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An ancient settlement in the far west of West Penwith, St Buryan has been a law until itself since time began. When King Alfred arrived to fight Danish invaders he was confronted with the locals, fighting alongside them. He escaped to a more successful campaign on the Isles of Scilly and on his return called in to ask for outstanding tax bills to be paid. He was told that St Buryan paid its taxes to the Church, not the state. When Church officials arrived to be paid their taxes they were told that St Buryan paid its taxes to the State and not to the Church. And so it went on ……………
Today, an upright farming community in West Penwith, St Buryan pays its taxes and flourishes with its own school, new and refurbished housing, a post office, shop, church, chapel and two community centres. There is plenty of activity for all. Naturally this relies on volunteers as did the relief of the typhoid outbreak which occurred in 1914.
In 1914, the ‘Great War’ was uppermost in most people’s minds. Needing half a million volunteers, Kitchener was about to produce the infamous poster ‘Your Country Needs You’. The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry had waged several recruiting campaigns in the Duchy but the health of suitably aged young men was found to be wanting. Agriculture needed to step up to feed the population and the armed forces.
Save every crumb! A WW1 poster reminding everyone about the need to safeguard food supplies By Clarke & Sherwell Ltd; Ministry of Food - A typhoid vaccination had been developed in Germany and was available by 1910 – but this was in the day of private medicine when fatal diseases were commonplace. Poor hygiene and the use of contaminated water can bring on typhoid which triggers a high temperature, stomach pain and constipation or diarrhoea. If organs and tissues become damaged as a result of the infection, it can cause serious complications, such as internal bleeding or a section of the bowel splitting open. A possible cure in 1914 was personal hygiene, drinking plenty of water and when recovering eating, suitable and regular meals.
Papers relating to the outbreak were donated to Newlyn Archive by the retired Cornishman journalist and author Douglas Williams. They are carbon flimsies of a collection of papers relating to July to December 1914, largely copied from the Cornishman. The transcripts below are mostly taken from them. The Cornishman for all years up to 1950 can also be accessed on the BNA website
We are providing this material in ‘raw’ form so that interested readers can construct the narrative for themselves, perhaps adding their own family stories.
Italicised within square brackets are a few interpretative comments
Parties involved were:
Cornwall County Council was created in 1888 to take on responsibility for much of the work done by the previous parish councils The Hon John Boscawen, Chairman of the Sanitary Committee: Mr J Nicholls, the Sanitary Inspector
Dr Branwell Dr Jago Dr Richmond, Medical Officer Dr Nesbitt
Paul Urban Council Dr Russell Philips – Medical Officer of Health
Civil Parish Council - including the Reverend Trimmer Bennett
West Penwith Rural District Council – Dr J M Richmond, Medical Officer of Health
Local Board of Guardians – [Poor Law Union] which dealt with poverty and homelessness in West Penwith, with two representatives from St Buryan. Belgian refugees, ‘Aliens’ and rising costs including leather from which boots were made were current problems and they wanted to make more use of the old Poor Houses in particular to reduce the number of children in the workhouses. Dr M J Rees, Medical Inspector for the Local Board of Guardians
Colonel and Mrs Paynter – Aged 50, the Colonel had been mustering troops in the south-west and was due to go to France. He owned a large estate at nearby Boskenna and much of the land, farms and housing around. He was a stable focus for the community on whom many depended for their livelihoods and homes. He needed to settle his affairs so that his wife could run the estate when he was posted to France.
St Buryan Nursing Society – largely financed by Colonel Paynter, donations, subscriptions and jumble sales. Therefore it was now up to the committee to sustain the Society in this uncertain time.
St Buryan School had been opened on 3 October 1910. Mrs Paynter was the Chairman of the Managers and regularly visited the school having given all the children a ‘tea treat’ on its inception.
