How Droitwich's brine could help combat resisting infections: Guest blog by Matt Davies

GM2002.1.149.1 Bath Thermometer

In September of 2023  Dr. Michael Macey, a member of the Astrobiology OU group, approached Droitwich Spa town counsellor Bob Brookes after he learned of  his involvement in the ‘Save our Brine Baths’ campaign. Macey, who studies extremophiles (bacteria that live in extreme conditions), was keen to get involved and study the qualities of Droitwich’s brine baths. The counsellor, who is also keen on saving the baths, eagerly facilitated Macey’s collection of samples from the brine. Dr Macey’s research usually is in countries such as Iceland or Canada however he was very intrigued by the possibility of the town’s brine harbouring microbes capable of producing new antibiotics.

The discovery of new antibiotics has become crucial to medicine as antibiotic resistance poses severe threats to medical treatments. In October 2023 Dr Macey and his colleagues visited the brine well at tower hill, near Droitwich, to collect further samples. More recently in March 2024 Mara Leite, another researcher involved in the project, isolated three strains of salt-adapted microbes from the brine. Remarkably these strains were able to inhibit the growth of various hospital associated pathogens, including MRSA (which is responsible for many difficult-to-treat infections in humans). Researchers are now focused on identifying the specific chemicals and genes responsible for the antibacterial activity. While much work remains these early results are promising and suggest that Droitwich’s brine could play a key role in developing powerful new antibiotics to combat resistant infections.

Link to recent Droitwich Standard article: https://droitwichstandard.co.uk/news/droitwich-spas-brine-could-be-key-to-combatting-resistant-infections/#:~:text=Droitwich%20Spa's%20brine%20could%20be,resistant%20infections%20%2D%20The%20Droitwich%20Standard

Link to BBC Sounds interview: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jrs2qr#:~:text=Droitwich%20Spa's%20historic%20brine%20is,treat%20bacteria%20such%20as%20MRSA.

By Matt Davies, 2024

Student at Prince Henry’s High School, Evesham

"Dementia at Powick Hospital: Eliza Davies and Dementia in the 1800s" Guest post by Matt Davies

During the 137 years that Powick Hospital was operating from 1852 to 1989 it treated well over 25000 patients from the Worcestershire area. Many of these patients were diagnosed with dementia. Dementia is a syndrome of brain decline that affects memory, thinking, language, mood and behaviour. One patient treated at the hospital for dementia was Eliza Davies, a fifteen year-old girl.

Eliza Davies’ patient notes

Not much is known about Eliza’s life before her admission to Powick Hospital though by using reliable databases and a census of 1871 we are able to know that she lived in the Police buildings of Priory Street in Dudley and that she was the niece to the Sergeant, George Davies. It is also written that her occupation was a scholar. Eliza was admitted to the mental institute on the nineteenth of April 1876 after a diagnosis of dementia. Eliza, being diagnosed with dementia at fifteen years of age, was an early example of a term later coined dementia praecox which is a case of dementia in the late teens or early adulthood. In her patient notes it is written that Eliza was neither epileptic, suicidal nor dangerous to others. It is stated that she had a vacant expression of countenance and that she refused to answer questions, destroys her clothing and uses very bad language. Eliza’s use of bad language is noteworthy because this language was never seen as bad if a male used it and was only seen this way if used by a female. Additionally it is written that she was ‘in dirty habits’ which meant that she needed help going to the bathroom. She also suffered from rheumatism along with heart, liver and kidney problems.  Her condition of rheumatism is notable as research has shown that because of the reduced blood flow to vital organs it can lead to the development of dementia. To help treat Eliza she was prescribed ether and digitalis. Sadly no more is known about Eliza apart from the fact that she was being transferred to another hospital to be treated for her condition.

During the 19th century individuals with dementia were starting to be recognised as patients, deserving medical care from specialists known as alienists. Subsequently more and more people were admitted to mental institutes with the specific condition of dementia whereas before this dementia was just a term that simply referred to anyone that had lost the ability to reason. Also during the 1800s doctors came to believe that dementia, specifically elderly dementia, was the result of cerebral atherosclerosis which is a medical condition where plaque builds up in the blood vessels of the brain therefore reducing blood flow to the brain and reducing its abilities.

