Zeppelins, Charnwood Museum, and the Gilberts

The Story of Josiah Gilbert, 1866-1916

The anniversary of the night of 31st January 1916, when Zeppelin bombs were dropped on Loughborough, falls tomorrow. Last year I covered the story of Josiah Gilbert, which you can read below, or you can listen to it on the recording linked to. 

What struck me after researching and writing this story was that I remembered there was a reconstructed shop in the Charnwood Museum in Queen's Park, which in truth I'd not paid much attention to. On a recent visit I lingered around the shop from Belton that had been preserved in time, and realised that far from being a bit of a random exhibit (is Belton in Charnwood, or North West Leicestershire?), this was also a big part of Josiah's story.

_____________________

Josiah Gilbert was the sixth child of William and Jane, being the youngest child, until the re-marriage of his father, and birth of two subsequent children, Thomas and Lucy. Josiah's elder brother, James, who was William and Jane's second child, after daughter Sarah Ann, had been born in Osgathorpe in 1850, 16 years before Josiah, who was born in 1866, also in Osgathorpe.

James is central to Josiah's story. In 1851, the Gilbert family - James, his parents, William and Jane, and his older sister Sarah Ann - were living in Osgathorpe, with William's parents, Thomas and Ann. Thomas was a retired cordwainer, and William was a blacksmith. Still living in Osgathorpe in 1861, with his parents, James now has two younger siblings, Mary Jane, and Elizabeth, and father, William, is now a master blacksmith.

By 1871, James has now moved to Long Street, Belton, where he is living with his uncle and aunt, George and Emily Holloway, and their daughter, Emma. George is a grocer and grazier, and James is an apprentice grocer.  The Holloway family had been trading at the Long Street premises since before 1841: on the 1841 census, Benjamin and his wife Martha (formerly Gilbert) were listed as grocers and tea dealers, and in 1851, their niece, Mary Gilbert, aged 12, was listed as their servant. After Benjamin's death in 1860, wife, Martha continued to run the business, and on the 1861 census is listed as a grocer and farmer occupying 27 acres and employing 1 man and 1 boy. Son George is an assistant to the grocer, presumably having returned to help in the family business. In 1863 Martha re-married, to Jacques Husbands, a retired farmer, and on the 1871 census they are living next door to the shop where Martha had previously lived, and where George is now the grocer, and James Gilbert the grocer's apprentice. 

James becomes the grocer's assistant, and is still living and working with the Holloways at 10 Long Street, in 1881. In 1889, James marries Harriet Shaw, daughter of a cordwainer from Belton, and who had been a pupil teacher at the local school. 

The National School in Belton

By the time of the 1891 census, James and Harriet have a baby daughter, Harriet Ethel. James is now the grocer and baker, and James' brother, Josiah, now aged 25, is the grocer's and baker's assistant. George Holloway, his wife, and their two grown-up daughters have now moved to another property, and George is listed as a grazier. 

Like his brother, James, rising from being grocer's apprentice to grocer's assistant, Josiah does the same, and in 1901 he was still with James at the shop in Belton. James and Harriet now have another daughter, Gladys Elizabeth. However, Josiah marries Sarah Newbold in 1901 and the pair move to Markfield, where their son William Handley Josiah Gilbert is born. 

James, Harriet and their two daughters are still living and working at the Long Street grocery and bakers, along with a servant and an assistant. The 1911 census tells us that the property has 7 rooms. In 1916, Zeppelin bombs land on Loughborough, and James's younger brother, Josiah, now living on Empress Road in the town, is killed.

Josiah Gilbert's grave in Loughborough cemetery

Josiah Gilbert's grave in Loughborough cemetery

It is likely that James and his family continue to live on Long Street, Belton, and they are still there in 1921. In 1929 James dies, and in 1939 his youngest daughter Gladys is running the shop, while her mother and her older sister are helping. Harriet Gilbert died in 1960, and the shop closed a few years later. Harriet Ethel died in 1976, and Gladys in 1982. 

