 Chapter 2, Part 4 of Reminiscences of a Workhouse Medical Officer, by Joseph Rogers, this LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 2, The Westminster Infirmary, Part 4. One result, however, accrued from this visit, which I foresaw was in the near future imminent, and I accordingly took steps forthwith to get some influence in the House of Commons so as to secure a proper inquiry. On my return I again saw Mr. Fraser and told him of the way I had been treated. Just about this time this guardian came into collision with Mr. Bliss. It happened in this way. There was a lady living on Wandsworth Common, the wife of the chaplain of a public institution, and being very benevolent, she had constantly visited the Union School and had interested herself in the future welfare of the girls. A girl she was much interested in had gone to a situation some months before, and not being kindly treated, had left and returned to the workhouse when she wrote to this lady, who at once came up to the house to see her and some other girl. The master refused to allow her to do so, whereupon she went round to Soho Square and saw Mr. Fraser, whom she had known as a guardian, and told how she had been treated, whereupon he wrote to the master, stating who the lady was, and asking him to allow her to see the girls. The master read the letter and replied, with a coarse oath, I have already told you, you shall not see the girls, and you shall not. On reporting this conduct to Mr. Fraser he was much incensed, and at the next meeting of the board brought the master's behavior before the guardians. To his astonishment the majority of the guardians absolutely howled him down. Mr. Fraser then formulated a series of charges against Mr. Bliss, among them his constant refusal to obey my orders, his swearing and generally violent treatment of the inmates, and moved that these charges should be sent to the local government board, and an inquiry into the master's conduct asked for. This proposition was rejected, but at the suggestion of the chairman it was resolved that the board would conduct an inquiry themselves. This was done evidently with the intention that the whole matter, as against the master, should be quashed. The inquiry was held, and I was ordered by the board to attend. At the inquiry by the guardians the chairman presided, and proceeded to ask questions, but finding he was no match for the solicitor, Baron H. Devons, an ex-officio guardian, put in an appearance, and conducted the inquiry for them, and as I declined to recognize his or the board's right to put questions to me, the Baron threatened to report my behavior to the local government board. I said to him, however, that if it were a regular legal inquiry conducted by a properly constituted authority I would answer on oath and approve all the charges I had ever made against the master and matron. One of my charges was that I had discovered that my medical relief book had been tampered with, and that entries for wines and spirits, neither ordered by me, or given to the sick, had been placed against certain names. When this was gone into by the Baron, the master's clerk was sent for, and insolently denied the allegation. The guardians completely exonerated the master and matron, his clerk, and all concerned with them, but the matter did not end there. During the progress of this so-called inquiry, the matron brought before the guardian eight of the very worst characters in the house, in order to depose to her and the master's continuous kindness and consideration to all the inmates, and that Mr. Bliss never swore at all. After they had given their evidence, they were entertained by the matron in the storeroom, a hot supper and brandy and water being provided. As she knew I was keeping a sharp lookout on my books to prevent any additional frauds, the next morning she was at her wit's end to make up the deficiency in the brandy, but at last she managed it by adding some water, but in her hurry she forgot to add clean water. She put what she wanted to increase the quantity into a jug which had contained milk, and so gave a cloudy appearance to the whole of it. On my arrival at the house I was informed of the entertainment that had been given to these witnesses to character, and on going into the women's sick ward the head nurse showed me the brandy which had been tampered with, and I was further told by her that the brandy given out on the male side had the same appearance, indeed that the nurse on that side had just called her attention to it. I directed that she should carry it down into my room. On going through to the male side I requested the nurse to show me her brandy. At first she objected to do so, but on my insisting she reluctantly did so when I took it away. On reaching my room I sent for a large bottle and mixed it all together and sealed down the cork. I then wrote to the contractors, Mezzer's Edges and Butler of Regent Street, and asked them to examine it and write me word whether the brandy sent was the same as that supplied by them under the contract. It was taken by one of the officers. In the course of an hour he came back with the brandy and a statement from the firm approving that it had been lowered by the addition of so much water and that the water that had been used was not clean. I then wrote to the board giving the history now related and enclosed Mezzer's Edges and Butler's certificate. I wrapped all up together in a piece of brown paper and addressed it to the board of guardians. I called the clerk into my room and having in his presence sealed up the parcel, I requested him to take charge of it and not to let it go out of his hands until the board met. I then ordered a fresh supply for my sick. I had hardly left the house when the chairman came and going to the clerk demanded to see the parcel. The clerk gave it to him when he immediately broke it open and read my letter and the spirit merged its certificate. Of course his supporters passed over this abominable transaction when the subject was brought before the board and the matron was not even censored, at least so I was told. There was however a nemesis. Just as they were rejoicing at the success of their proceedings, a letter was on its way to the clerk from the local government board stating that in consequence of certain information having been sent to the department, an official inquiry into the master's management of the house had been determined on and that Mr. Robert Hedley had been directed to hold it. I immediately went down to the House of Commons, saw some members and begged that they would see Sir Charles Dilkey, who was then the president, and ask him to send some other inspector instead. A day or so afterwards I heard that as his name had been mentioned it could not be changed, but that another inspector, Mr. Taylor, a barrister at law, would be appointed with him in the inquiry. In due course the inquiry took place, Mr. Robert Hedley presiding, Mr. Taylor sitting on his right, Mr. Fraser, the solicitor, one of the guardians, on the lap. Mr. Fraser conducted the proceedings against the master who was defended by Mr. Ricketts. The proceedings lasted several days. During the progress of the inquiry Mr. Hedley rendered no assistance whatever, and if it had not been for the conscientious conduct of Mr. Taylor not one half of the evidence which was given would have been brought out. Nearly all the evidence which was tendered was voluntary, that is inmates and officers came forward to testify to Mr. Bliss's continual refusal to comply with my orders to his swearing at me and the inmates and his general harshness and positive cruelty to many of them. When the master's clerk was examined he swore that he had never made false entries in my medical relief book. But when my attendant, who had assisted in making up the book, gave evidence and stated that he had seen him make them, his tone altered and eventually he confessed to sixty-three fraudulent entries of wines and spirits amounting in the whole to a very considerable quantity of stimulants, presumably supplied to my sick, but in reality consumed by other people. When called as a witness I deposed to the continued refusal of Mr. Bliss to comply with my orders as to his swearing at me and at others and to the fact that he derided my judgment and had intimated to the sick inmates under my charge his disbelief in my knowledge of my profession and so forth. When Bliss was called on for his defense he contented himself with giving a general denial to everything that had been given in evidence against him. At last Mr. Headley said that he should close the inquiry. I do not know whether at that time he had communicated to Mr. Bliss that he intended to report in his favor, but I had a suspicion of it as no one could possibly be in better spirits than Mr. Bliss was that day. And it was clear from Mr. Headley's manner and Mr. Bliss's familiarity with the inspector what his decision would be. I was therefore not surprised on going down to the house some three weeks after to make some inquiries that certain members whose names I am precluded even now from mentioning informed me confidentially that it had oozed out that Mr. Headley and the other inspector had recommended to the president that Mr. Bliss should be allowed to remain as master. On my expressing my astonishment at such a monstrous decision I was informed that to a great extent the president was powerless in such matters that having appointed an inspector to conduct an inquiry he was by the rules of the department bound by his decision and that if he made a report in favor of the individual into whose management he was deputed to inquire and reported favorably or the reverse of that the president was compelled to accept it however much he felt that the evidence did not support the view taken by the inspectors. I lay stress upon this assumption that inspectors cannot by any possibility err in their judgment or be guilty of favoritism and their conduct of such inquiries because ere long if we are to have county government boards the obligations of these inspectors will be largely increased and if the official inquiries of the future are to be conducted by men such as I have had experience of heaven help the unfortunate