 By Matt Davies, 2024

Student at Prince Henry’s High School, Evesham

GUEST BLOG DR FRANK CROMPTON - THE BUILDING OF LUNATIC ASYLUMS (LITTLE HAS CHANGED)

Little has changed in the 179 years since Earl Grey’s Whig Administration determined that they would compel County and County Borough Councils to establish pauper lunatic asylums to house insane paupers from their areas. The Lunacy Act of 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 100) and the County Asylums Act of the same year (8 & 9 Vict. c. 126) reformed the Mental Health Law in England and Wales from 1845 to 1890. However, both Worcestershire County Council, and the Worcester City Council were reticent to implement this new law. It took both over 5 years to even begin to respond to the demands of the new act. 

In part this reticence was because both administrations were fortunate as William Ricketts had already created a private lunatic asylum in Droitwich in 1791 which accepted insane pauper lunatics from both the county and city of Worcester. This institution was extremely humane, in comparison with most lunatic asylums (or ‘Madhouses’ as these institutions were often called). The lunatic asylum scandals that afflicted much of England and Wales were unknown in the county and city of Worcester and when William Ricketts died in 1817 his son Martin took over the Droitwich Private Lunatic Asylum that continued to accept patients from Worcestershire Poor Law Unions until the Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Powick opened in August 1852. 

In 1835 surgeon Thomas Lewis opened Duddeston Hall. Situated north of Birmingham and licensed to accept 30 private patients and 60 paupers, this institution was housed in a large mansion. It too was favourably regarded and, like the Droitwich asylum, was used by some Worcestershire Poor Law Unions. In 1822 the Fairford Retreat was created by Alexander Iles, another surgeon. It also accepted some pauper patients from the County and City of Worcester and was regarded with approval for the humanity of its treatment. 

The County Asylums Act of 1808 (48 Geo. 3. c. 96) determined the Mental Health Law in England and Wales between 1808 and 1845. This Act determined that Public Mental Asylums in England and Wales could now be administered by County and County Borough Administrations. It permitted but did not compel councils to provide establishments for the care of pauper lunatics, which meant that they could be removed from workhouses and prisons. This Act was also known as Mr. Wynn's Act, because Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, the Welsh MP for Montgomeryshire, was the original promoter.

However, the Act was unsuccessful in promoting the creation of many new County or County Borough Lunatic Asylums, and the failure led to the introduction of the County Asylums Act of 1828 (9 Geo. 4. C. 40), another attempt to address concerns about the slow creation of asylums in England and Wales. This legislation required Magistrates to send annual records of admissions, discharges, and deaths of insane paupers in a County or County Borough, to the Home Office annually.

Similarly, this minimal Legislation failed to encourage the creation of new Lunatic Asylums, so, in 1845 were passed both the Lunacy Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. 100) and the County Asylums Act (8 & 9 Vict. c. 126). Together these created Mental Health Law in England and Wales between 1845 to 1890 which obliged County and County Borough Authorities to provide Asylum for the pauper lunatics in their area. This law was based on the work of John Connolly and Lord Shaftsbury which also led to the use of ‘Moral Treatment’ of pauper lunatics in County and County Borough asylums. This treatment was pioneered by William Tuke at the York Retreat and led to a change in status of pauper lunatics being treated as patients, not prisoners. Following this legislation, and until 1890, over 60 asylums were built and opened. However, they were soon overcrowded, meaning a further 40 were opened soon after.  

Even though councils were now obliged to build new lunatic asylums, there was an almost 7-year delay before the opening of the new City and County Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Powick on 12 August 1852. Instead, the local authorities attempted to persuade neighbouring county authorities to build joint lunatic asylums that Worcester’s patients could share. Hereford, in many ways a logical partner to Worcester, had already agreed with several Welsh counties to set up a new pauper lunatic asylum at Abergavenny. Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Warwickshire were also approached, but refused to build shared asylums, claiming that their asylums were already too large to contemplate taking additional patients from Worcestershire.

So in 1849, almost 5 years after the 1845 acts demanded that Worcester County and City build a new pauper lunatic asylum, an asylum was planned. The City of Worcester demanded that the new institution be sighted close to the city, and Powick, less than two miles from the centre, was chosen. (1)

The writer believes that little has changed since 1845. Today legislation is often delayed due to the reticence of local authorities to accept decisions made by Central Government that are at variance from the opinions of local authorities.

Frank Crompton

Endnotes

(1) Powick was over 30 miles from Dudley and Shipston-on-Stour, then parts of the County of Worcester and patients from distant places could be transported by train to Worcester (there were reports that patients climbed out through windows on to the roofs of carriages). The new County Asylum Authorities refused to have a station next to the asylum, but the Worcester to Hereford Railway, built in the 1860s, was rerouted a couple of miles from the asylum.