Sickness
A dead victim of cholera In Sunderland 1832
Lithograph with water colour. IWG (lithographer’s monograph) Wellcome Collection
Attribution 4.O International (CBT 40)
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Ill-health played a part in the lives of these women. You can access the stories by clicking on the women's names below.
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Here are some resources to help with this topic:
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Abel-Smith, Brian The Hospitals: 1800-1948: a study in social administration in England and Wales Heinemann (1964)
Black, N Walking London's Medical History Royal Society of Medicine Press (2006)
Cummings, Juliana Medicine in the Middle Ages: surviving the times Pen and Sword (2021)
Dainton, Courtney The Story of England’s Hospitals London Museum Press (1961)
Few, Janet ’Til Death Us Do Part: causes of death 1300-1948 Unlock the Past (2015)
Grundy, Joan A Dictionary of Medical and Related Terms for the Family Historian Swansong Publications (2006)
McGann, Stephen Flesh and Blood: a history of my family in seven sicknesses Simon and Schuster (2018)
Norman, Ben A History of Death in Seventeenth Century England Pen and Sword (2020)
Read, Sara and Evans, Jennifer Maladies and Medicine: exploring health and healing 1540-1750 Pen and Sword (2017)
Ryan T The History of Queen Charlotte's Lying-In Hospital (1885)
Webb, Cliff An Index of London Hospitals and their Records Society of Genealogists (2002)
Wills, Simon How our Ancestors Died: a guide for family historians Pen and Sword (2013)
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The Historical Hospital Admissions Records’ Project
Hospitals, Asylums and Sanatoriums (worldwide) from Cyndi’s List
Medical Officer of Health Reports
Medical Officer of Health Reports for London boroughs from 1848-1972
Lilian Bell, later Lilian Birkett 1890-1913, from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland - No Descendants, Sickness, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 2 minute read.
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Patience Bray 1832-1849, from Liskeard, Cornwall – Accident, Disability, No Descendants, Sickness, Schools for the Deaf (Exeter). 8 minute read.
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Ann Marie Brightmer, later Ann Marie Lovell 1819-1894, from Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk – Sickness, 1819. 10 minute read.
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Jane Burridge, later Jane Ball 1866-1932, from Stafford, Staffordshire – Sickness, Women at Work, Clark's Signature Books. 4 minute read.
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Kate Coombs 1862-1882, from Falmer, Sussex – Lawbreaking, No Descendants, Sickness, Dorchester Prison. 8 minute read.
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Susannah Metcalf Curl, later Susannah Metcalf Starling 1819-1848, from Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk – Accident, Illegitimacy, Sickness, 1819. 5 minute read.
Jessie Franklin aka Jessie Gray aka Jessie Richardson aka Jessie Graham aka Lilian Newlands c.1870-?, from Bermondsey, Surrey - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Mental Health, Prostitution, Sickness, Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women. 8 minute read.
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Florence 'Florrie' Greaves, later Florence Wharton 1865-1941, from Barrow, Lincolnshire – Child Mortality, Sickness. 6 minute read.
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Esther or Edith Hartley c.1889-1969, from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland - Accident, No Descendants, Sickness, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 4 minute read.
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Lily Hymers 1880-1903, from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland- No Descendants, Sickness, Suicide, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 4 minute read.
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Rebecca Jenkerson, later Rebecca Hudson, afterwards Rebecca Rix 1819-1865, from Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk – Child Mortality, Illegitimacy, Poverty, Sickness, 1819. 25 minute read.
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Betty Kershaw 1832-1877, from Leeds, Yorkshire - Disability, Domestic Abuse, Lawbreaking, Mental Health, Murder, Sickness. Warning, this story includes an account of domestic abuse. 12 minute read.
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Mary Mallett, later Mary Dunn, then Mary Braund 1846-1901, from Alwington, Devon - Sickness. Warning, this story includes a description of a post mortem. 2 minute read.
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Marjorie O’Brien, aka Valerie St. Quentin, aka Marjory Swan c.1870-?, from Bristol, Gloucestershire - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Sickness, Farmfield Reformatory for Inebriate Women. 5 minute read.
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Minnie O’Shea c.1854-1916, from Cork, Ireland – Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Sickness, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 20 minute read.
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Margaret Victoria Potts 1884-1945, from North Shields, County Durham – Illegitimacy, Sickness, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 3 minute read.
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Sarah Ann Sadler, later Sarah Ann Spibey 1842-1844, from Whitchurch, Shropshire - Mental Health, Poverty, Sickness. 7 minute read.
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Margery Sample 1889-1912, from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland - No Descendants, Sickness, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 4 minute read.
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Margaret Scott 1867-?, from Edinburgh, Scotland - No Descendants, Sickness, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 2 minute read.
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Winifred Sullivan c.1870-? from Wandsworth, Surrey - Alcoholism, Lawbreaking, Poverty, Sickness, St. Joseph’s Inebriate Reformatory. 4 minute read.
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Ethel Maud Thorp 1890-1901, from Milstead, Kent – Disability, No Descendants, Sickness, Schools for the Deaf (Margate). 3 minute read.
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Margaret Anderson Watkins later Margaret Anderson Moffat 1874-1966, from South Shields, Durham – No Descendants, Sickness, Women at Work, Fleming Memorial Hospital. 5 minute read.
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In addition, a number of the stories on our Fleming Memorial Hospital page relate to sickness,