Saturday 26 April 2014

Sick and injured


In the 1600s, sick and injured servicemen would be brought back to Portsmouth after fighting a battle and, before a hospital was built, would be billeted with local families. One such description:

'Following three days battle with the Dutch, in the Channel in 1653, a large number of sick and wounded were landed at Portsmouth, and Dr Daniel Whistler, who was sent down to attend on General Blake, gives a picture of their condition. There was then no hospital. The wounded men were left for hours in the streets before the Navy Commissioners could find lodgings for them in private houses. When they were lodged the surgeons very often did not know where to find them, there was a want of linens and medicine, of wholesome food, and good nursing, the houses were overcrowded, and nothing was done to protect the men against the temptation to drink ardent spirits, which were especially strong at Portsmouth, where the water was then brackish. Of the town itself, the Governor, Nathaniel Whetham, had nothing good to say, dwelling on the 'filthy nastiness of this place', unpaved, undrained, and enduring an epidemic of small pox.

Taken from William Gates, Illustrated History of Portsmouth.