Northumberland Archives

Case Study – Tuberculosis of the Hip

23/02/201508/12/2014 by Stannington Sanatorium Project

The radiographs from the Stannington collection allow for a detailed insight into the effects that tuberculosis had on the body. One such example is patient 132/1951, a nine year old individual transferred from Fleming Memorial Hospital to the Stannington Sanatorium with Tuberculosis of the Hip. There are a total of 31 radiographic images allotted to this individual, mostly of the pelvic area but also some of the right knee.

HOSP-STAN-7-1-2-2046-16 — Figure 1 – HOSP/STAN/7/1/2/2046

Infection is evident in the right hip, the femoral head (head of the femur) and the acetabulum (socket of the pelvis) show visible signs of bone destruction which continues down into the lower part of the pelvis, the ischium. The reduced gap in the joint between the femoral head and the acetabulum is also indicative of tuberculosis (Figure 1). There is also some porosity shown in the femoral head, which displays the weakened state of the bone due to the extent of the infection.

This can be compared to the healthy, left side of the pelvis where a clear ball shaped femoral head can be distinguished with structured shape, lined up with the acetabulum. The gap between the upper and lower sections of the pelvis is evidence of this being a child as the pelvis has not yet fused.

Due to the level of destruction to the right hip, there would have be a significant impact on this individual’s standard of living, the possibility of reduced mobility due to ankylosis of the hip and atrophy.

NRO-3000-HOSP-STAN-07-01-02-2046-30 — Figure 2 – HOSP/STAN/7/1/2/2046

Figure 2, however, shows the results of a surgical intervention to repair damage caused by the tuberculosis infection, a procedure known as arthrodesis. This procedure is descried in the patient’s notes in a letter from the surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle to a doctor at Stannington:

‘… a cortical graft was taken from the anterior aspect of the right tibia. This would was closed with catgut and silk-worm gut to the skin. The right hip was approached from an incision over the posterior aspect of the greater trochanter…. The shaft of the femur was divided just below the greater trochanter and a gap made in the ischium. The bone graft was inserted into two gaps between the femur and the ischium…..’

As a result of the surgery it is noted that there was some flexion in the right hip and some apparent lengthening of the right leg. The tuberculosis infection was deemed quiescent and this individual, after being monitored as an outpatient, went on to be discharged as ‘healed’.

View more radiographs on our Flickr stream https://www.flickr.com/photos/99322319@N07/sets/72157648833066476/

The Extraordinary Life of Able Seaman Robert Tweddell

08/03/201804/12/2014 by Northumberland Archives

Robert Tweddell was born 7 January 1892 to Robert Tweddle and Isabella Scott in Radcliffe, Northumberland, the fifth of eleven children. The family lived in Radcliffe for some years, but by the 1911 census, they are listed as living at Cement Row, Widdrington. This census shows that Robert was a coal miner (Hewer), and the eldest child still living at home.

[TheTweddell Brothers – Robert is back row, second from left]

He enrolled with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 10 April 1915, aged 23 years, after having a medical examination at Ashington, and joined ‘Z’ Company on HMS Calliope. He was given the service number 4225. We also know from his service certificate that he worked as a miner for Stobswood Coal Company, and lived at 7 Grangewood Terrace, Stobswood. We can also glean some personal details about Robert: he is described as 5’6”, with a fair complexion, fair hair and blue eyes; his religious denomination was Church of England, and he could swim.

The only documents relating to Robert’s war service that seem to exist are a service record, which was passed through his family, and the enrolment application and report card, which were obtained from the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Somerset.

Rated as an Able Seaman in July 1915, he served with the 1st Reserve Battalion on H.M.S. Victory at Crystal Palace. Robert found the time to return home to Northumberland this year to marry Jane Telfer on 31 July. The marriage took place in St. John the Baptist parish church, Ulgham, and the family story is that Robert was the first man in uniform to marry here, although this cannot be verified.

Robert’s report card only runs from 1917. We know he embarked at Folkestone on 3 January 1917, landing at Calais the same day. Joining Howe Battalion on 26 January, he was transported to the 1st Field Ambulance, Royal Naval Division, for dental caries (or cavities) on 6 April, and did not return to his unit until 5 May.

Whilst Robert was away from his unit his wife, Jane, gave birth to their first child, a son, on 17th April 1917. He was named Robert after his father and grandfather. [Image of a sweetheart brooch that Robert gave Jane]

The report card then jumps to his service in 1918, starting with his leave to the UK, commencing on 25 January 1918 – this was probably the first time he saw his baby son. Robert re-joined the Howe Battalion on 16 February, but was disciplined two days later, having overstayed his English leave by two days W.O.A.S. (whilst on active service) – he received 14 days of Field Punishment Number 1. This punishment, sometimes known as ‘crucifixion’, would have involved Robert being shackled in irons and secured to a fixed object, perhaps a gun wheel. Officially, men could only be fixed like this for up to 2 hours in 24, and not for more than 3 days in 4, or for more than 21 days in a sentence.

He joined the 7th Entrenching Battalion on 22 February 1918, and was then posted to the Drake Battalion on 14 March. On 21 March, he was admitted to 150 Field Ambulance with tonsillitis, and invalided to England on 27 March. A family story notes that this illness was not tonsillitis; instead he had been gassed in the trenches. Again, we have not been able to prove this.