officials whose actions are being inquired into unless there are some special reasons why they should be officially befriended such as evidently held good in Mr. John Bliss's case. Having regard to the fate that always attends crooked courses I am very much disposed to think that a different line would have been followed could it have been foreseen that Mr. Bliss would have acted as he did three weeks after the inquiry was ended when a woman was brought in a cab so very ill that I decided to send her away forthwith to the asylum hospital but as she was blue in the face from difficulty of breathing and from general exhaustion I told the receiving wards woman to come into my room and then gave her a written order for some brandy and beef tea to be given to the woman before she went away I addressed the order to the matron shortly afterwards the nurse came back and told me that this woman had refused to supply what I had ordered I then said take the order to the master and after a minute or so she returned telling me that the master would see me damned before the woman should have it I then left the house and on the next day heard that exhausted as she was the woman was taken to Cleveland street without anything being given to her that morning I wrote to the medical superintendent of the sick asylum and asked him to let me have a copy of any remarks he had made on her admission of course stating the refusal of both master and matron to give her anything at all before she left the Westminster Workhouse his reply bore out the view I had formed of her condition and he further said that if I had not written to him he should have made a special report to the managers showing her exhausted condition when admitted a copy of this letter and a formal complaint against the matron and bliss for their refusal to give the poor woman anything was sent to the board of guardians who simply ignored it I also sent a similar statement to the local government board but no acknowledgement of its ever having been received was sent to me knowing what I do for many years experience what this department is I very much regret that I did not send this complaint undercover privately to Sir Charles Dilkey it is a curious fact that although the suppression of my statement at the local government board and the refusal of the chairman and his party to make any inquiry into my complaint caused Mr. Bliss to keep his appointment a 12 month longer yet this refusal having been subsequently conclusively proved ultimately led to his being called on to resign his appointment as will be shown here after after the chairman had in the interval been ejected from office by an overwhelming vote of the indignant rate payers no report of the inquiry having been forwarded to the board the chairman after the lapse of about three months caused a letter to be written to the local government board asking that the result of the inquiry should be forwarded the president sent a copy of the evidence given on oath to the guardians thinking that after the board had read it through they would surely concur with him and thinking that Mr. Bliss was not a fit person to remain as master but he reckoned wrongly Sir Charles Dilkey did not know the chairman this man simply induced his dozen followers to utterly ignore all the evidence and to assert that it proved nothing meeting one of these guardians in the house two or three mornings after he came up to me and in a loud tone of voice he said I have been reading your disgraceful evidence against our master to which I quietly replied it was given on oath and every word of it is true when in a towering passion he said you have disgraced yourself I tell you you have disgraced yourself and then before I could reply to this outburst of vulgar fight operation he went on to say I see the local government board have directed us to pay you five guineas for your attending to give evidence I am the chairman of the board and not one penny shall you ever be paid for your disgraceful evidence had this outburst been indulged in some a few years before I cannot answer for the form which my resentment would have taken but I kept my temper as I knew no credit could accrue from any squabble with this man the check was subsequently paid the chairman was far too wise to enter into a struggle with the local government board over such a matter at the next meeting of the board of guardians he or one of his followers moved that a letter be written to the local government board stating that they had considered the evidence and were of opinion that it in no way affected the character of their master and requesting that the board should forthwith send its opinion of the evidence and what charges they considered proved whereupon there was forwarded to them a list of 13 charges which the local government board held had been proved against bliss it is probable that if the chairman and the majority had remained quiet the serious charges against the master would never have seen the light as it happened the publication of them gave the opponents of mr bliss the opportunity of conclusively showing up the action of the board the letter of the local government board containing particulars of the charges proved was as follows local government board whitehall august 28 1883 sir i am directed by the local government board to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th instant respecting the decision communicated to the guardians of the westminster union in the letter which we addressed to them by the board on the 18th ultimate upon the charges preferred against mr bliss the master of the workhouse and recently investigated by their inspectors mr headley and mr taylor the board direct me to state in reply that the charges to which they referred in that letter were the following that mr bliss twice threw water from a bucket over an inmate named ellen colman that he kicked a woman named ann lane on the back of the thigh she was 68 years old the bruise caused thereby was about four inches across that he kicked a boy named james daily twice on the back he was about 13 years old and he was a very good boy that he was in the habit of swearing and of using expressions of an objectionable character when irritated that he had exercised no supervision as regards the entries in his portion of the workhouse medical relief book that he had not entered in the provision accounts as absent inmates who were in fact absent on the from the workhouse that he had contravened the board's regulations by placing caroline barber age 64 years upon bread and water that there had been undue delay in the registration of four births in the workhouse that in the cases of two females named caroline clagg and elizabeth jacob who died in the workhouse he did not take sufficient care to give notice of their deceased to their respective relatives that through want of due care a mistake was made as to a body sent for burial that he allowed elizabeth far quarsen to leave the workhouse for four days to go to work and that he charged in his accounts rations for her during that period that his behavior towards missus casher on her visiting the workhouse to see two girls in whom she was interested was discourteous and that he used very improper language to emily brown on her visiting the workhouse to see her husband and inmate who was on his deathbed i am sir your obedient servant signed c in dalton assistant secretary i have been informed that the reading of the above letter was received by the chairman and his followers with much exasperation which exhibited itself in threats of vengeance against all those whether inmates or officers who had given evidence against the master one of the first to fuel the wrath of the chairman was thomas bailey a man seventy years of age who was discharged from his employment in aiding me and the master in keeping the medical officer's relief book which he had done for nearly twenty years because of his wickedness in bringing under my notice the fraudulent entries made in my portion of the medical book by the master's clerk at the instance of the matron and irregularity which it is reasonable to suppose could only have been condoned by the majority of the board on the supposition that some of them had helped to get rid of what had been falsely entered against the names of my sick patients although this fraud had been clearly proved no attention had been drawn to it in the report but amir misty reference was made to the subject in the fifth charge proved here let me observe that i believe this inquiry would have been absolutely nougatory of any beneficial results if it had been conducted without an assessor being present and considering the bearing and physique of the two inspectors it seems to me that the assessor modified his own judgment which would have been entirely adverse to mr bliss in deference to the manifest wish of the inspector to screen an old soldier from the proved charges of blasphemy and unmanly violence to an aged woman and a small boy for which two latter offenses mr bliss would have been taken before a magistrate and severely punished if the miserable victims had had the necessary means the chairman thought in flouting the local government board by his protection of his friend the master that he would triumph but at that time he was wholly unaware of what was in store for him and at the party he had so long led the inspector was not indeed an acceptable person to all boards of guardians as the following letter from the hallburn board indicates february 28 1884 re stanton official inquiry my lords and gentlemen i am directed by the guardians of the poor of the hallburn union to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th instant stating that you have instructed your inspector mr headley to hold an inquiry into the charges preferred against mr stanton and that mr headley will give the guardians due notice of the time and place in which he intends holding the inquiry and to inform you that the following resolution was passed upon your communication being submitted to the guardians this quote that the clerk right to the local government board and inform them that the guardians are of opinion that an official should be appointed to conduct the inquiry who has not already expressed