According to the Charnwood Museum, when the shop closed, it was left exactly as it had been until about 1982 when Gladys died. Inside, the display stands and shevling, the products and the advertisements were preserved, although the building itself was in a run-down state. Leicestershire Museums service made an inventory of the contents and furniture in the shop, and at some point, some of those contents were used to populate the reconstructed shop that is now in Charnwood Museum.

Part of the information board in Charnwood Museum

Some of the contents of the Gilbert's shop in Belton

Today the shop is now converted to a home, and the building that housed the bakery that was at the back is still standing. There is a pleasant walk that runs along the side of the building, between that and a converted church. Meanwhile, in Loughborough, on Empress Road, Josiah Gilbert's shop is still trading as a corner shop.

Long Street, Belton

Long Street, Belton

The former bakery from the roadside

The former bakery with the two roof windows, from the rear

The path from the road to the fields behind the property

Josiah Gilbert's corner shop on Empress Road, Loughborough

Although the Belton Long Street grocers is no longer a shop, there is a village stores a bit further up the road in what looks like a 1930s building.

The current corner shop in Belton

Continue on down to read and hear Josiah's own story.  

_________________

Recording of the story of Josiah Gilbert Part 1, and Part 2

S1: The Story of Josiah Gilbert, 1866-1916 - Script

S2: Let’s set the scene. Briefly, the locations which feature herein are:

Belton, an agricultural village 6 miles west of Loughborough. In 1861 there were 781 inhabitants, and this remains similar today.
 
Breedon-on-the-Hill, a small village around 11 miles from Loughborough. The population in 1863 was around 650, and today this has risen to just over 1,000.
 
Markfield is just over 6 miles south west of Loughborough. In 1086 it comprised 2 households. In 1863 the village had just begun quarrying local stone, and housed around 1,400 inhabitants, while today just over 5,500 people live there.
 
Osgathorpe had 8 households in 1086, and is an agricultural village 8 miles west of Loughborough. In 1863 there were 351 inhabitants, and this is increased slightly to just over 400 today.
 
Loughborough in 1086, comprised 39 households. In 1861, the large manufacturing and market town,  had a population of around 11,000, which has risen to in excess of 60,000 today.
 
In 1916 the country is in the midst of the First World War.

S3: William Gilbert had been born in Osgathorpe in 1819 and his wife, Jane Barsby, in Rothley in 1823. They were married at Breedon in 1848. William and Jane’s first child, Sarah Ann, was born the following year, and son, James, in 1850, both born in Osgathorpe. At the time of the 1851 census, William was a blacksmith and the family were living in Osgathorpe.   

S4: There followed the birth of another two daughters, Mary Jane and Elizabeth, and another son, William. Josiah Gilbert was baptised on 6th May 1866 in Osgathorpe, the sixth child of William, listed as a farmer, and Jane. Sadly, Jane died in 1866 and William married Elizabeth Hodgkinson two years later and the birth of Thomas and Lucy followed. Sadly, Elizabeth appears to have died around 1870.

S5: The 1871 census return for Osgathorpe lists the widower, William, a blacksmith and farmer, living with six of his eight children. Sarah Ann had married and was living just down the road, and James, now 21, was living with his uncle, a grocer and grazier, on Long Street, Belton, where James was the grocer’s apprentice. The three older children, Mary, Elizabeth and William, were listed on the census return as scholars.

S6: By 1881, the family was living on what was listed as ‘Village Street’ Osgathorpe, where daughter Elizabeth was housekeeping for the family, son William was now working as a railway clerk, and the three younger children were scholars. Meanwhile, James had risen to the position of assistant grocer at his uncle’s grocery shop in Belton.

S7: By 1891 Josiah was living with James and James’s family – wife, Harriet and 4-month-old daughter, Harriet Ethel – on Long Street, Belton, where James was a grocer and baker, and Josiah was his older brother’s assistant.

S8: In 1901 James and Harriet’s family had grown, to include another daughter, Gladys Elizabeth, and Josiah, now aged 35 was still assisting his brother in the grocery and bakery business.