The Cornishman newspaper – covering West Penwith, it was published three times weekly. Much of the news was about local men fighting/dying in the war
St Buryan Church – Rector, the Reverend A Cornish
West Penwith Rural District Council – local government board for the area; Mr Cornish was variously described as Clerk and Deputy Clerk
A late 19th-century view of St Buryan Church – and a rather fancy vehicle The annual meeting of St Buryan Nursing Society was held in the Church school room, St Buryan, on August 7 1914 with Mrs Paynter was in the chair. The accounts were passed and Mrs Paynter read the annual report. Altogether 95 patients had been nursed during the year, medical 31, surgical 39, maternity 21, midwifery 4. Nursing visits 1, 462; casual visits 268; total 1,730. Results of cases - convalescent 84, deaths 1, still under treatment 10.
Mrs Paynter, in the absence of the treasurer, Colonel Paynter said that she greatly regretted that Colonel Paynter advised them for the present to give up a nurse in St Buryan. The subscriptions of the St Buryan Nursing Society had hitherto been collected at the end of the financial year in December and this left the society with no working balance in hand at the present moment.
Colonel Paynter greatly regretted that he was unable at the present time to continue to finance the society during the whole year as he had usually done. Last year the society started with the whole proceeds of the jumble sale but this year Mrs Paynter had not found it possible to hold one.
It was proposed the following actions should be taken:
1. The Queen’s nurse given up for the present
2. A jumble sale should be held at Boskenna directly harvest was over
3. The finance committee should try to raise a fund of not less than £50 by the 1st of January 1915 when it was thought that the committee would be justified in starting a county nurse at the annual cost of £65.
Several of the committee stated that they thought many subscribers would pay their usual contributions before December in order to start a district nurse again. Mrs Paynter proposed to try and raise a special fund for that purpose.
It was proposed and seconded that the President continue and the Treasurer should be re-elected.
At the meeting of the Local Board of Guardians on 29 August, Colonel Paynter drew attention to the typhoid outbreak in St Buryan which he considered needed immediate attention. A mother to five or six children had died. They had no visible means of support and were running about in a horrible condition. Mr P H Rowe moved that the matter be left in the hands of the Medical Officer and the Relieving Officer and if the Doctor did not consider it essential, the children should be removed to the workhouse or a separate house and be maintained by the Board.
At the meeting of the Parochial Council on 31 August it was resolved to:
1. appoint an extra nurse to assist in attending to those suffering from typhoid in the village
2. appoint a man at 30 shillings [£1.50] a week to superintend the disposal of all refuse and to see that the same was properly buried.
3. With regard to the future water supply for the village it was resolved to take a sample of water for analysis from Mr Tonkin’s well in Newlyn Lane. Dr Richmond presented an analyst’s report of the water from Stone’s well and from the well in Newlyn Lane. The water could not be regarded as quite suitable for drinking purposes without first being filtered.
On 9 September Mr Tonkin promised to have his well in Churchtown closed and hand over his supply from Nan Rowe’s well where a windmill was to be fixed. A 10,000 gallon tank was to be constructed at the head of the village with a few self-closing pipes laid throughout the village.
Churchtown, St Buryan, 1913 cornishmemory.com, accessed September 21, 2022 A man had been engaged to cart water to people, the tank water not being sufficient.
It was decided to thank Mr Tonkin and also Mr T B Bolitho for their kindness, the latter having offered to support the water scheme, financially, on behalf of the village.
The Medical Officer and his committee had found it necessary to furnish a temporary hospital in the Church room and to obtain various articles of equipment and engage an additional nurse with food, etc.
The Medical Officer of Health, Dr Richmond, reported to West Penwith RDC on 3 September that there had been 14 births and seven deaths.
He reported that in St Buryan Churchtown, 26 of the 88 houses were infected by typhoid and he had reported in the usual way the outbreak to the County Council and to the Guardians. He attributed the outbreak to a village pump which had been closed eight years earlier with a notice which had been disregarded saying the water could be used for washing floors but not for drinking. He thought that either the water had been used for drinking purposes or that milk cans had been washed out with this water.
Colonel Paynter recommended the Parochial Committee take on an extra nurse, possibly two; the Motion was carried.
The Reverend Trimmer suggested that no person who had washed the clothes of the ill should be allowed to milk cows.
