Belfast Union Fever Hospital
Origins
The Belfast workhouse opened its doors in May 1841 with a small infirmary for any paupers who fell ill or needed medical supervision. In 1843 a change in the law meant that Boards of Guardians who managed workhouses were also made responsible for infectious disease. This essentially made the Guardians into a kind of emergency Board of Health if there was an outbreak of a contagious nature.
By February 1846, the Belfast Board of Guardians were considering how to go about erecting their own fever hospital.
Belfast Fever Hospital, Frederick Street built 1815
Confusingly, Belfast already had a Fever Hospital. The original Fever Hospital was established in 1797 and in 1815 moved to purpose built premises in Frederick Street. It was financed through a combination of government funding and voluntary donations. However, the change in the law meant that the managing committee was worried it would lose its government support. So in 1846 they began raising more funds to change into a general hospital. In practice, this meant that its focus would switch from treating and quarantining infectious diseases to diagnosing and treating a wider range of conditions. This would also allow the hospital to focus more on the growing field of surgery.
In March 1846, the plans for the Union Fever Hospital were already underway. While the plans were designed by the English architect George Wilkinson, each workhouse had to employ someone local to build their hospital using local resources. In Belfast, the Guardians hired Charles Lanyon. The 1840s was a busy decade for Charles Lanyon as many of his projects were completed or designed at this time, including the Crumlin Road Gaol and Courthouse, the Palm House in Botanic Gardens, the main building of Queen’s College and the Deaf and Dumb Institution on the Lisburn Road (since demolished).
The medical attendant of the workhouse asked in June 1846 that the new Hospital be opened immediately to cater for the typhus cases being received almost daily from Ballymacarrett. This shows us that the building must have been somewhat finished by this stage. However, the Guardians clearly did not believe the Hospital to be ready to receive patients at this point.
Staff
In October 1846 the Guardians began to advertise for a physician and apothecary for the new Fever Hospital. The physician was to attend to all cases and manage the Hospital while the apothecary, expected to be resident in the Hospital, was to compound medicines and have the general charge of the patients. The salary for the physician was £100 per annum. While these adverts ran, the Guardians also organised the supply of water to be introduced for the new Hospital.
Dr James Seaton Reid, elected as physician to the Union Fever Hospital 1846
Dr James Seaton Reid was elected for the post of physician, the second choice was Dr Henry McCormac. There were no applications for the post of apothecary but the Guardians were able to elect surgeon Cunningham Mulholland to the post. His wage was £50 a year but he also enjoyed a furnished apartment in the Hospital and the same rations as the Master of the workhouse.
By November, the equipment for the Union Fever Hospital was acquired. Iron bedsteads with white coverlets were ordered as well as warming pans, pewter bed pans and spitting pans. It was also decided that a female superintendent should be appointed to manage the female wards. She was to have a salary of £1 a month and officer rations. It was estimated that they would need 5 nurses who had to be literate. Under nurses and assistants were to be selected from the paupers in the workhouse. The Hospital would also need a cook, washerwomen, a porter and a barber and once again, these posts would be ideally filled by paupers. The Poor Law Commissioners objected to this, particularly as the Guardians planned to offer payment for these jobs. The Commissioners claimed that pauper employees owed their work to the workhouse for free and would not be able to transition to a position of authority over other paupers. The Guardians had already appointed James Bowden as porter and defended his appointment, even though he had been a pauper.
A woman called Sarah Gardner was appointed as the cook and was sent to the Deaf and Dumb Institution to learn how to cook with steam. It is not clear whether she was a pauper employee too.
At the end of 1846, the workhouse physician Dr Coffey died and the Guardians decided to consolidate the medical arrangements. Dr Seaton Reid was appointed as physician to both workhouse and Fever Hospital with a bump in pay to £130 while Surgeon Mulholland was also expected to cover both with a wage of £65.
Opening of the Union Fever Hospital
The Union Fever Hospital opened its doors on 16 January 1847, immediately receiving cases from the workhouse and from the town itself. Even though it was now receiving patients, Charles Lanyon was still working on plans to extend the Hospital accommodation if necessary. The whole workhouse was becoming dangerously overcrowded and the Guardians also asked Lanyon to convert the piggery, stable and straw house into extra dormitory space. A gallery was also installed in the girls’ dorm to add more space.
Belfast Union Fever Hospital
The workhouse infirmary was also overcrowded with more than 100 patients in a space designed to contain 65.
Dr Seaton Reid urged the Guardians to hire paid nurses and erect a dead house, claiming
“Nothing can be more injurious than keeping a dead body beside a patient who is suffering from perhaps the same disease” (2 Feb 1847).
He also thought the burial space should be further away from the workhouse buildings.
The Guardians responded by hiring 2 paid nurses at 2s 6d per week. However, the Master convinced them that the Hospital dead house was sufficient for both hospital and workhouse.
The Fever Hospital was already running out of space so the Guardians approved plans to extend it, hopeful that they could obtain a government loan to meet the cost. The government rejected their proposal, citing the wealth of Belfast as their reason for refusal. The situation was about to get much worse.
Sources:
Belfast Board of Guardians minute books, PRONI
