Medicines and Maladies

Before World War Two, medicines broadly feel into three groups: one was using knowledge about folk medicines, many derived from plants such as the poppy and the foxglove, which produced opium and digitalis. Another related to the increasing importance of pure natural products such as colchicine and emetine (from plants), and heparin, insulin, sex hormones and vitamins (from animals). Also, from the 19th century there was a rapid growth of synthetic medicinal chemistry, leading to salvarsan, aspirin and barbitone, the sulphonamides (the first anibacterial drugs, introduced in 1935) and later the antihistamines and benzodiazepines. (1)

For many people, especially in rural locations, home remedies were cheaper and easier to administer. How effective they were is another matter, but many people who grew up before WW2 recall the use of sulphur, brimstone & treacle, goose fat, and many other treatments. You can listen to people talking about these on this Home Remedies recording.

The following extracts are all taken from a compilation of people talking about Public Health provision in Leicester before WW2.

A doctor talks about what happened before the introduction of penicillin.

Dealing with septic fingers and hands before penicillin.

For contagious diseases, like Scarlet Fever, quarantining people was often the best advice.

In the 19th century Leicester people objected strongly to compulsory vaccination, and even between the wars not many babies were vaccinated against smallpox. 'The Leicester Method' was developed that involved strict isolation, thorough cleaning of houses, and the quarantine of contacts.

The Influenza Pandemic

Between June 1918 and March 1919 it’s estimated that 1,600 adults and children died of influenza and its associated illnesses during three outbreaks in Leicester. Outbreaks of diptheria in 1924 and 1938 claimed 67 lives. These memories of the influenza outbreaks are from the EMOHA web exhibition Leicestershire & Rutland Remember the First World War:

To listen to these clips with subtitles and accompanying information have a look at our pandemic video on the EMOHA Learning channel.

Watch Ned Newitt's film about the pandemic:

The rituals associated with death have changed over the years. In working class communities it wasn't uncommon for the dead body to be displayed in the front room of the house so people could pay their respects. This clip is typical of many in our collections:

A description of what happened when someone died.

Sound clips for this page were created by Dominic Buckley, Amirah Rashid & Dhriti Bardhan.

References

(1) Quoted directly from 'Health care before the NHS' by the Nuffield Trust - https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/chapter/inheritance