Sunday 9 January 2022

C is for Dr Corcoran of Loughborough

C is for Dr Thomas Francis Corcoran

An entry in ‘A-Z of Loughborough’ under the letter C, begins as follows:

“Thomas Francis Corcoran, born in Ireland, qualified to practice medicine in the early 1880s. Following this, Dr Corcoran moved to England, working first at Mansfield Woodhouse, and then in West Chelsea, before moving north to work first as the medical officer of health for the Rochdale Union, and then for Over Darwen.

Dr Corcoran came to Loughborough to take up the position of senior medical officer to the Medical Aid Association, based in Unity House…”

Unity House on Fennel Street
Back in 2014 I was lucky enough to be able to attend an open day that was held at Unity House, a building which was designed by Wille Thomas Hampton, and which opened in 1889. Following this visit I wrote a piece about Unity House for the blog, but at the time didn’t write anything about Dr Corcoran. In a later blogpost, I wrote about Dr Corcoran’s two daughters, Nora and Kathleen, who were Loughborough’s local Suffragettes.

Plaque commemorating Nora and Kathleen Corcoran
So, what of Dr Corcoran himself?

In his role as the Medical Officer of Health in Loughborough, Dr Corcoran authored a number of annual reports which were provided to the Council which acted as the Urban Sanitary Authority for the Borough of Loughborough. Let’s have a closer look at one of these[i], the one which reports on death, disease, and illness in Loughborough in the year ending 31st December, 1894[ii]. The report is 5 A4 pages long, and Dr Corcoran begins his report in a most encouraging tone:

“Gentlemen,

The health of the Borough has been exceptionally good during the year 1894. I have much pleasure in reporting that the death rate of this year is the lowest for an entire year which has ever been recorded in Loughborough. The Zymotic death-rate is also the lowest of which I can find any record. The greater healthiness of the town is also indicated by the diminished number of cases of infectious sickness notified during the year; these are less than one-third of the number notified in 1893.

MORTALITY

The number of deaths registered during the year was 317, but 11 of these deaths were persons not belonging to the Borough, who died at the Hospital and Workhouse. After deducting these we get the corrected mortality, which is 306, or a death rate of 15.9 per thousand of the population[iii], which is 3 per 1,000 below the average death rate of the last six years.  

The total number of deaths from Zymotic [infectious] diseases was 29. This is a Zymotic death rate of 1.5, which is only about half the average of the last six years.

The Zymotic deaths were as follows:

Cause of death

Number of deaths

Diarrhoea

17

Whooping Cough

9

Erysipelas

1

Puerperal Fever

1

Croup

1

BIRTHS

The total number of births registered was 586. This is an annual birth rate of 30.4 per thousand of population, which is about 1 per thousand below the average.

INFECTIOUS DISEASES NOTIFICATION

126 cases of infectious disease were notified during the year, against 471 in 1893. They were as follows: 

Disease

Cases in 1893

Cases in 1894

Difference

Small-pox

4

0

-4

Scarlet fever

400

92

-318

Diphtheria

3

2

-1

Croup

3

0

-3

Typhoid Fever

15

6

-9

Puerperal Fever

6

6

0

Erysipelas

40

20

-20

SMALL-POX

The town was quite free from this disease during the year. On June 4th a tramp … slept in the ‘Casual’ department of the workhouse; he went on to Leicester next day, where he was found to be suffering from small-pox. The casual wards [at Loughborough Workhouse] were forthwith disinfected at my suggestion.

SCARLET FEVER

There were 30 cases of this disease in an infectious condition in the Borough at the beginning of the year. The number of fresh cases steadily decreased to the end of November, when the town was to all appearances quite free from infectious disease; however, a mild case of two of scarlet fever must have remained unnoticed, for during the month of December eight fresh cases of scarlet fever were notified. They were all of a mild type, and are now convalescent. Strict isolation was carried out in each case. There was no death from this disease.

DIPHTHERIA

Only two cases of this disease were notified, as against three in 1893, 11 in 1892, and 22 in 1892. This steady diminution in the amount of diphtheria points to an improved sanitary condition of the town.

