Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures and Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- Notes on the Text
- Who's Who in the Narrative
- Introduction
- 1 Town and School, 1875
- 2 Local Society and Local Government
- 3 Local Medicine and Local Doctors
- 4 Typhoid: The First Two Outbreaks, 1875
- 5 Winter 1875–6
- 6 Spring 1876
- 7 Summer 1876
- 8 Autumn, Winter and Spring 1876–7
- Aftermath and Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Uppingham Union Membership 1875
- Appendix 2 Abstract of Sums Raised by RSAs
- Notes
- Note on Sources
- Works Cited
- Index
7 - Summer 1876
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures and Tables
- List of Abbreviations
- Notes on the Text
- Who's Who in the Narrative
- Introduction
- 1 Town and School, 1875
- 2 Local Society and Local Government
- 3 Local Medicine and Local Doctors
- 4 Typhoid: The First Two Outbreaks, 1875
- 5 Winter 1875–6
- 6 Spring 1876
- 7 Summer 1876
- 8 Autumn, Winter and Spring 1876–7
- Aftermath and Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Uppingham Union Membership 1875
- Appendix 2 Abstract of Sums Raised by RSAs
- Notes
- Note on Sources
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
On 26 March Thring sent a telegram from Borth to Christian, who was still in Uppingham: ‘It is flat treason and treachery. I have wired to stop it.’ We do not know to what this refers, but it shows that distance had done little to dispel his resentful and angry mood. There were also new anonymous letters from each side in the press; ‘A father’ wrote at length to the Manchester Critic at the end of March, complaining at the lack of urgency being shown. This prompted ‘One of the townsfolk’ to write to the Stamford Mercury raising the question of whether Borth would really turn out to be safer than Uppingham. The first edition of the school magazine for the summer term fanned the flames. It included a clever poetical satire: ‘How I came to Borth’, with the words:
Leave bickerings and cesspools far behind,
Take thy stern future with a quiet mind.
Better are herbs and peace, be well assured,
Than all the Local Sanitary Board
Weigh dilute sewage ’gainst pure mountain springs,
Weigh unflushed drains ’gainst air the salt sea brings
Weigh all the chances well with equal scales,
Since Wales won't come to you then go to Wales …
It did not take long for a copy to find its way to Uppingham, where the rector took offence at the use of his name in this play on words. Dr Bell wrote to Thring on 5 May urging him to stop the boys writing such things; they would not help, especially at a time when he sensed that public opinion might just be starting to move in favour of the school.
All these irritations gave an added spice to the annual elections to the RSA which were due in late April. The elections offered both sides a chance to test local opinion, but also exposed them to potential rejection at the polls.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Typhoid in UppinghamAnalysis of a Victorian Town and School in Crisis, 1875–7, pp. 131 - 150Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014