an opinion on the subject which mr headley has publicly done and that if the local government board adhere to the appointment of mr headley to hold the inquiry the guardians must decline to take part therein end quote i am further directed to inform you that this resolution was carried with only one dissentient at the board last evening i have the honor to be my lords and gentlemen your obedient servant james w hill clark the local government board i do not know whether it was at the meeting of the board when the decision of the department was first read or on the occasion when the guardians heard their clerk read out the list of charges which the department considered were proved against mr bliss but it is certain that the chairman rose in his seat and moved that i be called on to resign my appointment forthwith of course it was carried and the clerk was directed to forward me a copy of the resolution i briefly acknowledged its receipt i understood that at this time this person was much put out at my not at once complying with his request and threatened all sorts of vengeance on me he was so ignorant that in his rage he forgot that he could not so summarily get rid of me and therefore i waited patiently for his next move indeed i applied for and took my usual autumn holiday at this time there appeared in the standard daily newspaper an article commenting on the evidence given at the official inquiry on the charges found to be proved and the conduct of the chairman and his docile followers it was republished and sent to every rate payer in both parishes and here i may be allowed to call attention to the fact that in the reforms which i have tried to secure i have had the assistance of papers of all parties the article was as follows west mr union the local government board the guardians of the poor and jd bliss master of the workhouse poland street defend the poor and fatherless see that such as are in need and necessity have right psalm 82 verse 3 the local government board in an official communication to the guardians of the west mr union say they have entertained a very great doubt whether consistently with their public duty they could properly allow the present master of the poland street workhouse to retain his post it is likely that the public will go all the way with the local government board and even a little further the board having instituted a long and searching inquiry into sundry charges brought against the master have arrived at the conclusion that several of the accusations have been established they told the guardians so much as this some little time back but these authorities wish to know more precisely what were the charges considered to be proved it is fortunate that these gentlemen were so far disposed to challenge the conclusions arrived at by the central power for the answer they received puts the public in possession of some notable facts which otherwise might have remained in obscurity we now learn that the demonstrated delinquencies of this workhouse master include such peccadillos as twice emptying a bucket of water over an inmate named ellen colman and kicking a woman named an lane as well as a boy named james dailey the latter twice he also contravened the board's regulations by placing an old woman upon bread and water there might be some economy in this but it was more than counterbalance by an awkward habit in which the master indulged of charging rations for paupers absent on leave another irregularity consisted in a mistake as to a body sent for burial coupled with which we hear of undue delay in the registration of four births then there was confusion in the medical relief books and a neglect to give notice when people were dead to all this must be added a habit of swearing and using expressions of an objectionable character when irritated this model master of a workhouse is further proved to have been discourteous to the wife of a clergyman and to have used a very improper language to emily brown a poor woman who came to see her husband for all this he is master of the workhouse still and as he retains the confidence of the guardians the local government board refrain from adopting the extreme course of requiring his resignation but at the same time this redoubtable official is warned that if any further complaints are substantiated against him he will be most certainly asked with all due politeness to relinquish his responsible office there is for the moment nothing more to be done except perhaps for the guardians to present him with a testimonial extracted from the standard september 14 1883 it should be clearly understood that this inquiry was instituted by a minority of the board who have steadily voted for mr. bliss's resignation on my return to town i found that the board generally had also gone away but the chairman had given notice that when the guardians met in september he should move that i be suspended from my office which in due course he did and having a passive majority carried it this did not alarm me at all it was not then as it was some years ago there was a new secretary at the local government board who was the worthy successor of the most estonable father the late hugh owen added to this i had several friends in the house of commons and most assuredly sir charles dillkey was not prejudiced against me besides this the chairman could not get up a case against me so being aware that it would take some weeks before any decision could become to as the head officials at the central department would be certainly out of town and that it was a task beyond the intelligence of the chairman to draft an indictment i again went into the country so soon as it became known that this chairman had moved my suspension simply for having resented the conduct of bliss and cursing and swearing at me and disobeying my orders for the sick numerous friends wrote to me and the medical journals vied with each other in denouncing the conduct of this board and called on my professional brethren to rally round me as i had been called on to resign and was now suspended for interfering with bliss in his treatment of my sick for the action of the chairman and his supporters turned to my advantage and eventually led to his and their complete and signal expulsion from office among other annotations and leading articles which appeared at this date i will here insert one from the landsat bearing date october 27 1883 the suspension of dr rogers the suspension of dr rogers from his duties by the guardians of the west minister union because of his honest testimony and an inquiry into the conduct of the master is an event of very great consequence it is impossible that the local government board can sanction the action of the board or disregard the memorial signed by 54 of the most respectable inhabitants of st. ann's including the rector the catholic priest and so forth and another signed by 94 of the ratepayers of st james's dr rogers is a representative man he represents not only the poor law medical service but the independence of the members of that service and no greater misfortune can befall the poor or the ratepayers than that he should be persecuted by the guardians of west minister for doing his duty we cannot believe that sir charles dillkey will allow such a misfortune to happen the local government board have acted with a strange inconsistency in retaining the master of the workhouse it is inconceivable that they will play into his hands and those of the guardians who assist him by sanctioning the dismissal of dr rogers but the profession and the members of the poor law service should lose no time in organizing a proper movement for vindicating dr rogers claims and position after my suspension i went to burnmouth and whilst there heard of the above movement in my support and also saw that my friends in the profession were organizing a testimonial in my favor subscription to which came from all parts of the kingdom so that instead of injuring me the action of the guardians secured me three months holiday a testimonial worth 200 pounds and gave me that leisure which enabled me to work up a party that some six months after drove the chairman and his followers from office on my return from burnmouth i set to work to get up a list of candidates for guardians for the ensuing year it was necessary to get 13 as i had only five supporters it is true that they were the most respectable men on the board i was not very long in getting three respectable rate payers to stand for st. an's but the great difficulty was in st. james's where 10 were required and if it had not have happened that the reverend henry sharing him vicar of st. peter's great windmill street exerted himself most earnestly we could not have succeeded at all he not only came forward himself but he induced a colleague of the victor of st. john's great marlboro street and for very wealthy and well-known gentlemen in st. james's to do likewise the obtaining of four others ceased to be a matter of difficulty the reverend eight sharing him took the greatest interest in the election and it was through his help that the bishop of london the marquis of waterford and a large number of the nobility and gentry bankers and others who were rate payers in st. james's and up to that date had never voted in any election of guardians were on this occasion secured mr. sharing him was the incumbent of the poorest district in st. james's and consequently he was constantly brought into contact with those who had either been inmates or had friends in the house and for a long time he had been cognizant of mr. bliss's management and of the chairman's support of the master when i was suspended mr. sharing him showed his feeling by going round to some of the leading people in st. james's and getting them to sign the testimonial in my favor and at the election in the following april he worked hard all day long to get rid of the chairman and his party it may be thought by those who have followed this narrative of poor law management in 1883 that i had not sufficiently referred to the action of mr. w. j. phraser solicitor of soho square and of 191 claffham road but it does not arise from want of gratitude to this gentleman who has known me for many years who asked me to see poor watson in 1872 