CROUP

This fatal complaint is closely allied to diphtheria. I am glad to be able to report that the town was quite free from it during the year.

TYPHOID FEVER

Six cases of this disease were notified. This, like diphtheria, is essentially a filth disease, and it is very satisfactory to notice how the number of cases has steadily diminished since 1890. When the Notifications Act came into operation, and since which time only we have had accurate information of the number of cases which have occurred.

In that year, 1890, from the 1st of March to the end of the year, 20 cases were reported; in 1891, the number fell to 14; in 1892 still lower, to eight; in 1893 there were 15 cases notified, eight of which were imported from Stanford [Stanford-on-Soar], leaving only seven for Loughborough; and this year, as I have stated above, the number is reduced to six, and of these, two were imported from Leicester, one to the workhouse and one to Granville Street. Of the four cases which originated in Loughborough, one was attributed to a filthy midden, one to a broken pan-closet, one to impure drinking water, and for the fourth there was no visible cause. In each case, insanitary conditions found existing were reported to the Highway and sanitary Committee, and orders made for remedying the same.

The cases were carefully isolated, and instructions given on the use of disinfectants, etc.. There was no spread from any of them, and all of them recovered satisfactorily.

PUERPERAL FEVER

Six cases of this disease occurred during the year, but all of them recovered, except one. They were promptly notified, and the attendants were cautioned to abstain from attending other confinement cases for a reasonable period, consequently there was no sequence of cases this year. Each of these cases seems to have arisen independently.

MEASLES

The town has been free from this order during 1894. There was rather a serious epidemic at Wymeswold in the Autumn, and a few cases occurred at Cotes, and as I was apprehensive that the infection might reach the schools in the town, I recommended the teachers of the infant schools to exclude children suffering from the first symptoms of measles, which are the same as those of a common  cold, namely, sneezing and running at the eyes and nose. This was done simply as a precautionary measure.

ERYSIPELAS

Twenty cases of this disease occurred during the year, against 40 in 1893. One death was due to this cause, I see no advantage in the inclusion of this disease in the list of notifiable ones.

WHOOPING COUGH

This disorder seems to be endemic in Loughborough. The town has not been entirely free from it since I have been Medical Officer of Health. I do not think it has any relation to sanitation. It often proves fatal to infants under one year. Nine deaths were registered during the year as due to this cause. Children suffering from this disorder, or coming from houses where it exists, are not allowed to attend school.

DIARRHOEA

There is a satisfactory diminution in the number of deaths from diarrhoea, 17 having been registered, against 39 in 1893. The cooler weather which existed throughout the summer was not so productive of diarrhoea as the hot summer of 1893. Still the number of deaths this year is well up on the average, and indicates the advisability of perseverance in the course hitherto adopted by this Authority of taking such steps as will prevent soakage of filth into the earth.

The more I study this subject, the more I become convinced that the principal cause of infantile diarrhoea is the inhalation by infants of gases exhaled from the filth saturated surface soil of towns in war weather. Improper food, no doubt, has much to do with it, but it is remarkable how year after year this mortality occurs in the hot months, with scarcely a death from the end of October to the beginning or middle of June. In the rural districts surrounding this town there is scarcely any diarrhoea. In my annual reports of 1890 and 1893 I have gone at great length into this subject."

Dr Corcoran’s report doesn’t end there, but sadly I have run out of time! 

Pop back to the blog next week and see what he has to say about the local water supply, scavenging, and sewage disposal, and what else he does in his position as Medical Officer of Health in 1894.



[i] 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

[ii] Please note, this report is from 1894, and as such reflects the medical knowledge of the time, as such, perceived causes of diseases and illness at that time, and the treatment of such, may have changed over time.

[iii] At the time of the 1891 census returns, the population of Loughborough was running at 18,196

_____________________________

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. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/01/c-is-for-dr-corcoran-of-loughborough.html     [Accessed 9 January 2022]

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Lynne

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