing up in a tiny rural place and becoming a nurse in the 1930s.

Yes that's so interesting, my dgm was also a nurse in those times

Namechangedforthisonetoday · 06/01/2023 09:15

caringcarer · 05/01/2023 10:16

My Dad was born in 1920. He weighed an ounce less than 2lb. The doctor who came out to deliver him 2 month's early told my Gran, who already had 8 children, he's the runt, he'll be dead by the morning. Just leave him at the bottom of the bed and I'll call to confirm his death in the morning. My gran breast fed him every 2 hours just a little milk and kept him warm. He survived against all odds. He also survived fighting in WW2 when most of his peers died. My Gran used to say he was as tough as old boots and nothing could kill him. In those days babies dying was an everyday occurrence and no one had expected my Dad to live.

Oh my goodness that is amazing, thank you for sharing. What a little fighter your dad was x