TB in the 1930's/1940's

[helen57]

Hi all |wave|

Can anyone tell me how to find out where people suffering from TB were treated in the 1930's/1940's please?
Probabley in or around the Sutton, Surrey or south London areas

Thank you

Helen

[Jan1954]

Possibly the Beddington Corner Isolation Hospital in Wallington.

The National Archives (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=2497&page=77) hold some details.

[Peter Goodey]

Have a look at the Hospital Records Database

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/search.asp

For example there's...

Downs Hospital for Children, Sutton

Milford Hospital, Godalming

[helen57]

Thank you Jan and Peter :)

I'm off now to do some hunting

Thanks again

Helen

[Peter Goodey]

I didn't mention one big one -

King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst (about 7 miles from Sutton).

[benny1982]

TB was similar to the terminal illnesses of today. It often killed people slowly. Families of sufferers were advised to keep away from them for fear of infecting themselves.

Nowadays TB can be cured but in Victorian times, it was a killer. Imagine being a sufferer of the illness for a while (ie a few years) before you died as it took time to kill someone, and they were probably subject to being bedridden and such for a while before that.

Ben

[Mutley]

I am not sure but I think back then the "Royal Free Hospital" treated TB and also St. Thomas's Hospital in South London. I seem to remember, somewhere seeing a picture of the TB Department at St. Thomas.

[Davran]

How strange! My father was invalided out of the Navy in 1942 suffering from TB. He made a full recovery, but I never thought to ask where he was treated - I think I assumed it was the local hospital (the family home was in Lincolnshire). I believe he had to have a lung collapsed during the treatment and a drain put in.

Unfortunately, he died last year, so I can't ask him about it. I imagine my mother would know, though it was before they were married.

[Wilkes_ml]

My great grandfather did of TB in 1927 aged just 35 years. He died at home, so did they go to hospital, then return home when the end was near?

I have a photo of him with his two children in the garden - probably taken not long before he died. I hadn't even considered he may have been hospitalised.

[benny1982]

Hi

It is possible that they may have gone home when the end was near. As said, TB was a disease that killed people slowly and painfully. If he was sent home, this it is likely that he would be kept in a warm bedroom away from other family members for risk of catching it themselves.

Ben

[Kerrywood]

Many TB sufferers were sent away to sanatoriums in the country, or by the sea, for the perceived benefits of the fresh air. My father ran a TB sanatorium in Wales in the 1940s, and it was one of many. You often find death registrations for TB sufferers at completely the opposite end of the country from where you would expect them.

Kerrywood

[Geoffers]

Many TB sufferers were sent away to sanatoriums in the country, or by the sea, for the perceived benefits of the fresh air. My father ran a TB sanatorium in Wales in the 1940s,

TB finished off my gt-grandfather's younger brother in 1927. He was a keen photgrapher and following his admittance to a santorium in Norfolk took several photos of where he lived and slept in what can only be described as a garden shed, with two glazed doors; in the shed he had a small bed, a gas-ring for a kettle and a few books. I was told that as part of the fresh air regime, the doors were left open at night.

[benny1982]

Hi

Imagine what it was like for the families of TB sufferers, especially the husbands or wives. How stressful it would have been and depressing to see a loved on deteriorate.

Ben