The 1901 census was taken on 31st March, just three weeks before the first banns of marriage between Josiah Gilbert and Sarah Newbold, both born in Osgathorpe, was read. Following the posting of a further two banns, on 28th April and 5th May, the couple were married: Josiah was aged 35, and Sarah, 30.

S9: Josiah and Sarah celebrated the birth of their son, William Handley Josiah Gilbert, on 23rd February, 1902, in Markfield, the birth being registered at Market Bosworth.

S10: In 1903 Josiah was listed on the electoral register as the owner of a dwelling house on Main Street Markfield. This listing continues into subsequent years, until 1911, and the family appear on the 1911 census return, living on Main Street, Markfield, where they live and work from the same property. The business is a grocery and bakery store, where Sarah assists her husband, while son William is a scholar.  Sarah’s place of birth is noted as Belton, rather than Osgathorpe.

S11: In 1912, Josiah appears on the register of electors as he now owns a dwelling house, no.29 Cumberland Road, Loughborough. His ownership of no.65 Cumberland Road is confirmed by an entry in the local register of electors for 1913.

S12: 29 Cumberland Road, Loughborough

S13: 65 Cumberland Road, Loughborough

S14: On 16th January 1913, Josiah Gilbert, baker and grocer, now of no.65 Cumberland Road, makes a will, leaving household furniture and effects, money in the bank (Notts and Nottinghamshire Bank, and Barclays in Leicester) the property on Main Road, Markfield (which he held on mortgage) as well as all other properties ‘wheresoever and whatsoever’ in his name, to his wife, Sarah. This will was witnessed by neighbours on Cumberland Road – Samuel Ward at no.55, and immediate neighbour, Isaac Stedmanees, at no. 63.

So, from what we have gathered so far, not only is Josiah a baker and grocer, he also seems to be a property owner, clearly owning more than one house.

S15: Then the 1914 local register of electors reveals that Josiah also now has a property on Empress Road, a dwelling house. This property, no.77, is also a shop, and Josiah is still there running the corner grocery shop at the time the 1915 register was taken.

S16: Corner shop at 77 Empress Road, Loughborough

S17: The houses in the area in which the shop was situated had grown up around the extensive Herbert Morris factory, previously known as Herbert Morris and Bastert, and which had moved to Loughborough from Sheffield in 1897. Between 1890 and 1930 the number of employees rose from 50 to around 2,000, making Herbert Morris one of Loughborough’s biggest employers. It is reasonable to suppose that any local corner shop sited opposite such a large factory with so many workers likely to visit, would ensure a thriving business and make a good living for its proprietor.

S18: Part of the Herbert Morris factory

S19: However, the new year of 1916 proved catastrophic for the Gilbert family, as, indeed, it did for many other families and individuals in Loughborough.

S20: At around 8pm on the night of January 31st 1916, a low rumble could be heard in the distance, which became louder and louder, until it reached its height over the town of Loughborough. Although there had been some degree of warning, and the local police had sent word around that all lights were to be extinguished, Zeppelin L20, which was ultimately heading for Liverpool, found its first target of Sheffield – or so the captain thought.

Zeppelins are notoriously difficult to navigate, and given the weather conditions and a troublesome engine, L20 had actually only reached Loughborough, having been completely unaware of the larger town of Leicester, whose lights had been extinguished. Attracted by lights that were still shining in Loughborough, L20 dropped its first bomb close to the Technical Institute, which actually fell in the yard of the nearby Crown and Cushion pub, causing the death of Mrs Martha Shipman.

The second bomb fell on The Rushes, causing complete havoc, and the death of William Adcock, Joe and Alice Adkin, and Ethel Higgs. Making its way from the centre of the town, towards the canal, and attracted by the bright lights shining through the glass roof of a factory that had only recently benefitted from electric lighting, the next bomb dropped landed in an orchard on Thomas Street, thankfully killing no-one. The final bomb dropped by Zeppelin L20 fell closer to the factory, and shrapnel flew into a nearby shop, killing, amongst others, the proprietor.

