Dr. F.W. Barry's report to the Local Government Board on a death which was alleged to have been caused by vaccination in the northern district of the Derby union / [Fred. W. Barry].

  • Barry, Frederick W. (Frederick William), 1850-1897.
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dr. F.W. Barry's report to the Local Government Board on a death which was alleged to have been caused by vaccination in the northern district of the Derby union / [Fred. W. Barry]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Dr. P. W. Barry’s Report to the Local Government Board on a death which was alleged to have been caused by vaccina in the Northern District of the Derby Union. George Buchanan, Medical Department, December 20, 1882. j In consequence of local information of the occurrence of a death which was all&g©4*~^^ to have been caused by vaccination at Derby, I was directed by the Board on November 17th to institute an inquiry into the circumstances of the case. I accordingly proceeded to Derby, and at once placed myself in communication with Mr. Legge, the public vaccinator of the district in which the case had occurred, and obtained from him his vaccination register containing the particulars of the case in question. I also took possession of the lancet with which he was in the habit of performing his public vaccinations, and a needle with which he opened the vesicles on the eighth day. The case to which attention was drawn was that of a child named Edith Chalkley, of 3, West Bow, Darley, who was vaccinated by Mr. Legge on the 13th September, inspected on the 20th September, and who died on the 13g1i November, the cause of death being certified by Mr. A. 0. Francis, M.B.C.S., as from “ Abscesses (two months), Exhaustion.” The following is a brief history of the case, as obtained from the mother:— The child, who was then three months of age, was taken to the vaccination station in Lodge Lane, Derby, on the 13th September, and was there vaccinated by Mr. Legge on the left arm in three places. The vaccination went on all right in two places, but the third did not seem to come forward properly. The child was again taken to the station on the following Wednesday (September 20th) for inspection, and Mr. Legge then opened the places with a needle and took matter (lymph) from two of the places (vesicles). He did not ask any questions or examine the child’s person prior to taking the matter. There was at the time little or no redness about the place where the child was vaccinated, but two days afterwards (22nd September) a rash (red pimples and wheals) came out over its body, and the left arm inflamed from the elbow to the wrist and became hard and painful. During the same week a lump began to form in the left armpit, which gradually increased to the size of a duck’s egg, and eventually burst, discharging a quantity of matter. On the 29th September, abscesses began to form on both sides of the neck, and these eventually broke and discharged. About the beginning of October, she noticed the inflammation spreading across the back to the right arm. This was succeeded by a swelling under the right armpit, and at the right elbow, and by the end of the first week of that month (October) the latter swelling broke and continued to discharge matter until the 30th October, when a piece of gristle was expelled. The abscess under the right armpit also broke and the child died from exhaustion on the 13th November, exactly two months from the date of vaccination. At the time of her death lumps, which were apparently abscesses in process of formation, also existed in the back and groins. The vaccination places had in the meantime dried up. Mrs. Chalkley further stated that both she and her husband had always enjoyed good health, that she had had two other children, one of whom had died soon after its premature birth at eight months, the other was still living, had been successfully vaccinated, and was to all appearance a healthy child. The deceased was treated from the commencement of her illness by Mr. A. 0. Francis, M.R.C.S., at his dispensary in Derby. Mr. Francis was unfortunately not able to give me very much additional information, as owing to the fact of its being a dispensary case, he had not kept an account of the Sold by Knight & Co., 90, Fleet Street; Shaw and Sons, Fetter Lane; Hadden, Best, & Co., 227, Strand; P. S. King, Canada Buildings, King Street, B estminster. Trice Threepence. A