Devonshire hospital and Buxton Bath charity : instituted for the relief of poor persons from all parts of Great Britain and Ireland suffering from rheumatism, gout, sciatica, and neuralgia ; pains, weakness or contractions of joints or limbs, arising from these diseases, or from sprains, fractures, or other local injuries ; chronic forms of paralysis ; dropped hands, and other poisonous effects of lead, mercury, or other minerals ; spinal affections ; dyspeptic complaints, uterine obstructions, etc. etc. ; supported by annual subscriptions and voluntary contributions : annual report for the year 1884 ; completion of the hospital extension ; action and purpose of the governors of the cotton districts convalescent fund ; management, history, annual statement, accounts, rules and regulations, list of subscriptions and benefactions &c., Bath charity report for 1785, and copies of conveyances of hospital and baths from the Duke of Devonshire to the trustees.

  • Devonshire Royal Hospital (Buxton, Derbyshire, England)
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Devonshire hospital and Buxton Bath charity : instituted for the relief of poor persons from all parts of Great Britain and Ireland suffering from rheumatism, gout, sciatica, and neuralgia ; pains, weakness or contractions of joints or limbs, arising from these diseases, or from sprains, fractures, or other local injuries ; chronic forms of paralysis ; dropped hands, and other poisonous effects of lead, mercury, or other minerals ; spinal affections ; dyspeptic complaints, uterine obstructions, etc. etc. ; supported by annual subscriptions and voluntary contributions : annual report for the year 1884 ; completion of the hospital extension ; action and purpose of the governors of the cotton districts convalescent fund ; management, history, annual statement, accounts, rules and regulations, list of subscriptions and benefactions &c., Bath charity report for 1785, and copies of conveyances of hospital and baths from the Duke of Devonshire to the trustees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    7/74
    PKEFACE. The Buxton mineral water is discliarged from several openings in very large quantities, at tlie temperature of 82 degrees, Fahrenlieit. It is cliarg-ed with nitrogen gas in, probahly, a larger degree than any other mineral water. This gas is presented in water which has, otherwise, alkaline, earthy, and saline properties ; and is remarkably detergent and softening to the skin when used as a hath; while it is free from odour or disagreeable taste, is clear and bright in its appearance, and of a singularly beautiful faintly blue colour. The medicinal action of the water, whether used as baths, or drunk, has been from time immemorial known to be great, in relieving or curing all conditions of a rheumatic or g*outy character. It is stated by Dr. Jones, so long ago as the year 1572, that it was then used for the relief of the same ailments as it is at the present time. Dr. Jones says that in his time Buxton was mucli resorted to by poor afflicted persons; and towards the end of the sixteenth century this was considered to be so serious an injury by the inhabitants of the adjoining chapelry of Fairfield, as to render them unable to provide funds for the maintenance of their chaplain, by reason of the urgent and continued claims of the many poor sufferers resorting to the Buxton Baths, as set forth in a petition on this matter addressed by ihem to Queen Elizabeth. These poor persons had been from time immemorial so far aided, as to have had gratuitous baths of the mineral water provided for them; and there seems to have been a fund called the Treasury of the Bath, by which their pecuniary necessities were more or less ministered to. Dr. Jones writes, in reference to this fund, what may be quoted in this place :— If any think this magisterial imposing on people's pockets, let them consider their abilities and the sick poor's necessities, and think whether they do not in idle pastimes throw away in vain, twice as much yearly; it may entail the blessings of them who are ready to perish upon you, and will afford a pleasant after-reflection. God has given you physic for nothing; let the poor and afflicted (it may be members of Christ) have a little of your money,—it may be the better for your own health : Heaven might have put them in your room and you in theirs ; then a supply would have been acceptable to you. Beyond this somewhat vague earlier history, there is no record of the Buxton Bath Charity until the year 1785, of which date there is extant at the Hospital, a document {vide pages 31-32), apparently an