A letter from Dr Rees, Medical Inspector for the Local Board of Guardians, stated that within 10 days, over 30 cases had been notified, the majority occurring in cottages which did not afford means for proper isolation but being in need of careful nursing by an experienced nurse. From the information obtained, the primary cause of the outbreak seemed to be the water taken for drinking purposes from a polluted well. Dr Richmond, having visited the village and made investigations, had been able to give him valuable assistance. He put forward certain recommendations which might help to prevent the further spread of the disease.
When the Board of Guardians met on 10 September they discussed the issue of Austrian and German Aliens in the district [Many were seamen and passengers from the age of 16 to 60 and one Austrian, married to an English women and working at the Porthminster Hotel making 63 in total]. They could have been accommodated at the artillery barracks in Newlyn or in the workhouse which would be cheaper. Unfortunately the latter housed some patients from St Buryan so if the Germans caught the disease, their custody would prove even more expensive.
In the event, they were confined in the barracks at Chyandour but this was needed to train recruits for Kitchener’s Army. It was left to the committee to make a decision. The cost of guarding was £14 a week and the budget for their rations was a shilling a day. The total cost was £21. Three who later escaped from Chyandour were sent to prison for six months. In October the Aliens were sent to Newbury as prisoners of war.
In their September meeting, Paul Urban Council heard that the birth rate was the highest ever recorded. A case of typhoid fever had been sent to London but the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Russell Phillips, believe it had been contracted at St Buryan.
Mr J H Roberts presided over the meeting of the West Penwith RDC on 10 September. Colonel Paynter considered that an extra £150 should be found to combat the typhoid epidemic. There were four nurses and two assistant nurses who were not paid. One attendee commented that it seemed a large amount to be spent on nurses – [he did not comment on the disparity between men’s and women’s wages]. The Colonel pointed out that this seemed ungrateful when an enormous amount of work was being done gratuitously and another nurse might be needed.
Fifteen beds had been moved from the Church rooms into the school [opened 1910] by nurses and volunteers. Two more beds could be accommodated and a marked improvement had been seen. “Men had sat up all night with delirious patients and had prevented them cutting their wives’ throats and doing other damage.”
A voluntary committee had been at work night and day. There were 50 cases, many of them so emaciated that it was necessary for them to have special beds. They had to live on milk, Bovril and soups. A great deal of the soup had been freely given by friends in the neighbourhood. There would be a large bill for milk and Bovril and the necessities for the hospital. Since cases had been moved to the school, there had been a marked improvement. Many of these cases would shortly pass into the convalescent stage when it would be necessary to purchase chicken and fish for them.
There would also be a considerable expense for the water cart and the supplementary water supply owing to the closure of the three or four wells in the neighbourhood. An extra assistant inspector at 30 shillings a week had been engaged.
Colonel Paynter said that the head nurse had worked night and day and her conduct would have to be recognised when the epidemic was over.
Queen’s Nurses early 20th century By kind permission of Peter Maleczek
Queen's Nurse 1916 Courtesy of - a pictorial tribute to the nurses and wounded of the Great War. Mr Harris said that Colonel Paynter’s speech looked like an impeachment of the officers of the Council to which the Colonel responded “Quite right”.
Colonel Paynter thanked Mr Tonkin and Mr Bolitho for offering to contribute one third of the cost of the work in hand.
A comment was made that it was Colonel Paynter’s officials and the LBG’S failure to grasp the situation before it got out of control that was causing the current financial problems. Had the matter been grappled with in a firm and energetic manner at the commencement, it was probable that the cases would not have been so heavy. Mr Peter Lawry heavily criticised the Medical Officer for not visiting St Buryan earlier instead of waiting two or three weeks. Had efforts been made to trace the source, people would not have been drinking the poisoned water for three to four weeks.
Mr Care of St Ives said it was a calamity that could not have been foreseen and it would be unfair for St Buryan to shoulder the whole cost.
Each case had been traced to that well [near the Poor House] either directly or indirectly – either they had been drinking the water or they had been buying milk which had been put in cans which had been washed from it.
