Medical

The One Eyed Man

15/05/2018 by Northumberland Archives

The Court Calendar for the Easter Quarter Sessions held at the Moot Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne on 10th April 1890 lists that appearing at court that day was Arthur Stanhope .He was also known by the names of Arthur Reed, Arthur Wilson and Albert Edward Newton. The Calendar gives his age as 34 years, his trade as a decorator and records that he was only able to read and write imperfectly. He pleaded Guilty to an offence of Obtaining Money by False Pretences and was sentenced to twelve months.

Calendar of Prisoners, Easter Quarter Sessions 1890. *REF: NRO 11343/B/DAT*

The brief for the prosecution states that the prisoner “seems to be well acquainted with the district” and has been “exciting sympathy on account of his having lost an eye in September last and him being on his way to Edinburgh Infirmary”. He is also described as an “old offender” having been convicted at the Northumberland Easter Quarter Sessions in April 1885 “as well as at other places previously”. For this offence of Obtaining Money by False Pretences which was committed at Rock, Northumberland he was sentenced to six months.

From correspondence between Superintendent John Kennedy of Wooler and Mr Robert Archer found with the case papers Mr Archer had also dealt with the 1885 case.

An example of correspondence found amongst case papers for Arthur Stanhope. *REF: NRO 11343/B/DAT*

His list of previous convictions shows his first conviction to have been at the age of 28 in May 1884 when he was sentenced to 3 months for obtaining money by forging letters. As his trade was given as a decorator one wonders if his eye sight had now become so bad that he had to resort to fraudulent means in order to get money to survive. Or perhaps this was the first time he had been caught. Other convictions followed for fraud and falsehood involving money or goods and were committed in the Scottish Borders, namely Edinburgh, Dunns, Jedburgh and Selkirk.

Arthur’s previous convictions, handed over as evidence to the solicitors. *REF: NRO 11343/B/DAT*

In the 1890 case the arresting officer was a Pc Thomas Robson stationed at Lowick. On the 20th March from information received he was on the lookout for Stanhope and tracked him down to a lodging house in Lowick. When spoken to he gave his occupation as a piano tuner and said he had got a job at Barmoor Castle. After further enquiries Pc Robson found this to be false. Stanhope was arrested on the 22 March. He was charged two days later. Pc. Robson states Stanhope said that once he was clear of the case he would leave the county “and the next time you hear of me I will be making an honest living”.

One can only speculate as to how Stanhope came to loose an eye. In his statement Superintendent Rutherford states Stanhope “came into my custody at Alnwick on a similar charge between 22nd and 28 March 1885 and “at that time the prisoner was without the left eye” this being five years before this offence. One of his victims, Mrs Edith Maria Sitwell of Barmoor says in her disposition that Stanhope said he had been seen by Dr Argyll Robertson at the Edinburgh Infirmary and this may well have been true. Research has shown that he was the Senior Surgeon there from 1870 to 1897 specialising in eye disease and developed a procedure known as the Argyll Robertson Pupil which was used in the diagnosis of syphilis.

Stanhope was arrested after his visit to Mrs Sitwell. She was a widow and gave him 12/-. He is alleged to have asked for 11/- to get “New clothes to make him tidy to go into the Edinburgh Infirmary” Her generosity may have been swayed by Stanhopes referral to her neighbours a Mr Forster of Lowick who had “told him to come” and Colonel Hill of Low Lynn who he said had given him one pound. Colonel Hill had not believed his story and sent him away and Mr Forster had given him money. When arrested Stanhope was in possession of 6/-in silver.

Arthur Stanhope’s entry in the 1890 Calendar of Prisoners, Easter Quarter Sessions. *REF: NRO 11343/B/DAT*

Stanhope was also able to obtain money and in one case clothing from two Justices of the Peace for the County. George Pringle Hughes of Middleton Hall Wooler who became High Sheriff of the County in 1891 and Edward Collingwood the younger of Lilburn Tower. He was given 5/- by Hughes and clothes and 5/- by Collingwood. He used the same story namely he needed to get to Edinburgh for medical attention.

In an age when state support for persons unable to work due to illness or disability was minimal it would become necessary to either live on your wits, resort to begging or become an inmate of the workhouse. Stanhope seems to have chosen to live on his wits.

Stanhope states on two occasions that he is a Piano Tuner. This was a common occupation for people of limited sight in the nineteenth century and was helped by the demand for pianofortes as they were called by the well to do. Some were apprenticed to piano manufacturers but others may have seen it as an opportunity to make easy money. All that would be needed were a few tools and a teach yourself book. As Stanhope seems to have been able to convince upstanding members of the County of his intention to seek medical assistance, perhaps he perfected his skills of persuasion whilst visiting their houses.

Habitual Offenders were also receiving harsher sentences in 1890, and it may be that Stanhope was made an example of. After all he had managed to “con” a widow, a Justice of the Peace and a future High Sheriff of Northumberland out of substantial amounts of money.

Bibliography:

A History of Piano Tuning by Gill Green M.A

Wikipedia: Dr Douglas Argyll Robertson

We would like to thank the volunteer who kindly produced this blog piece; especially for their meticulous research of these documents and transcription of its contents.

Digitising the Stannington Sanatorium patient files

21/12/202010/03/2016 by Northumberland Archives

As the Stannington Sanatorium Digitisation Assistant I am responsible for digitising over 4,000 patient case files and their contents, redacting personal identifiable information from these and uploading digital copies of the core documents to our publicly accessible, searchable, online catalogue. Before I can do this, my colleague, the Project Assistant has already sorted the forms, charts and various other items contained in each file into core and non-core documents and repackaged them in acid free folders for long term preservation. You can read more about this here.