Leaving Loughborough townsfolk shocked and scared, and considering its job of bombing Sheffield done, the airship departed, heading to Liverpool. However, it  actually bombed Burton-on-Trent. The Herbert Morris factory on Empress Road, Loughborough, lying close to the canal, had been the target of the fourth bomb that dropped, killing Mary Anne Page, her son, Joseph, and daughter Elsie, and Arthur Christian Turnill.

S21: Shrapnel marks on Empress Road, Loughborough

S22: In the attack on Loughborough by Zeppelin L20, 10 people were killed, 12 people badly injured and many more suffered minor injuries.

S23: The centenary memorial plaque on The Rushes

S24: Josiah Gilbert, aged 49, was the shopkeeper who was killed by flying shrapnel, dying in the arms of his 14-year-old son, William.

S25: His distraught family posted a piece in the local newspaper, The Loughborough Echo, in February 1916, thanking all their kind friends for their sympathy. Sarah and son, William posted further memorials to Josiah on the anniversary of his death, in 1917, 1918 and 1919 -and probably beyond.

S26: Between 1920 and 1923 Sarah was registered as living at no.65 Cumberland Road.

S27: By 1924, Sarah and William had moved to no.17 Storer Road, where they both continued to live until Sarah’s death.

S28: 17 Storer Road, Loughborough (right)

S29: William stayed in the Storer Road property until around 1965 when he went to live at no.1 Beaufort Avenue, Loughborough, where he remained until his death.

S30: On 31st January 1970, William Handley Josiah Gilbert died. This was the 54th anniversary of the death of his father, Josiah Gilbert, on the night of the Zeppelin attack on Loughborough.

___________________  

S31: Sources consulted:
Due to lockdown, sources have mostly been found online and include:
Census returns, bmd, electoral registers, & newspaper reports accessed via Ancestry & FMP
The Loughborough Echo
A more detailed bibliography is available on request

Lynne Dyer, 29 January 2021, updated 23 April 2021

____________________ 

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). Zeppelins, Chsrnwood Museum, and the Gilberts. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/01/zeppelins-charnwood-museum-and-gilberts.html   [Accessed 30 January 2022]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne

Loughborough Sewerage Works

The Hermitage Brook, once taking waste from the early sewers

Last week we had a look at the second part of Dr Corcoran’s report as Medical Officer, to the Council which acted as the Urban Sanitary Authority for Loughborough. This report was published in January 1895 and covered the year 1894 and in it, Dr Corcoran referred to the issue of sewage disposal.

As early as 1846, a letter appeared in the Leicester Journal of 16th October, written by someone who signed themselves “Miseris Succurrere Disco”. I have no idea who this person was, but I do know the quote comes from the poet, Virgil, and its meaning today is something like “I learn to help those in need.”

The gist of that letter was to bring to the attention of the town authorities the state of Loughborough’s sewage and drainage, and the need for immediate improvements. Apparently, there was no underground drainage, and practically every street had open gutters on both sides, which were usually full of what the letter-writer described as “black, stagnant, filthy fluid”, and even though it was occasionally washed away by the rain, because there was an insufficient supply of water, and no watercourses to wash it far away, the liquid just built up elsewhere.

In truth, a small brook in part of the town did carry some of the filth away, but as it was uncovered, and was used as a dumping ground for all kinds of animal and vegetable matter, it was actually rather offensive, and the writer proclaimed that calling it a brook was quite a misnomer. Another part of the town, centred around Leicester Road, was very occasionally cleared, but the debris was swept into the middle of the road, where it just left. The writer also complained about the state of parts of the town which were crowded and dirty, and where the yards were filled with heaps of filth and refuse.

“Miseris Succurrere Disco” continues with a description of all the different illnesses that had recently been present in the town, and suggested that there should be an inspector of public nuisances, better regulation of sewage and drainage, and measures put in place to supply enough water for that purpose.