who induced me to become a candidate for the office the same year and whose worthy father used to take an honest pride in bringing him to my house nearly 30 years before to show me how he had got on during his half-year schooling if it had not been for the high sense of conscientiousness and his invariable hatred of such wrongdoing as was implied in the support of such a person as j. bliss as a young solicitor he could not have made so great a sacrifice of time of labor and of money the fact of mr. bliss being no longer master of the west minister workhouse and his chief supporter no longer in power as the chairman of the west minister union with all its possible advantages is owing almost entirely to mr. w. j. phraser who recognized the wrongdoing of both exerted himself untiringly to get rid of both which he achieved with singularly complete success it was not until just before christmas that one of the guardians who was friendly to me told me that a letter had just been received from the local government board directing me to resume my duties thereby removing my suspension at the same time saying there was an oblique reference to me at the end of the letter oh i replied i understand all about that but i can afford to let that pass so long as the president supports me i returned to my duties but had it not been for the fact that my nurses one woman accepted who was bliss's confidant and whom i would have got rid of months before for incompetence and worse qualities welcomed me back as did the sick inmates whose friend i had tried to be i really should have hesitated to continue in my office for every form of petty obstructedness was exhibited by the master matron the master's clerk the chairman and his followers the only retaliation in my power was to draft questions and get them put in the house this process made the names and doings of the majority of the west minister board of guardians come out rather awkwardly before the public and the ratepayers of the union the extraordinary circumstances being that both parties or rather i may state all parties in the house assisted me in getting these questions put to ministers at last the election took place i feel pretty well convinced that when the chairman saw our list of candidates and who were the nominators consisting as they did of most of the nobility gentry bankers clergy and leading ratepayers in both parishes he felt that his reign was over but he did not think even then that his defeat could have been so complete and overwhelming for not only was he left in an absurd minority but his 12 followers were left also subjoined is a copy of the address sent to the ratepayers of both parishes election of guardians to the ratepayers of the parish of st. james pickadilly and st. ansoho my lords and ladies and gentlemen having been nominated to be guardians to represent st. james parish as well as that of st. ansoho at the westminster union by many of the nobility clergy gentry and leading tradesmen and large ratepayers of both parishes we confidently solicit your votes and support at the approaching election we wish it to be understood that in offering ourselves as candidates we are actuated by no personal motives or considerations whatever but solely by a desire to secure the faithful humane and economical administration of the laws relating to the relief of the poor in the westminster union public attention has during the past year been frequently drawn to serious complaints respecting the treatment of inmates subordinate officials and others in and visitors to the poland street workhouse and it is very widely felt that a searching and careful investigation should be instituted without delay into matters of vitally affecting the comfort happiness and welfare of a large body of poor and helpless people such as inhabit our workhouses we beg to draw your attention to the accompanying copies of two letters addressed by the local government board to the late guardians and also to the enclosed copy of an article which appeared in the standard newspaper many of the repairs will learn with surprise that notwithstanding the serious and grave charges substantiated against the master of the workhouse at the local government board inquiry held by two of their inspectors a large majority of the late guardians felt themselves able formally to record their competence in the master it should be clearly understood that this inquiry was demanded by a small minority of the guardians who found themselves powerless to bring to light or redress in any other way the flagrant abuses of which they had been informed and at the same time it should be known that these guardians upon whom devolved the duty of conducting the inquiry were denied both by the majority of the board who were opposed to any action being taken and also by the master both before and at the time of the inquiry all access to inmates and resident officers whose evidence was essential to establish the charges alleged it was therefore only with the greatest difficulty that the necessary evidence could be collected we have further to state that after the decision of the local government board was communicated to the guardians and when all of the facts of the case were fully before them the chairman and the majority of the board presented to mr blitz in the board room of the poland street workhouse a testimonial in the form of a sum of money ostensibly for the purpose of defraying the expenses of his professional advisor in conducting his defense during the inquiry into his conduct it may be added that the chairman when compelled to admonish mr blitz in accordance with the directions of the local government board did so with reluctance entertaining it would seem the belief that the master was not guilty of all or any of the charges proved against him and when so admonished the master himself expressed no regret that the charges set forth in the local government board's letter should have been held to be established against him and gave no assurance whatever that he would comport himself differently in future thus the official inquiry was rendered practically abortive owing as we believe to the action of the majority of the guardians in virtually upholding the master in the face of such overwhelming evidence of misconduct various complaints have since been made both by inmates and officers respecting their treatment and notwithstanding the recent inquiry the internal condition of the workhouse remains up to the present time unaltered and unimproved it is for these reasons that we feel it our duty to offer ourselves as candidates at the present election believing that the ratepayers of st. james's and of st. ansoho will no longer be able to place confidence in the board as lately constituted and that they will demand a searching inquiry into the whole system of the management of the poland street workhouse if therefore it be your pleasure to elect us as your representatives on the board we shall address ourselves without fear or favor promptly and impartially to the consideration of every matter requiring attention and with the cooperation of the local government board which we doubt not will readily be given we shall make it our chief aim and endeavor to remove all legitimate grievances and to secure humane and kindly treatment for the many aged sick and helpless inmates of our workhouse we have the honor to remain your most obedient servants blank as the election had mainly turned on the conduct of mr bliss one of the first things done by the new board when it met was to suspend mr bliss from his office which being done shortly afterwards a committee of the board met and drew up an indictment against him but as the department had condoned the whole of the 13 charges which were considered proved they could not raise any of these again but as mr frazier was aware that the complaints i had made subsequent to the inquiry had been ignored by the late chairman and his friends and that the duplica copy had never been acknowledged by the department i and the nurse of the receiving wars and the head nurse on the female side were called to prove the order given by me the refusal of the matron and the master to comply with it the woman's condition when admitted her state on her arrival at cleveland street asylum the remarks as to her exhausted condition when carried by the porter in his arms she being too ill to walk all these facts were shown to be absolutely true and were completely borne out by evidence other matters against mr bliss were also gone into and forwarded to the local government board and with it an intimation that it was the desire of the new board that he should not be permitted to return to his duties whilst away in belfast where i went in the month of august to deliver my customary annual address on poor law medical relief i received a telegram that sir charles dillke had called on mr j bliss to resign when the master was suspended i can hardly describe the relief i experienced it was so great no longer did i dread loudmouth expression of dissent from me in my treatment of the sick no longer did i fear that he would stop unannounced through the female sick wards when i was examining the poor women but instead of it there was respectful quiet and orderly behavior the matron who ought to have been sent away also kept out of my way and was obsequiously obliging when i gave a necessary order one person only did i at once bring to book it was the head nurse on the male side after the formation of the new board i immediately drew up and sent in a list of charges against her comprising refusal to obey my orders complicity in and support of certain malingerers who she falsely informed me were ill one of these i had discovered some months before to be an imposter and ordered his discharge but the nurse got her friend bliss to direct his return thus flouting my authority she did not stop to meet my charges but sent in her resignation and it being accepted these complaints were not investigated i speedily got rid of the malingerer also and during the remainder of the time i held office the man remained out of the sick ward what was the time between the nurse and this malingerer i was never able to divine during the lighter part of april the whole of may and the