Dr Richmond explained that he first received notification on 24 July. Mr Nicholas was unwell and said he knew the premises so well that he could not think there was any possible cause of trouble there. Therefore Dr Richmond assumed that it was an isolated case which had been picked up elsewhere. On 14 August he heard that other doctors had been treating cases from 1 August but had not notified him. The first case had been treated by Dr Nesbitt on 1 August but he believed the case of Mrs Cornish occurred in July, but none of this had been notified to him. On 15 August he telegraphed Mr Nicholas to meet him as soon as possible at St Buryan. They met at 1430 and went through all the houses and left fullest instructions.
Mr Lawry maintained that it was the Medical Officer’s duty to go in the first place and ensure that the case was notified as soon as it developed into typhoid fever.
Colonel Paynter said the feeling in St Buryan was that this outbreak was not regarded seriously enough. Letters had been written by officials saying that the cases were very mild, instead of which they were of the most virulent kind. Another official had written saying he was too busy to come. The opinion held outside the parish also was that when the epidemic had died down there should be a very serious inquiry into the matter. Dr Richmond denied writing the letters.
Mr Harris suggested the wells should be filled in and Dr Richmond said they should have the pump closed as a public nuisance. Mr Nicholas said the well was formerly the property of the Late Lord St Levan who [had] made it over to the Council. Steps would be taken to close the well.
On Monday 21 September, West Penwith RDC was granted at a Magistrate’s Court, an order to Albert Mann to close the Poor House Lane Well because its water was polluted so as to be injurious to health. Clerk, J B Cornish stated that he could prove that every case of recent typhoid could be traced to the well. The bacteriologist’s analysis showed that the water was dangerously polluted with excretal matter. The well was far too dangerous to be allowed open at all and in those circumstances there was no alternative but to have it filled in.
Mr Mann suggested that he could protect it from the public by having a wall built around but Mr Cornish thought it too dangerous to be allowed open under any circumstances whatever.
Dr Richmond said the well was in a recess in Mr Mann’s garden and was, until last week, open to the public. Since then, Mr Mann had walled it in. Every case had been traced to the well – people having drunk the water used the milk which was taken from the pans which had been cleaned it the water. The only remedy was to fill the well in.
Mr Nicholas, Inspector to West Penwith Council, said he had made enquiries into the cases and had traced every one to the water.
Joseph Thomas, who lost two daughters to the disease, said his family used the water from the well for drinking purposes and also to clean the milk utensils.
The Bench made an Order that the well be closed permanently as it was a danger to health.
At the West Penwith RDC meeting on 24 September the MOH, Dr J M R Richmond, reported 12 deaths and 20 births. Eight cases of typhoid had been notified at St Buryan since the last meeting and the outbreak was now well in hand with 47 cases having been notified since the outbreak.
The Mr J B Cornish, reported that the Council had obtained an order to fill in the well as the official report of the water showed it contained a dangerously proportion of excretal matter.
The Cornishman of 31 October reported the dismissal of Nurse Antony from the temporary hospital, which had created quite a stir in the village. The MOH, Dr Richmond, read a statement given by a resident of St Buryan, who had employed the nurse for a time during the outbreak, which stated that she gave great satisfaction. He also read a letter from the dismissed nurse stating that the Rector, the Reverend A Cornish, dismissed her.
When she asked for an explanation she was told that other arrangements had been made and her services were not required. She again [?] wrote to the Rector asking why she was summarily dismissed but could get no satisfactory answer. She had heard that she was dismissed because she took a service in the Wesleyan Chapel.
Dr Richmond read out a letter signed by Dr Jago, Dr Nesbitt and Nurse Harris explaining that she was dismissed by the Committee because of general incompetency and for failing to take duty on the night of 5 September without a legitimate reason and for failing to take patients’ temperatures.
Mr Peter Lawry pointed out that the nurse had not been dismissed because of taking the Chapel service and that nobody could have done more for the nurses than the rector who, with others, guaranteed nurses’ salaries.