A file ready to be digitised — The documents of patient file HOSP-STAN 07/01/01/2261 prior to digitisation

Before being digitised the pages in each file are checked to make sure they are in the correct order and any dog eared corners or folds are straightened out. The pages in the folder are then photographed on both the front and reverse sides to make sure that all the information in each folder is captured. The number of images captured varies from file to file and can be from just a few up to around fifty. Most files have around 10 to 15 pages, but the largest digitised to date contains over 140 pages!

We digitise the files using a high specification digital SLR camera connected to a computer. This allows us to take high resolution photographs of each page and is much quicker than digitising each page separately on a flatbed scanner. Using a flatbed would be the normal approach however the time constraints on the project mean we are digitising over 1,500 pages every week so this approach isn’t feasible.

Camera stand and laptop — The camera stand and laptop used to digitise each file.

The images are then processed and saved to nationally recognised standards set by The National Archives. Each file is saved in Tiff and Jpeg formats. The Tiff format creates files of a large size, but ensures that all the original information from the photograph is retained. Because of this and the sensitive nature of information in the un-redacted files they are stored on DVD in the Northumberland Archives strong rooms for security and long term preservation. The smaller Jpeg format allows us to keep these digital files on our own servers and readily accessible to staff and researchers if required.
The core documents from each folder (cover, case notes, x-ray card and discharge report) then have any information which could identify patients or is considered sensitive removed. This process involves using photo editing software on a computer, and reading each page to check for information such as names, addresses and dates of birth, and redacting it. This is a time consuming process not made easier by having to read a lot of hand written doctors’ notes!

Core documents being redacted in Adobe Photoshop — Adobe Photoshop is used to redact sensitive information from the core documents.

The final stage of the process is to upload the images to the relevant records on our online catalogue. Once this has been done a selection of pages from each file are publicly viewable along with each file’s catalogue entry and the digitisation process is complete. Currently over 18,000 pages have been digitised from over 1,400 patient files. Over 6,000 core documents are already viewable online via our catalogue in addition to a large number of radiographs and early patient files which were digitised during the first phase of the project.
A typical set of core documents from the file of a patient suffering from tuberculosis admitted to Stannington Sanatorium in the early 1950s can be seen below.

The front cover of a file — HOSP-STAN 07/01/01/2261/01

Inside the cover of a patient file — HOSP-STAN 07/01/01/2261/02

HOSP-STAN 07/01/01/2261/07 - — HOSP-STAN 07/01/01/2261/03

Pages from a patient file incuding discharge report — HOSP-STAN 07/01/01/2261/07

Working as the Stannington Sanatorium Project Assistant

21/12/202017/02/2016 by Northumberland Archives

As the Stannington Sanatorium Project Assistant my responsibility is to ensure the good preservation and access to the Stannington Sanatorium records. Since early November I have been removing boxes of our patient files from the shelves and repackaging them. This follows a set process. First I begin by opening the file and separating out the core documents from the other contents of the file, and securing them to the inside of the file with an archival quality brass paper clip. The core documents include X-ray records, discharge reports, treatment notes and case notes. These contain a wealth of information about each patient’s treatment and health during their time at the Sanatorium. The non-core documents vary greatly in content, usually (but not always) including temperature charts, a history of illness and medical permissions form completed by parents, reports and letters of their transfer. There are often a number of other documents included, and

A repackaged file with supplies - unfolded card folder, archival tape, Brass paper clips and a bone folder for folding the flaps of the folders. — A repackaged file with supplies – unfolded card folder, archival tape, Brass paper clips and a bone folder for folding the flaps of the folders.

we will look more closely at the contents of the files in a future blog. I also ensure the file itself is in good order for its conservation, that there is no yellowing sticky tape, old paper clips or pins that may corrode.

It is then folded with an archival-grade four-flapped envelope, which we were able to purchase thanks to our Wellcome Trust grant. These are high-quality, acid-free card envelopes; an excellent way to protect the documents from damage and dust ingress. This is then given a printed label with the file’s reference number, and tied together in acid-free archival tape tied with a quick-release knot. Due to the thickness of the files after their repackaging additional boxes are required, and I estimate repackaging will at least double the number of boxes the collection occupies.

Files yet to be repackaged on their temporary shelving

This all has to be given extra space within the Northumberland Archives strongrooms. I have moved the boxes yet to be repackaged to a new temporary location, and am refilling the shelves as the boxes are completed, updating their location references as I go. I have just passed the halfway mark, but there is a lot still to be done!

Once completed however, the records don’t just sit unused. We often have Subject Access Enquiries, usually made by former Stannington patients wishing to see their records, and these are dealt with by our research team. We require authentication and permission to do this, which can take some time. The documents are not only useful for finding out more about individual lives, but for research into tuberculosis in children and the history of its treatment. A number of research institutions have looked at redacted images of the files and radiographs, to learn more about Tuberculosis.

Repackaged boxes of files at their new permanent location

This has to be done with the strictest patient confidentiality, and we will discuss more about the redaction process in future blogs. A former colleague at the Northumberland Archives, Becky Cessford, is looking at the uses of the Stannington Sanatorium collection in the wider fields of archaeology of human remains, history of medicine and archival outreach in her PhD. She will discuss her fascinating project in a blog post for us sometime soon. It is fantastic that the records are being used by former patients and researchers as such a valuable collection should be appreciated. The team last year started to raise the collection’s profile through these blogs, talks, an online exhibition and a touring exhibition, and I hope to be able to carry on some of this in phase two. You can see the online exhibition here, and the touring exhibition will soon be moving from libraries across Northumberland to HM Prison Acklington until late March.