first part of june 1884 there had been an outbreak of fever at the union schools on onceworth common and it appeared that the medical officer of the schools the visiting committee and the poor law medical inspector could throw no light on the causes of it when it was suggested at the board that i should be sent down to examine into the matter and report to the board thereon i wrote to the medical officer informing him of the board's wish and asked him to arrange a time to meet me and we would go into the subject together he was not sufficiently courteous even to acknowledge my letter i then asked a member of the board a builder to accompany me which he did on my arrival at the schools i requested the attendance of the superintendent and matron as i wish to state the object of my visit and to obtain from them certain information as regards the commencement of the outbreak the symptoms presented by the sick and so forth i also elicited from them that the medical officer had said that he would not meet me an act of discourtesy to the board whose joint officers we were i speedily ascertained that the outbreak commenced amongst the girls and had been almost entirely limited to the female side of the house and of these girls those mainly who were employed in the laundry but as i wanted to make a complete examination of all the water supply i asked the guardian to pioneer the way in our general survey with this object i got out upon the roof of the main building and peered into all the cisterns i did not discover anything vastly amiss in these and nothing wrong at all on the male side i then proceeded with my examination of the cistern supply in the laundry and kitchen and that on the roof which furnished the kitchen and a part of the laundry supply when i came upon the source of the mischief for on lifting the lid of a large cistern there containing many gallons of water my sense of smell was assailed by one of the most horrible odors i had ever encountered and i saw a large mass of thick scum floating there which was evolving offensive gases and in constant motion from the activity of innumerable forms of the lowest types of animal life i asked my friend to hand me up a stick and with it i took out a large piece of it and shredded out upon the roof of the building i also requested the guardian to come up and judge for himself i did this because i knew that any statement i might make would most assuredly be denied by the parties who are responsible for looking into and examining the condition of the cisterns and keeping them cleansed a circumstance which as i expected did subsequently occur but which could not be contributed by them as i had the gentleman in question as my witness before leaving i left a written instruction that every cistern throughout the building should be emptied and disinfected additional care to be taken with the offending one on my return home i drew up and forwarded to the board my opinion as to the cause of the outbreak and the orders i had given to the superintendent as no other cases of fever occurred after my visit it was clear i had discovered the cause and the remedy the board wrote me through their clerk a handsome acknowledgement of my success and voted me five guineas for my visit and informed me that they had directed the clerk to send a copy of my report and the results that had followed it to the local government board this was somewhat of a rebuke to those permanent officials who had placed that addendum to the letter directing me to resign my duty some six months before as i had discovered and stopped the outbreak the cause of which they had utterly failed to ascertain but then these aforesaid permanent officials never throw any heart or intelligence into the work they are so handsomely paid to do in the early part of june the honorary secretary of the fund mr jw barns frcs wrote to me stating that it was decided to present a testimonial to me at a meeting of the subscribers at the rooms of the medical society of london in chando street cavendish square in june 1884 and that mr j a Shaw steward had arranged to take the chair on the day mentioned the presentation took place and subjoined is a condensed report of the proceedings extracted from the british medical journal june 28 1884 the assemblage was a very large one and certainly was a striking manifestation of good feeling towards me from many of my old friends and fellow workers in the cause of sanitary and poor law medical reform footnote the attacks upon me were so scurrilous for the evidence i had given that i wrote as follows to the editor of the lancet the staff there being divided in opinion whether i should be supported or condemned regina versus watson to the editor of the lancet sir as i have been made to occupy through the exceptionally severe and not over courteous cross examination at the old bailey a more conspicuous position than i had desired before the public perhaps you will permit me to give the reasons why i held and do hold that the prisoner in the above case was and is of unsound mine and subsequently to briefly comment on each head first there were the evidences of pre-existent melancholia second the ferocity with which the deed was committed third the total absence of criminal motive fourth the calmness and indifference of the prisoner's manner after the deed was done fifth his justification of suicide and the expression of his belief that god would forgive this homicide under the circumstances first as regards the proofs of mental disease prior to the act they were deposed to by the reverend foley at bow and his wife as existing a month before the murder by mr h rogers on the preceding day whilst further evidence on this head not available for the defense owing to the sickness of the deponent has since been forwarded to the home secretary the statement being that some months before he was in communication with the prisoner for the purpose of employing him and his school but on an interview he found his mental condition to be such that he had at once broke off the engagement the evidences of aging and altered aspect deposed to by the secretary of the school a short while after his dismissal and mark that to him was a no ordinary event at sixty seven he found himself suddenly without employment without any realized money absolute penury and the not distant perspective whilst during the nine months he had been thus thrown in upon himself every attempt to add to his means or to obtain an engagement whether literary or scholastic had entirely failed second passing to my next point the ferocity of the act it was argued by the prosecution that it was done in a fit of rage but for the credit of our common human nature i would ask is it conceivable that mere anger would so transform a mild quiet old gentleman as he was shown to be into such a brutal criminal so that not content with slaying his victim he should go on battering her head and body long after passion alone would have been exhausted it is i contend explicable only as the act of a homicidal melancholic not otherwise third the senseless character of the deed if done consciously and by premeditation as the verdict would suppose i would ask where could it be the gain here again i argue that the act itself done without reasonable motive could only be the product of reason overthrown fourth the indifference and so forth here i would submit can a parallel be produced from criminal records in any place broad more accepted for the remarkable calmness self-possession mr gibson of newgate phrases it mr watson maintains whenever the act is referred to such as to lead his old friend the reverend j wallace to state that he seemed to perfectly void of shame and remorse nay asserting that he was an injured person by being put in prison fifth is a justification of suicide and so forth i may here be met by the remark that he is probably an unbeliever in the christianity he professed to this i make reply that there is not a tittle of evidence to show that such is the case until the act was done a regular attendant at church a constant communicant his whole moral nature must have become utterly changed and corrupt ere such a consummation could be arrived at standing out as it does in direct antagonism to his previous life as portrayed by one who knew him well and gives his opinion of his old friend in this day's times i pass over the subsequent blundering attempts to hide the act as similar things have been done by others whose insanity has not been questioned and as i have occupied much of your space i subscribe myself yours obediently joseph rogers dean street so january 15 1872 end footnote end of chapter two part four recognition in reminiscences of a workhouse medical officer by joseph rogers this liberal box recording is in the public domain recognition of dr joseph rogers to the editor of the lancet sir since writing my letter to you last week i am rejoiced to see that a movement as commenced for giving shape to the esteem in which dr joseph rogers is held by his professional brethren and others who know his work i hope a large sum will be raised which cannot fail to be the case if all whom his labors have benefited give a little and surely the time could not be more opportune than when in a battle with his persecutors he wants to the full the encouragement of his friends only one suggestion i cannot agree with is that the subscription list should be limited to poor law medical officers why truly he has been a great benefactor to them but not to them only his public work has been much wider in aim and usefulness than simply to touch the pockets of a few poor law surgeons many years ago he was a leader in the movement that ended in stopping burials within towns i believe i am right in saying that to his influence is largely due to the establishment of mortuaries it was he who succeeded in getting expensive medicines which it was hopeless to expect the poor law officers to supply out of their slender salaries supplied by boards of guardians an improvement directly benefiting the poor and indirectly the ratepayers the metropolitan poor act of 1867 was largely brought about by his untiring zeal from that what good has not flowed the supply of not expensive medicines only but all medicines by the guardians