He was granted his first (and last) good conduct badge on 9 April 1918. His service certificate notes that in January 1919, he was ordered to resume civil employment as a miner, with the Stobswood Coal Company, and was discharged from actual service.

Robert and Jane’s second child, another boy, named James Telfer Tweddell, was born on 25 April 1920.

The last piece of military information we have on Robert comes from his service certificate, which records that, on 1 September 1922, he was eligible to be presented with
the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Robert continued working as Miner for the rest of his life, also being a member of the Mines Rescue Unit. During World War Two, he served in Stobswood Home Guard, helping to train the men in use of grenades and other weaponry. It is also believed that he was a member of the Stobswood Auxiliary Unit, nicknamed “The Death or Glory Boys”. [Image of Robert wearing his life saving apparatus].

Robert died in 1953, at the age of 61 years, of lung cancer. Using the parish records for Ulgham Church [EP 19] I managed to find Robert’s name in a notebook which lists plot numbers in the graveyard [EP 19/67], which corresponds with the plan of the churchyard extension [EP 19/48] – we have been able to stand at the spot where my great-granda is buried, impossible to do before as a gravestone was never erected.

Northumberland Archives staff have been undertaking research into the contribution that some of their own family members made to the First World War. Robert Tweddell was a relative of Sarah Littlefear, Trainee Archivist.

Conservation Work on the Early Patient Files

03/12/2014 by Stannington Sanatorium Project

The earlier patient notes from Stannington Sanatorium were bound together in what were known as ‘Discharge Books’. We had 15 of these large volumes and took the decision to have them unbound and to keep them stored as individual sets of notes instead. They still remain in their original order but thanks to the work of the conservators at Durham Record Office are now much more accessible and neatly stored in their own custom-made boxes. The conservators have very kindly given us a step-by-step account of the work they carried out on these records:

During their time at the sanatorium each patient had annotated medical notes charting their progress. These came in a standard format; a bifolio (a sheet of paper folded in half to make two leaves), often with additional sheets or photographs attached. After the patients had been discharged these bifolios were bound together into volumes. Whilst keeping the notes safe, the bindings were very tight, meaning it was difficult to read text written in the fold or ‘gutter’. Furthermore, small pieces of paper that were adhered to the notes were often trapped within the gutter, unable to be lifted and thus obscuring text beneath them. (Figure 01)

03 'Trapped' paper obscurring text — Figure 01 – ‘Trapped’ paper obscuring text

Whilst normally all care is taken to preserve bindings as part of an object’s historical context, the decision was made that the information that was inaccessible due to the binding structure was more important than the bindings themselves. As such, I and two Conservators at Durham County Record Office have been dis-binding the volumes.

Dis-binding begins with removing the boards and mechanically stripping as much leather from the spine as possible. The leather was adhered directly to the text-block paper with a thick animal glue. To remove the glue a poultice of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose was applied which gradually softens the animal glue without wetting the paper beneath. When the glue was sufficiently softened we gently scraped it away, exposing the sewing and paper beneath. (Figure 02)

05 Application of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose — Figure 02 – Application of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose

We were then able to cut the sewing and separate one bifolio at a time from the rest of the text-block. In doing so we were able to see the stab sewing the bookbinders had used, which was the reason it was impossible to open the book properly to access the text in the gutter. When each bifolio was detached, we removed any remaining animal glue from the fold. (Figures 03 & 04)

06 Stab sewing — Figure 03 – Stab sewing

07 Removal of glue from fold — Figure 04 – Removal of glue from fold

Patients who had spent many years in the sanatorium had additional sheets added to their notes. These were attached to their bifolios with a linen tape. Over time the adhesive of the tape has failed, becoming dry and grainy. Whilst this meant the tape carrier was very easy to remove, the adhesive remained on the paper and had to be manually scraped off each sheet. (Figures 05-07)

Figure 06 – Removal of adhesive from tape

Whilst most of the paper is still in very good condition, the bifolios with many additional sheets were found to have split in the binding process as the paper could not stretch over the bulk of the inserts. Furthermore, the inserts often protruded further than the rest of the text-block and so had suffered damage along the edges. Some damaged bifolios had been ‘repaired’ with tape or paper, and often these repairs were failing. When collections are being digitised, it means the originals will be rarely accessed. As such conservators carry out minimal intervention, or repairs for ‘once-only’ handling. This means we only repair a tear or damage if text is obscured or if we think a tear might be caught and worsened in the digitisation process. We carried out these repairs with a thin but strong Japanese paper and wheat starch paste. (Figures 08 & 09)

12 'After' paper repair — Figure 09 – ‘After’ paper repair

11 'Before' repair - with an old repair piece — Figure 08 – ‘Before’ repair – with an old repair piece

There were also a number of photographs within the medical notes, adhered with a similar linen tape. The adhesive was gently removed to prevent scratching the emulsion layer. Four-flap folders were made out of SilverSafe paper; an unbuffered paper specifically for storing photographs to prevent acidic decay and abrasion. (Figures 10-12)