Smallpox Outbreak

In 1871 Rotherham finally gained a Royal Charter to become a Borough, it was like various other parts of the country in that there was an outbreak of smallpox. As far back as 1840 Parliament had made innoculation legal and made vaccination available to the poor through the local poor law medical officers. It was made compulsory for all babies in 1853 but it was not until after the serious epidemic in the early 1870's that steps were taken to enforce this.

By April the same year smallpox had become an epidemic around the town. Earl Fitzwilliam said the workhouse would help to provide a purpose of isolation. By July the hospital had only 17 patients and a second nurse had been employed. Dr. Clarke of Wentworth called for some accommodation to isolate the ill villagers. Although a few cases had been mild in Wentworth a couple had been fatal. He explained the crowded cottages were difficult to isolate the sick from the healthy. A cottage was used to isolate the ill patients in Wentworth on occasions when it was needed.

A Smallpox Patient In less than a year smallpox would plague the people of Rotherham again. Cases of smallpox were reported all over the workhouse from the men's accommodation to the lunatic wards from where they were all removed to the hospital. The hospital at the time was full with a large number of patients, mainly men of an advanced age who were incapable of work of any description. There was a bell communication from most of the wards to the bedrooms of the master or other officials to be used in case any of the inmates should become ill during the night. The new infectious hospital was entirely separate from the other part of the Workhouse. The patients were isolated and no persons except the nurse and doctor were allowed to enter. This was to stop the disease from spreading. On the 27th April 1872 there were nine smallpox patients in the hospital including some of a very malignant type. Next to the infectious wards there was a washroom where patients clothing and bedding could be thoroughly disinfected and washed.

A special meeting was held on the 28th May 1872 starting at 10.30am to talk about the smallpox epidemic. On the 27th the infectious hospital was cleared of all but smallpox patients by instruction of the medical officer. He recommended that primary vaccinations should be given to all persons regardless of age and re-vaccination should be considered under certain circumstances. In Rotherham there was only two trained nurses to cover the whole of the borough. They recommended that a trained nurse should be at the disposal of smallpox cases although this was not the case for the workhouse paupers. To safeguard the community, patients were to be moved from their homes under the Nuisance Removal Act and so far a number of patients had gone into the Workhouse Hospital willingly. Over the past few weeks there had been several fatal cases four at Kimberworth and five in Rotherham. By the 1st June the hospital was almost full, as typhoid fever had also struck the town, there had been three deaths in the past week. By the 22nd there was only 3 cases of smallpox and 11 people had died of the disease within the past week. The hospital also reported that there were 11 fatal cases of scarlet fever.

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