the dispensary system leading to a very large increase probably not less than 15 000 pounds a year to the metropolitan medical officers then that great boon the superannuation act is another monument to dr roger's energy i do not wish to undervalue the labors of dr radi and our other friends in and out of the house of commons but dr radi himself would be the foremost to admit that he never would have been able to carry the point had it not been for dr roger's assistance instant in season out of season delivered addresses from town to town giving advice and assistance to persecuted public servants all over the country strengthening the hands of the weaker brethren in public and private he has been for 14 years a tower of strength to an important section of the community whose power for good has been enhanced by his agency which has again reacted on the whole nation in short dr roger's has been and is a great social reformer and of his work all classes reap the fruit but as a great american philosopher says when the flat stone of a fine old abuse is overturned there is a great squirming of the flat patterned animals that have driven in the darkness dr roger's has been turning over these stones for many years and has been attacked by the squirming animals as is usually the case it is for those who have been cast in a different mold and can appreciate his valuable arduous and often thankless labors to show their appreciation now i am sir yours respectfully james millward md cardiff october 22 1883 to the editor of the lancet sir for a long series of years one man in the medical profession has boldly stood forward in maintaining the rights and endeavoring by every legitimate means to redress the wrongs of the poor law medical officers of this country as one unconnected entirely with poor law medical practice i have no doubt in common with a multitude of others admired the courage and honesty with which this man almost single-handed has fought the battles of its medical officers had any one of them a real grievance or hardship to complain of dr roger's at once came to the front and became his champion now that he is in his own person the subject of an injustice and a very serious one for he is threatened with dismissal from his post as medical officer of the west minister union for doing that which in all honesty he felt compelled to do it behooves the whole profession to give him all the moral support in its power it cannot be possible that the local government board will ever sanction such manifest injustice but this is not purely a question between the west minister guardians and dr rogers but one which aims a blow at professional honor and rectitude and if settled in the way in which the guardians would have it it may be the means of preventing some members of our body however right-minded they may be from giving evidence of wrongdoing or performing other necessary duties not falling strictly within the scope of their ordinary work because for soothe they may if they do find themselves stranded and deprived of their appointments let the profession then as a body and not merely the poor law medical officers rally round dr rogers and whilst recognizing the benefits derived from his unselfish public labors and there we have labors which may have brought upon him much obliquy and perhaps have had something to do with his present trial present him with such a testimonial as shall effectually demonstrate to the local government board its approval of his conduct and its disapprovation of the ungenerous treatment to which he has been subjected by the west minister guardians he's true to god who's true to man wherever wrong is done to the humblest or the weakest need the all-beholding son that wrong is also done to us and they are slaves most base whose love of right is for themselves and not for all the race i am sir your obedient servant william webb md frcs workworth october 24 1883 to the editor of the Lancet sir will you permit me to draw the attention of your readers to a movement which has been set on foot with the view of presenting to dr joseph rogers the president of the poor law medical officers association a testimonial as a mark of the esteem in which he is held by poor law medical officers and as a recognition of his unwirried advocacy of their claims his fearless exposure of injustice done to them and the able assistance and advice which he has freely given to such of them as have been unfortunate enough to be at variance with their boards the unjust treatment dr rogers has received at the hands of the west minister guardians will i hope shortly be brought before the local government board but i venture to suggest that no better time than the present could be chosen for his fellow officers to express their sympathy with him and that such an expression from a large number would show that they have appreciated his labors on their behalf that in a good cause they are capable of acting in concert and that they respect themselves and their office in manifesting respect for one who has fearlessly done his duty although for doing it he has received the usual punishment accorded by guardians to parochial medical officers the following gentlemen have kindly promised to receive subscriptions viz earnest hard s squire editor of the british medical journal c frost s squire treasurer of the poor law medical officers association 47 ladbrook square knotting hill london j wickum barns s squire secretary of the poor law medical officers association three bolt court fleet street london i am sir yours faithfully francis whitwell drowsbury october 23 1883 end of recognition testimonial in reminiscences of a workhouse medical officer by joseph rogers this liberal box recording is in the public domain testimonial to dr joseph rogers the presentation of a handsome testimonial to dr joseph rogers a chairman of the poor law medical officers association took place on tuesday last at the rooms of the medical society jando street in the presence of a numerous gathering of ladies and gentlemen mr john a Shaw steward presided mr j wickum barns honorary secretary of the fund spoke of the cordial reception with which the proposition to do honor to dr rogers had been received and the support which had been given to it by the medical journals the editors of which had been among the most liberal contributors to the fund the chairman in his opening remarks spoke of dr rogers work and worth which were so well known that little further need to be said on those points but on an occasion like the present they should not forget that dr rogers was a sanitary reformer and advocate of sanitation of about 40 years standing and that matters which were now accepted as facts within subjects of the fiercest controversy dr rogers in conjunction with mr george alfred walker and others was the first to successfully advocated the closing of the burial grounds in cities and had succeeded in establishing the first public mortuary in london these facts alone testified to his energy and ability those who were older than the speaker could remember the time when the light of heaven was taxed and dr rogers with the late lord duncan was one who worked hard to abolish the window tax a more unjust tax than which it was impossible to conceive he was appointed medical officer of the strand union in 1856 at a time when there were no paid nurses and when the poor law officer had to pay out of his small salary for all medicines dr rogers with dr ansty and mr earnest heart was among the stoutest advocates for the improvement of the workhouse and infirmaries and aided by the full force of the medical press the great work was commenced the first time he the chairman had had the pleasure of working with ladies was in mr earnest heart's house he was thankful that now in all useful social work ladies came to the front dr rogers work led up to mr gathorn hearty's act and his force and determination prevailed so far that the more expensive medicines were henceforth to be paid for by the guardians but for a long time the bulk of the drugs supplied was still left as a charge upon the ill paid medical officer dr rogers great and difficult work had been in connection with poor law administration he believed one of the greatest political economists of the day whom he saw present would bear him out that political economy and philanthropy went hand in hand when they were employed in energetic and persistent endeavors to arrest disease in its earliest stages no one could go much about our general hospitals without seeing how much of the misery and distress of this world were caused by disease we were subject to a variety of diseases and diseases meant loss of health and ultimate loss of life to the red winner and his widow and children to be cast on the world dr rogers was subsequently very instrumental in the carrying of the bill for the superannuation of poor law medical officers since then he had visited almost every large town in england scotland and ireland with the view of prevailing upon the authorities to carry out improvements lately talked of in the metropolis dr rogers was a real true specimen of the best sort of englishman a man of tenacity a hard hitter a staunch friend and a pertinacious foe mr gw frazer chairman of the westminster board of guardians said he had long known dr rogers and it afforded him very great pleasure to find that he was so much respected by those who had had an opportunity of appreciating his valuable work and the many reforms he had been instrumental in affecting in the poor law of this country he was very much respected by the board of guardians of the westminster union as at present constituted and before until he had to draw the attention of the guardians to matters affecting the internal welfare of the workhouse which action resulted in his being suspended from his duties all he could say was there was no logical ground for the course that had been taken it was a great satisfaction to find that that apparent evil had resulted in some good for mr wiccan barnes had told them that the treatment which dr rogers then received was instrumental in bringing about the crowning result to be achieved in the presentation of the testimonial that day dr rogers had on several occasions rendered very