The following table shows deaths during the 6-month period, March to September, 1846, which according to the writer were the 6 healthiest months of the year, and as such during that time there were probably fewer than the usual expected number of deaths:

Disease	No. of deaths
Scrofula and mesenteric disease	16
Consumption (Tuberculosis)	27
Diseases of the lungs	3
Debility	17
Fever	12
Smallpox	55
Disease of digestive organs and bowels	20
General decay	13
Rheumatism and disease of the Heart	4
Diseases of the brain and nervous system	20
Diseases of urinary organs	3
Unknown	4
Total	194

“Miseris Succurrere Disco” suggests that there is a connection between the presence of sewage and disease, particularly substantiated by the number of people succumbing to fever and smallpox on a street off Leicester Road without any drainage, where 64 people contracted the illness, 10 of whom died. The writer continues, stating that in their opinion, deterioration in health and physical strength is just the start of a series of evils that might follow, which include, pauperism, destruction of social happiness, moral degeneration, and crime. In support of this the writer refers readers to a report by Her Majesty’s Commissioners on the Health of Towns, which was set up in 1843, building on the work of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, and the work on urban public health, particularly on water and sewerage matters, that had been done by Edwin Chadwick [i]. This eventually led to the creation of the Health of Towns Association, active from 1844 to 1849.   

The writer concludes that once the measures they suggest are put into place, the town’s inhabitants would experience “renewed vigour of mind and body, he would be able to work enough to support himself and family without becoming a burden to the parish; his home, no longer the squalid abode of dirt, and disease, would become the scene of all his enjoyments; the public house would be forsaken, social comfort restored, his spirit of independence would revive, and he would rise in the scale of intelligence and morality. Thus, the number of paupers being reduced, the expense of the parish for their maintenance would be diminished, and its power of aiding the necessary means of preserving public health would be increased.”

Later, in 1849, William Lee, the Superintending Inspector, wrote a report on his initial investigation into the sewerage, drainage, and supply of water, and into the sanitary conditions of the inhabitants of the parish of Loughborough [ii], which he presented to the General Board of Health. Although the Public Health Act was introduced to the town in 1850, and a Local Board set up, it wasn’t until 1852, that real improvements were begun to be considered, when the new Rector, Henry Fearon [iii], began corresponding upon the matter, with the Leicester Journal. Two years later, in 1854, an improved drainage system was introduced, although this caused other problems, particularly with the water supply, which eventually led to Fearon’s involvement in providing a piped clean water supply to the town, and the installation of the Fearon Fountain in the marketplace, in 1870.

The Fearon Fountain in the marketplace

Meanwhile, between the introduction of improved drainage and the clean water supply in Loughborough, over in Cheltenham, in 1865, the Cheltenham Waterworks Company’s Bill for obtaining a supply of water from the River Severn came before the Parliamentary referees. There was concern expressed about the river being used as drainage for the town’s ‘filth’, and comparisons with other places were made. This included Birmingham, where The Tame received the drainage from the whole of the ‘Black Country’ but had never suffered from cholera, while nearby Coventry, which had a supply of perfect spring water, suffered badly with cholera. Perhaps this was because the spring water was cloudy and dirty-looking, especially when compared with the clear water that emerged from the same stream about 10 miles away at Warwick – the water having purified itself on its 10-mile journey. A further, similar comparison was made between the black water that left Leicester, and the bright, clear water in Loughborough.

Loughborough may have benefitted from bright, clear water, but it is clear from a report in the Leicester Daily Mercury in March 1879, that the sewage situation in Loughborough had been a talking point for some time. An incident in Loughborough is described thus:

“A … laughable incident occurred just outside Loughborough. A party of ten, consisting of an equal number of ladies and gentlemen, were pitched from their conveyance into the extremely unsavoury ditch which pollutes the roadside. Nine were immersed above the knees in filth, and the tenth, endeavouring to climb the fence to escape the misfortune of his companions, gained the top, when a stake gave way, and he fell on his back. It is needless to say he can now speak from experience of the character of the Loughborough sewage matter.”