Mr C Matthews found it strange that Dr Jago judged her incompetent after recommending her to Mrs Thomas.
Mr Laity asked the MOH why Nurse Harris was dismissed the day after she took a Chapel service and whether any complaints against her had been received. Nurse Harris was willing to appear before Colonel Paynter. It was proposed that a meeting should take place between the nurse, Colonel Paynter and the Rector. The motion was defeated.
Captain Care thought the matter had been carried far enough. The case of Nurse Harris was dropped.
By the end of October the worst of the epidemic had cleared so Dr Richmond, the Medical Officer of Health, declared that the temporary hospital would be closed on Saturday 31 October.
Mr Cornish, the Clerk for West Penwith RDC, put an advertisement in the Cornishman of 5 November asking for anyone with any expenses claims regarding the setting up, fitting up, furnishing or dismantling of the temporary Infectious Disease Hospital at Churchtown to bring him details at 8 Parade Street within two days.
A report of a County Council meeting in the Cornishman of 14 November stated that there had been 50 cases of typhoid in all with six deaths. There was criticism of the officers [presumably LBG officers] with a suggestion that the CC’s contribution to their salaries be repaid and for one official to be censured.
Mr Thomas Robins Bolitho commented on the delay on the part of a great many of the officials and that delay had been the cause of the continuance of the outbreak. The first case had occurred early in July but it was not until six weeks afterwards that any real measures were taken. Had it been dealt with more properly at the beginning they would not have had so many cases and the outbreak would have been brought to an end.
A poster promoting safeguards against typhoid, early 20th century provenance and copyright holder untraced The Hon John Boscawen said outbreak of enteric did not come to the committee’s notice until some time after. When it was reported, it came to them in a very meagre form. The whole of the fault lay, not on the committee at all but on the District Council and the Medical Officer of Health of that district and also the Sanitary Inspector. The Guardians had been notified before the Sanitary Officer of the County. The cases were not diagnosed until five or six weeks afterwards. It was a most unsatisfactory state of affairs and he thought the officials’ salaries should be depleted.
Mr Vivian agreed this was a consideration but pointed out that the situation would have been different had the people concerned been full-time officers this gross and palpable delay would not have happened.
He understood it was the duty of the authority to immediately report it to the county authority. As Mr Bolitho had got from the chairman of the committee it was so serious that six deaths occurred but even that did not represent the whole of the seriousness of the outbreak. It was the terrible suffering that had been entailed through this negligence of the officials.
Mr Arthur Carkeek hoped it would lead to the appointment of whole time officers; at least it would mean an end to subsiding officers who had no direct responsibility to the County Council.
Mr Tregenza thought that the Medical Officer of Health for the district failed to do his duty to the proper extent and he thought the County Officer [which one?] was a little to blame
When the Clerk pointed out that they could not deduct from the officers’ salaries, Mr Vivian suggested giving them a ‘snub’ although this would not serve [to alter the situation]
Captain Care lived up to his name suggesting that the County Council was a bit hasty and he did not want to call them democrats, autocrats or martinets but they were talking about the officials as if they were servants. West Penwith RDC was not to blame. When they looked at the higher authorities on the County Council and what they suggested should be done it seemed to him that they had quite ignored the root of the evil which lay in the monopoly of the water where in places like St Buryan people had such difficulties in getting good drinking water that they were glad to drink anything in the shape of moisture that came to them.
Dr D R Vaughan did not think that the West Penwith RDC was in any way to blame and the [above] reflections were undeserved.
Dr Richmond explained that on the evening of 22 July, Dr Jago sent him notification of a case of typhoid, Mr Mann [the Poor House well was on his property]. However, this message was not received until 24 July. Dr Richmond sent word to Mr Nicholas who replied that he was very ill but they need not worry as he did not think that there was anything wrong with Mr Mann’s premises as he knew them so well.