valuable services to him mr frazer and his colleagues and he trusted that he might long be spared to fulfill the duties he had hitherto so long and so satisfactorily discharged professor l e thorough rogers mp said it was a matter of great gratification to him to be present on an occasion when the merits of his brother's labors were being recognized with so much unanimity and in so practical a form by the profession to which he belonged and which he ventured to say he had always adorned mr samuel bonsor as an old westminster guardian spoke of the pleasure it was to him that he had lived long enough to see dr rogers efforts recognized as they had been dr farquhson mp said he knew that dr rogers had been a great sanitary reformer but he was astonished to find that he had been a reformer of so many years standing guardians were apt to go for a hard and fast rule while medical men on the other hand held more towards the sympathetic side and it was by carrying out their duties in a sympathetic and liberal spirit that medical men often got into great disputes and great difficulty and trouble until recently these gentlemen who were often treated cruelly had no organization or means by which they could make their grievances known or obtain any redress whatever the action of dr rogers and the association which he had been instrumental in forming had been the means of often bringing to light cases of oppression and of obtaining redress for those who had been oppressed he was sure they might all congratulate dr rogers on being present not only from the fact that he was going to receive a substantial token of the affection and respect in which he was held by all who knew him but on the expressions of admiration and esteem which poured in from all directions on that occasion he hoped dr rogers would long be spared to give them the benefit of the shrewdness the tenacity and his tack canon wade rector of saint ansoho said he had known dr rogers for some years as a man of war the first thing which drew forth his kindly feeling towards dr rogers was observing the tender and faithful manner in which he supported the case of the sick poor in their workhouses the reverend w benham said he thought he had known dr rogers and his family longer than anyone else in the room accepting his brother and if he was a man of war as had been stated it was because no man in the world had a more kindly heart the chairman in making the presentation to dr rogers of three handsome pieces of silver played in a case together with a check for a hundred and fifty pounds said he really ought to have the assistance of a lady now for she would so much more gracefully in their name present that testimonial to dr rogers the inscription ran presented to dr joseph rogers in recognition of his continuous effort in the cause of sanitary and poor law medical reform for nearly 40 years june 24 1884 the date reminded them that dr rogers voice had not been bad of one crying in the wilderness his voice had been most usefully and beneficially exercised in the metropolis with the pieces of plate there was a substantial lining they hoped that dr and mrs rogers would long be spared to enjoy very many blessings they had met together there with one heart and one mind to show their appreciation of his excellent qualities both as a public and as a private man the estimate of his good deeds he the chairman fully believed would never be known till that last day when the record of his life would be unrolled they had met to do honor to a good man but each one in his own capacity strive to follow so noble an example that when that great day came they might have more to record of work done for others and less for themselves dr rogers who spoke with some emotion said he felt much difficulty in giving expression to the feelings that actuated to him on that occasion all he would state was that in his progress through life if he had recognized an evil he had done its best to relieve it and if in the doing of it he had occasionally and doubtless he had confronted the prejudices of some and arouse the antagonism of others it was the inevitable fate of all who attempted to deal determinately with wrongdoing wherever it might exist he happened to be as it were a child of the new poor law because he remembered well when the bill became law and his father expressed to him his sense of deep disappointment and dissatisfaction as a christian man with the way in which the bill was framed in regard to its harsh and bitter spirit they must recognize the fact that the poor would be with us always and that it was best to deal with them in a spirit of conciliation moderation and kindness and especially in that particular branch of the management of the poor with which it had been his lot for many years to be associated namely as medical officer of a large metropolitan workhouse he was perfectly satisfied of one thing and that was that a judicious administration of poor law relief meant economy he had studied this question most minutely he pointed out 23 years ago to Mr. Charles Villiers who presided over a committee on poor relief in 1861 that a more liberal administration of poor relief meant true economy to the ratepayers because if they cut short the sickness of the poor and if they diminished the amount of deaths that took place among the breadwinners they would as the ultimate result economize expenditure and out relief as regarded other subjects that had been referred to it was to him a matter of immense gratification that he had been associated in these labors that took place about 44 years ago initiated by Mr. George Alfred Walker of Dury Lane and which eventually germinated in the abolition of the most horrible system that ever took place in a christian kingdom he could tell them many things terribly showing the horrible evils that arose from keeping the bodies of the dead in the single rooms of the living he had many times seen the widowed mother and the children dining off the coffin of the dead father and other scenes which were indescribable in a gathering like that before him this it was which had prompted his action in the formation of a mortuary at St. Anne's Dr. Rogers concluded by offering his sincere thanks for the great honor they had conferred on him and to Mr. Shaw Stewart in coming and speaking so kindly of him as he had done Mr. Wickham Barnes proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman which was seconded by Mr. James Hogg and to which the chairman briefly replied conclusion though there were several persons of both sexes who were very advanced in years when one takes into account the difference in the numbers that were to be found in the Strand and Westminster workhouses yet in this latter house I did not see so many interesting old people as were to be found in the former about 10 years ago however there was an admission from St. Anne's Soho of an extremely aged woman she claimed then to be 100 years old she must have been extremely good looking in her youth as she still retained evidences of personal beauty like my old friend in the Strand she had a bright blue eye and a fair complexion she was in possession of all her faculties and talked and laughed by the half hour together when I was in the humor to sit and chat with her she knew the younger pit intimately Charles James Fox the Prince Regent Edmund Burke and several of the politicians of the latter part of the last century she also told me she knew Wellington and Nelson at last I discovered what she had been her constant references to Sheridan in her conversations with me induced me one day to ask her if she knew him drawing herself up in a sprightly sort of fashion I rather think I did said she eventually it came out that she had been under the protection of the boxkeeper of Drury Lane Theatre on putting the question which brought out the somewhat equivocable relation in which she had lived during the latter part of the last century she blushed up to her eyes the only thing of the kind I ever witnessed in a lady of such advanced years so much so that I felt sorry I had elicited the confession from her she was a very interesting old woman and her remarks about the appearance of the celebrities of the latter end of the last century and the beginning of this unmistakably showed that she had associated on familiar terms with many of the celebrated persons who lived and moved and produced a sensation nearly a hundred years ago she used to sing some very good songs they were chiefly scotch and when singing them she would work herself up into a great state of excitement she was very fond of talking to me and I suppose this arose from the circumstance of my taking interest in her conversation she was a very well behaved old woman and therefore a great favorite with the inmates and nurses who were highly amused whenever they could get her to sing one of her scotch songs at the latter end of the last century and the beginning of the present she had accompanied her male friend through Portugal and Spain prior to the war at the same time she knew Lord Nelson and Wellington before their names had become famous when she had reached 104 she rather suddenly lost her vivacity became childish and insensibly passed from time into eternity we had during the portion of the time I was at the Westminster Union quite a little community of agent and so far as I could ascertain religious women at any rate they struck me as being such and I kept them together until the harmony of their daily life was rudely interfered with by the master and matron Mr. John Bliss and Miss Heatley neither of whom had any sympathy with or kindly feeling for decently conducted proper women indeed they rendered the lives of these people so wretched by harsh interference as to compel me to distribute them among other wards some of them I even sent away to the sick asylum hospitals so as to get them out of their way it was a wonder to me that Miss Heatley after all that was proved against her on the official inquiry should ever have been allowed to continue matron of the workhouse but though spared by man's power she was destined to perish by one of the most fearful diseases that can afflict any woman being destined to die of cancer of a certain internal organ and I have been told her