In 1887, the Clerk of the Trent Fishery Board wrote to the Loughborough Local Board about the sewage from Loughborough going into the River Soar, and that proceedings would be taken against the Loughborough Board, if the situation wasn’t addressed. In 1889 an investigation was undertaken into the arrangements for the disposal of sewerage from Kegworth, and it was reported that where Loughborough sewerage went into the River Soar, the water was as black as ink at times. Eventually, the Loughborough Town Council began to consider the problem in earnest, and in April 1891 were discussing the benefits – or otherwise – of a variety of disposal methods, the needs of such systems, and that an application for funds from the Local Board be made, to cover the cost of new intercepting sewers, and extension of existing outfall sewers, storm overflows etc.; settling tanks, sludge tanks, screens, pump well, conduits, and pumping plant; buildings, fencing, and contingencies, and land for the works.

Long story short, as they say, in 1892 a scheme was recommended to the Town Council, and work was begun in spring 1893. By the time of Dr Corcoran’s report in January 1895, the construction of the sewage works was well underway, and in October 1895, the works were formally opened, having cost around £20,000 – money well-spent.  

---

[i] Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain (1842–3)

[ii] Lee, William [1849]. Report to the General Board of Health on a Preliminary Inquiry into the Sewerage, Drainage, and Supply of Water, and the Sanitary Conditions of the Inhabitants of the Parish of Loughborough. Public Health Act (11 & 12 Vict., Chap. 63) 10-12 London: HMSO 

[iii] Rev. Henry Fearon became Rector of Loughborough in 1848, and remained in post until his death in 1885

______________________               

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). Loughborough sewerage works. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/01/loughborough-sewerage-works.html [Accessed 23 January 2022]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne

C is for Dr Corcoran of Loughborough Part 2

C is for Dr Thomas Francis Corcoran, Part 2

In last week’s post, Dr Corcoran’s report as Medical Officer to Loughborough, to the Council which acted as the Urban Sanitary Authority for the Borough of Loughborough, for 1894 covered such items as mortality, births, and the incidence of infectious diseases. In this, part 2, Dr Corcoran considers the water supply, scavenging, sewage and provides a series of reports upon miscellaneous things.  

WATER SUPPLY

The supply of water to the Borough by the Corporation Waterworks has been abundant in quantity, even this season of great scarcity of water, and the manner in which the Water Committee husbanded the supply during the long drought without any appreciable inconvenience to the inhabitants, deserves the highest commendation.

The water is usually of a very high standard of purity. I periodically make analyses of it, because every water supply is liable to vary in quality according to the rainfall and the condition of the surface from which it is collected. During August and September the quality of the water as indicated by analysis gradually deteriorated, but it never showed any evidence of dangerous pollution. I recommended that a systematic inspection of both Blackbrook and Woodbrook watersheds be made by a competent person. This inspection was made, and seven samples of water were taken at different points in the brooks. I made analyses of these samples, and two samples showed evidence of great organic pollution.

His Worship the Mayor, the Chairman of the Water Committee[i], the Town Clerk[ii], Borough Surveyor[iii] and myself made an inspection of a large portion of the watersheds, and found several possible sources of contamination of the brooks. I am of the opinion that it is very desirable that periodical inspections of the watershed should be made. The analysis of the water which I made at the end of the year shows that it has regained its usual standard of purity.

There are still instances in the town where the water supply is derived from pumps. Nine samples of suspected water from such pumps were submitted to me for analysis by the Inspector. Seven of these samples were condemned and two passed.

SCAVENGING

Since the beginning of the year, the Corporation have themselves had the Scavenging done, instead of as heretofore by a contractor.

The emptying of the pans as it is done now is not at all satisfactory; the closet pan is simply emptied into the card and put back into the frame without any cleansing whatever. The consequence is that they smell just as bad after being emptied as before.

If the pan system is to be adopted, it must be reduced to a system, that is to say, there must be two pans for each closet, the carts must be specially constructed for carrying pans, and start full with empty cleansed pans; then as a full pan is taken away bodily, not emptied until the place of disposal is reached, it is replaced by a clean empty one.

Then the pans for dry house refuse are frequently left in the open, so that in rainy weather they are half full of water. They ought always to be placed under cover.

