Just as background to the story let me introduce Mary Dent, born Mary Penrose in York in 1842, her parents were working people, her Father being a stone mason. James Dent was born in Ireland but had come to York with his family. The two met and Mary and James married in June 1868. James was 21yrs old and Mary was a little older at 24yrs old. They lived on Navigation Road, in York, this road had recently been renamed as it ran close to the River Foss Navigation canal. This was an industrial part of the city, though still close to the city centre and the Minster.
On the 1871 census James was a stone mason. York Corporation employed stonemasons and York Minster has had a programme of restoration and repair since the late 17th century and had its own stone-yard employing stone masons and men since the early 1800’s. Maybe James worked at York Minster which was easy walking distance from their home. In 1872 Mary gave birth to a baby boy. Sadly he did not survive long and died soon after. Mary and James never not had any other children.
They must have continued with daily life and then in October 1880 the advertisement pictured above appeared in the local paper. This is really the start of our story.
You can see that the job required a married couple to ‘take charge’ of The Fever Hospital in exchange for furnished accommodation, gas, coal and renumeration of £10/year. The woman would be required to Nurse the sick as needed for additional renumeration while the man may continue with his own occupation. No qualifications were needed. At this time patients in hospital were expected to appoint their own medical practitioners to provide them with medical advice and also to supply their own Nurses or perhaps relatives to provide nursing care.
James and Mary probably thought that the job was an attractive proposition as it came with good rent-free accommodation, even though the £10/ yr allowance was probably not a large sum. As James could continue with his current occupation the allowance would be useful extra income in addition to the savings on rent. James and Mary were young and most likely fit and healthy and so maybe did not think too hard about the risks involved with being exposed to patients with all manner of infectious diseases.
Their application for the role must have been successful as by 1881 the census shows them now living in the caretakers house at York Fever Hospital. The hospital was newly opened and at the time of the census there were no patients resident but that did not last long. Newspaper reports of the time reported that patients with conditions such as scarlet fever, dysentery and smallpox were all admitted.
There had been a worldwide epidemic of scarlet fever in the 1880’s which was part of the reason that the fever hospital had been opened. Scarlet fever is a bacterial infection and can be spread easily by human contact. It was still a common disease and still resulted in many child deaths, though not as many as the previous epidemic. There had also been a pandemic of smallpox in the late 1870’s. Vaccination against smallpox was compulsory by the 1880’s but some cases were still being recorded. Newspaper reports from the time showed that the hospital was busy and sometimes overcrowded. In fact by late 1881 rough wooden buildings had been erected in the grounds of the hospital to accommodate scarlet fever patients. Between 1880 and 1890 there were serious outbreaks of typhoid, diptheria and scarlet fever in York. Many of the patients would have been admitted to the fever hospital.
The photo below was taken some years later in 1910 but perhaps the buildings are similar to those initially built in 1881.
Before starting work, James and Mary may have had very little knowledge of Medicine or Nursing, and their understanding of hygiene and infections would have been very limited. It is difficult to imagine how they managed the situation. We don’t really know what Mary’s role was in the hospital, but cleaning , washing and sometimes nursing would all have been part of her duties. James would have been in charge of the accounts for the Fever Hospital and in 1883 there are newspaper reports of a court case where a city clerk was suspected of fraud and James was called to give evidence about the Fever Hospital accounts. He was simply a witness and was not suspected of wrongdoing himself. Patients admitted to the fever hospital were required to pay a fee for admission and sometimes additional charges would have been made for washing, food etc. so account keeping would have been a necessary part of the job.
A newspaper article on Council activity reported that Mary’s hard work was recognized in 1885, as her wages were increased. She was to receive an additional 5 shillings per week for every additional patient and an additional 2 shillings per week for every stone of washing. (That sounds like a lot of washing to me!)
Ten years after taking on the role at the Fever Hospital Mary and James were still resident at the time of the 1891 census. Sadly things were about to change, as James died in April aged just 45yrs old. The City Council must have been happy with Mary’s work at the hospital as she continued there in her role, still living in the Caretakers house. It is not known if she then took on the account keeping or if someone else was employed for this.
Over the next few years there is no mention of Mary in the newspapers or any other records I can find, however by the 1901 census she is still resident at the Fever Hospital and has been given a promotion as is called ‘Matron’. However there were some reports of dissatisfaction in the management of the Fever Hospital about this time. It seemed that there was a growing recognition that a Qualified Nursing and Medical staff should be employed. A newspaper article from April 1901 reported that the Fever Hospital was to be re-organised and professional staff employed. This was likely the end of Mary’s career at the hospital.
Mary does not seem to have had any family, and she can be found living alone in Walpole Street, York in 1911. Mary died the following year aged 69yrs.
Mary Dent, was not a Professional Nurse but spent a good part of her life, at least twenty-one years, working and living at the fever hospital. In fact, she was an integral member of the hospital staff for almost a quarter of its existence. Despite reports that the hospital needed reorganisation towards the end of her time there, I would like to think that she was a hardworking and caring person who continued to work despite the risks to her own health.
She was, in essence the first Hospital Matron (albeit unqualified), for the York Fever Hospital and in my mind, something of an unsung hero!
Do you have any family members who were unrecognized for their work? Get in touch if you would like any help researching them.