sufferings were of the acutest possible character it is very remarkable that having had very large opportunities of witnessing the deaths of my fellow creatures I have constantly observed that some untimely fate has overtaken those who exercising power in a workhouse have exhibited a cruel use of that power and of one thing I am absolutely certain from personal observation repeated over and over again that blessed is he who considereth the poor and needy the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble it has often been asserted that the inmates of a workhouse are generally worthless people but I demur to that conclusion entirely of this I am certain that many a person who has died in the infirmary of the sick ward of a workhouse has gone as straight to Abraham's bosom as has ever passed from a bishops palace or the death chamber of a king or queen or however highly placed during the 30 years that I was engaged in waiting on the sick poor I never lost sight of the fact that they were my fellow creatures who were accidentally placed in a humbler social position than myself though in accordance with the custom adopted in the institution they were stigmatized as poppers I never allowed myself to make them feel I thought them such after the departure of Mr John Bliss and the disappearance through illness of Miss Eatley the guardians appointed as master and matron Mr and Mrs. Binter I found them to be exceedingly respectable people kind to the old and afflicted and fair and kind to the general population of an urban workhouse the sick poor were quietly attended to whilst loudmouth swearing and blasphemy were banished from the place unfortunately however I began to break in health mounting up staircases day after day which had gone on for nearly forty years told upon me aggravated as it was by repeated attacks of bronchitis then a heart affection followed by its usual concomitance proved too much for me and I was compelled to resign the work I had done for so many years what made the blow the greater to me was this that in all other respects my professional life was a happy one I had nothing to ask for from the board of guardians as all my legitimate requirements were at once courteously met and complied with a different atmosphere pervaded the establishment and therefore it was a pleasure to me to meet my fellow officers and to work with them looking back upon the change which had taken place from the day I first entered upon my duties in January 1856 in the old strand workhouse till I finally left the Westminster Union in 1886 a period of 30 years the change that occurred was enormous then there was hardly a paid nurse in any workhouse in London the duties being performed by more or less in firm drunken and generally profligate inmates of the house it was a miracle to find an honest one among them they were a chance medley of serigamps and betsy prigs who were selected at the will of master and matron and who obeyed the orders of the medical officer just as much as and no more than their fancy led them the scenes of untold misery which might have been witnessed by the guardians of the poor will never be fully exposed until the grave record of all things is opened to universal gaze fortunately a change has come over the spirit of these things in the present day the sick poor are housed in buildings which were never dreamed of 20 years ago proper nursing is now entirely a thing of the past Lazarus now meets with careful Christian consideration and if it be possible to restore him to health an opportunity is afforded him of resuming a position in society useful although it may be humble my readers will therefore fully understand with what great regret i took my pen and wrote the resignation of my office especially when i recall to mind my having been twice suspended from my duties for the efforts i had made in bringing about the changes which i have above referred to and that at last when i was no longer able to do my work i was constrained to sever my connection with the board who had come to look upon me as one solely actuated by a sense of duty the day after the receipt of my resignation i received the following westminster union poland street september 27 1886 dear sir i am directed to forward you the next copy of a resolution adopted by the guardians at their meeting held on friday last when your resignation of the offices of workhouse medical officer and public vaccinator of the union was accepted i am dear sir yours faithfully fred j lampard assistant clerk of the guardians j rogers s squire indeed montague plays russell square copy resolution that this board has received with much regret the letter just read from dr joseph rogers resigning the office of workhouse medical officer and public vaccinator for the union on account of his continued ill health and while now accepting such resignation the guardians desire to convey to him their deep sympathy that he should thus be compelled to sever his connection with the board after many years of faithful service and to record their high sense of the zealous and efficient manner in which he has discharged the duties of his office and for the warm interest he has at all times taken in questions affecting the proper treatment of the sick and infirm poor after the resolution had been submitted to the vote and adopted unanimously mr samuel bonsoir rose in his seat and gave notice that that day month superannuation allowances should be accorded to dr joseph rogers coming from this gentleman it was indeed an honorable recognition of lengthened public services mr bonsoir had been in various offices of the parish of st anso since the introduction of the new poor law bill in 1834 he had filled all the usual parochial offices even the highest up to the time when i first made his acquaintance which was in the autumn of 1846 on the occasion when i brought before the bestry of st anso the terrible condition of the burial ground of that parish after hearing my indictment he had once concurred in the appointment of a committee from the bestry of the inhabitants to take the condition of the ground into consideration and to devise such remedies as might appear desirable mr bonsoir attended several of our meetings and entirely agreed as to the dreadful state into which the graveyard had fallen owing to the frequent funerals and the enormous overcrowding it was that bestry meeting that first made me a sanitary reformer and caused me to advocate extramural internment as well as many other social reforms in all of which i had the hearty support of mr bonsoir i question whether a finer representative of a middle class tradesman could be found in this kingdom for more than half a century he has devoted more than ordinary ability to the interests of his fellow parishioners i never upon one single occasion heard or was it ever hinted by any enemy if he ever made one of which i doubt that his actions were ever influenced by a single act of self seeking indeed he was passed through an unusually prolonged life amidst the respect in regard of all who have come in contact with him a very short time ago he brought me a circular letter issued by the poor law commissioners proposing the board of guardians in london should issue a similar letter to their respective bodies so as to more effectually deal with casuals laying it down before me he said this is a return to what they did between forty and fifty years ago for i was a member of the special board which was appointed under this letter but said he i suppose they have forgotten all about it and so they had no doubt before bringing my remarks to a close i should like to briefly describe the various changes that have taken place since the poor law commission was appointed in 1832 one of the original commissioners was the right honorable cp villiers mp for wolverhampton who has told me in the course of various conversations i've had with him that although a variety of subjects was referred to them in connection with the administration of the poor laws yet that the question of sickness as a factor in the production of pauperism was not referred to them and if it had not been for the pertenacity of dr g wallace and some others that this important subject would have been passed over all together it need not therefore be a matter of surprise that there has been a continual protest going on on the part of those who have accepted to poor law medical appointments against the way in which they have been treated by the board of guardians and a reference to the poor law commissioners resulting in the various changes that have taken place in the composition of the central authority up to the local government board of the present day until 1864 the central authority was an extremely weak body as continuous efforts were made throughout the country by boards of guardians and others to wipe the poor law board out of existence altogether and had it not have happened that the investigations and deliberations of the select committee on poor relief presided over by the right honorable cp villiers had reported in favor of the maintenance of the poor law board not local government board such a disastrous thing would have happened that it here be fully understood that although i have taken a most determined antagonism to many of the acts of the board whether as commissioners or as the poor law board yet that antagonism has been due to the fact that the administration has often been seriously faulty in detail the office of a poor law inspector is one which needs much judgment and tact i trust this will be borne in mind by those who will draft the contemplated county government board there is one point on which feeling most strongly the existing mockery of so-called poor law inquiries i do trust a change will be insisted upon and that is that those deputed to make the inquiry shall possess at least a modicum of legal intelligence finally i have to express the hope that no inspector whether metropolitan or otherwise will be vested with the sole power of deciding what shall be the evidence that shall be taken when the inquiry shall close or that he shall be the sole judge of the value of such evidence end of testimonial to dr joseph rogers end of reminiscences of a workhouse medical officer by joseph rogers