There is another point I ought to mention in connection with dry house refuse, and that is, that householders should consume which house refuse as paper, rags, fish, bones, cabbage lease, potato peelings, etc., by burning them in the kitchen fire. In fact, there ought to be little except ashes and night-soil to remove.

SEWAGE DISPOSAL

As you are aware, satisfactory progress has been made during the year with the new sewage disposal works[iv], and it is expected that in a few months, that a complete system of sewage disposal, as well as an efficient destructor will be in full operation. I hope this Corporation will see its way to adding a steam disinfector to its list of apparatus.

Bishop Meadow Lock - close to the sewage works

MISCELLANEOUS

I have made several visits to workshops where women and children are employed, and found the bye laws fairly carried out. I have also made visits to tailoring and other workshops, from which wearing apparel in course of construction is taken to the operatives’ home, and compared the list of operatives’ names and addresses with my infectious diseases register. I found that care was taken not to send such garments to home where there was illness. I have also visited slaughter houses, common lodging houses, factories and workshops, to see that the regulations with regard to sanitary matters were observed.

I have alone, and accompanied by the Inspector, made periodical visits to the fish and meat market. Two lots of unwholesome food, namely – unsound fish, were seized and condemned. Legal proceedings were instituted and convictions obtained.

I have also with the Inspector made inspections of overcrowded families, dirty houses, houses unfit for human habitation, etc..

From the Inspector’s report will be seen details of the sanitary work done during the year.”

Dr Corcoran ends his report in the same positive tone with which he began it:

 “The health of the town, and its general sanitary condition at the end of the year was very good, as with the exception of eight mild cases of scarlet fever, it was quite free from infectious disease.

I have the honour to be, gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

Thomas Corcoran, Medical Officer of Health

25, Victoria Street, Loughborough

26 January 1895”

Appended to the report is a set of tabulated statistics, although they seem to appear as text, so I have converted these to tables for ease of reading.

Mortality from all causes at subjoined ages:

Age	No. of deaths
All Ages	317
Under 1 year	107
1 and under 5	28
5 and under 15	13
15 and under 25	13
25 and under 65	83
65 and upwards	73

Included in the above figures are 11 people who died at the Workhouse or Hospital who did not belong to the Borough. 

Mortality from subjoined causes:

Age	Cause of death	No. of deaths
Under 5 years	Membranous croup	1
	Whooping cough	9
	Diarrhoea	16
	Phthisis	1
	Bronchitis, pneumonia, and pleurisy	42
	Injuries	2
	All other diseases	64
5 years and upwards	Puerperal fever	1
	Erysipelas	1
	Diarrhoea	1
	Phthisis	14
	Bronchitis, pneumonia, and pleurisy	20
	Heart disease	30
	Injuries	15
	All other diseases	100

---

[i] The Mayor for 1893-1895 was Alderman W.A. Cartwright, manufacturer and spinner of merino underwear, an owner of the local hosiery firm of Cartwright and Warner, who was living at Limehurst House in 1891. If my reading of this is right – and my research seems to indicate it is – Cartwright was also the Chairman of the Water Committee.

[ii] John Jarrett, was the Town Clerk. At the time of the 1891 census he was living at 10 Forest Road, and gave his occupation as “Town Clerk, Union Clerk, Superintendent Registrar, and School Board Councillor”.

[iii] Ambrose W. Cross was a civil engineer and held the post of Borough Surveyor. In 1891 he was living on Ashby Road.

[iv] These works were begun in 1893, and formally opened in October 1895. This new sewage works was situated adjacent to the canal, between the Swing Bridge, and Bishop Meadow Lock:

I have transcribed the report word-for-word, but have converted some of the numbers to tables, for ease of reading and comparison. Original Source: [Report 1894] / Medical Officer of Health, Loughborough Borough. Loughborough (England). Borough Council. 1894. Deposited at the Wellcome Collection Library and associated with a Creative Commons Licence 4. 

____________________________ 

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). C is for Dr Corcoran of Loughborough, Part 2. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/01/c-is-for-dr-corcoran-of-loughborough_02063455653.html    [Accessed 16 January 2022]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne