Piece
See MH 82/12
Catalogue reference: MH 82/46
Date: 1950 Jan 19-1951 Jan 18
See MH 82/12
Item
Folios 61-65. Letter from W and E Willoby [William Willoby and Edward Willoby], Clerks...
Catalogue reference: MH 12/8979/45
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This record is about the Folios 61-65. Letter from W and E Willoby [William Willoby and Edward Willoby], Clerks... dating from 3 April 1845 in the series Local Government Board and predecessors: Correspondence with Poor Law Unions and.... It is held at The National Archives, Kew.
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Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- MH 12/8979/45
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Date (When the record was created)
- 3 April 1845
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Description (What the record is about)
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- Content
- Folios 61-65. Letter from W and E Willoby [William Willoby and Edward Willoby], Clerks to the Guardians of the Berwick-upon-Tweed Poor Law Union, to Edwin Chadwick [Secretary to the Poor Law Commission]. Enclosed is a copy of the report made to the board of guardians by Alexander Robertson [Guardian for Tweedmouth, former Chairman of Guardians] on the operation of the Vaccination Extension Act in the Berwick-upon-Tweed Poor Law Union and the vaccination return recently sent to the Commission. This is comprised of an extracts from the minutes of board meetings held on 11 March 1845 and 25 March 1845 regarding the reading to the board of the Commission's letter of 17 February 1845 in reply to the vaccination return from the union. The board approved a motion from Alexander Robertson, seconded by Christison [Alexander Christison, Guardian for Berwick-upon-Tweed, grocer of Berwick-upon-Tweed], that before considering the Commission's letter, the board should discover how many children were vaccinated by private practitioners as well as public vaccinators within the year ended September 1844; the number vaccinated by the union or public vaccinators in each year from 1841 to 1844 inclusive; and to what extent vaccination prevailed in the union prior to 1841. This is followed by an extract from the minutes of the board meeting held 25 March 1845 containing Robertson's report dated Tweedmouth 24 March. Robertson indicates the report is in response to the Poor Law Commission's opinion that the public vaccinators had not vaccinated as many children as expected. The guardians felt they should have all the facts before agreeing with the Commission or, as the Commission requested, raising the matter with the public vaccinators and thereby implying that they had been remiss in their public duties. Between 29 September 1843 and 29 September 1844 323 children were vaccinated by public vaccinators. 30 more were vaccinated by public vaccinators in their private practice. 451 were vaccinated by other medical men, mostly without charge. The total was 804. 732 births were registered. If an allowance of one eighth were made for children born prior to 29 September 1843 and for the children of vagrants then 700 children born during the year were vaccinated. This must satisfy the board of guardians that both the private medical practitioners in the union and the public vaccinators are performing well. The numbers vaccinated between 1841 and 1844 by public vaccinators were: 1841 - 674. 1842 - 363. 1843 - 284. 1844 - 345. As the number in 1841 is much greater than in succeeding years he concludes that the public vaccinators had persuaded parents to have their unvaccinated children vaccinated. This, and the inference that since then the public vaccinators had not relaxed their efforts, refutes the Commission's conclusion. Much vaccination took place before 1841 - the senior medical practitioner in Berwick-upon-Tweed annually vaccinated upwards of 200 children, with few exceptions, gratuitously; hence the number of unvaccinated children compared with other parts of the kingdom would not be large. He is surprised that as many as 344 above the following years' average were vaccinated in 1841. Very few births are now unvaccinated in the union and only among the vagrant and mendicant class will a significant number of unvaccinated children be found. He suggests that the higher authorities might consider an enquiry into more stringent provision for this class. Smallpox is almost unknown here and during the year ended 29 September 1844 the medical officers attended no cases. He suggests that all medical practitioners should be regarded as public vaccinators under certain conditions, and entitled to a fee from the parochial rate or a public fund for their work. The board of guardians resolved to adopt Robertson's report and send a copy to the Commission. Annotated: 14 April 1845, to acknowledge and thank, expressing satisfaction that vaccinations have been carried out to so great an extent. Paper number: 3882/A/1845. Poor Law Union Number 325. Counties: Town and County of Berwick-upon-Tweed and Northumberland.
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- English
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Closure status (Whether the record is ‘open’ (available to the public) or ‘closed’ (not available due to a legal exemption))
- Open Document, Open Description
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C10492098/
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Series information
MH 12
Local Government Board and predecessors: Correspondence with Poor Law Unions and...
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Folios 61-65. Letter from W and E Willoby [William Willoby and Edward Willoby], Clerks...
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