During the next weeks Mrs Cornish* was taken ill and was sent to Penzance and he did not know anything about that until August 14. He thought Dr Branwell’s certificate was dated August 17. On August 14 he had notification from Dr Nesbitt very late at night and on his certificate he put 14th day of disease, 11th day of disease and 9th day of disease. Immediately he received that, he telegraphed to Mr Nicholls to meet him [the next day]. They went to every house, took all the precautions they could and distributed disinfectants. But from July 22 to August 14 there was nothing said, and they knew nothing about it. The medical men in charge of the cases ought to have notified the cases to him or their suspicions. In a country place when one case of typhoid is investigated as a rule they found it was caught somewhere else as, no doubt, was the case with Mr Mann who then infected the well. Dr Richmond had to notify the LGB and the County Council every Sunday morning and he notified them for the week including July 22.
With Mr J H Roberts presiding, West Penwith RDC met on 19 November to discuss the handling of the typhoid outbreak.
“Probably you will have noticed in the last few days some remarks during the discussion at the Cornwall County Council that rather seriously reflected on some of our officials, in particular in regard to the epidemic of typhoid which occurred at St Buryan.”
“Of course you and I are jealous of the good name of our Colonel and we want to justify ourselves as far as possible and I am wondering if you consider it wise to take any action in any way as to putting forward any explanation of the course we adopted at the time.” Mr J Nicholls, the Sanitary Inspector, said he was glad to [hear] Mr T R Bolitho was reported to have said that the first case occurred early in July but was not reported until six weeks afterwards [and before] any reasonable measures were taken. “The first case was reported to me on 27 July. That is not early in July. The next cases were reported on the 16 August, that is only two weeks and five days, and on the 15 August I had the handle of the pump removed. I met the medical officer there on the same day and we inspected every house, supplied disinfectants and gave full instructions in all cases,” he said. [These dates are not logical and are different from those given to the LBG on 10 September. Mr Nicholls had been ill]
Land’s End Road St Buryan early 20th century Posted by Phil Evans copyright holder untraced “How that could be made into six weeks I do not know. I think it is a gross injustice to the Council and the Medical Officer and myself. I do not doubt that for a moment but that Mr Bolitho made these statements in good faith and believed at the time he was speaking the truth but instead of that it is entirely false and I do not think MR T R Bolitho can do other than correct his report and make that correction as public as his original statement.”
“I think it is most unfair and it shows how necessary it is that when a man is speaking in public he should have reliable information.” {hear, hear} “But Mr Bolitho failed to get reliable information.” {hear, hear}.
The Clerk, Colonel Cornish, said the first he heard about the outbreak was on the Monday following the Saturday when the officers were there. He received a communication from a person resident at St Buryan stating that it appeared that nothing was being done to check the outbreak.
The action was explained. Colonel Cornish felt his conscience was clear and that not one minute was lost. He realised the seriousness of the situation and the terrible consequences that wold ensue at St Buryan where they had difficulty in the matter of drainage and water. He backed the ability of his officers and thought the comments of the County Council meeting were a little hasty.
However, Mr Thomas Robins Bolitho sent a letter to be read at the following West Penwtih RDC meeting:
“It was suggested at the last meeting of your District Council that my remarks at the County Council meeting on the outbreak of the epidemic were inaccurate as to date. I have again inquired and find that instead of speaking of the occurrence of the first case as being early in July, it was really not until the middle of July that it occurred.
Even then the fact remains that a month elapsed before any energetic measures were taken and that is the point to which I directed the attention of the County Council.
The Sanitary Inspector, Mr Nicholas, said Mr Bolitho was still incorrect. He could not possibly make the period one month, but only two weeks and five days from the notification of the first case to the general outbreak on August 15th.
The Chairman suggested the incident was now closed.
It was in the Cornishman issue of 2th December 1914 that the incident was reported as closed.
Pauline Hope September 2022
From ‘People, Places and Past Events in St Buryan’ Jim Hosking page 14: ‘A hospital was set up in the school; 4 nurses were employed at the peak of the infection were employed. 26 out of 88 homes were affected; 50 people were infected; 6 died.’
St Levan people would hold a handkerchief to their noses when travelling through the village.
*We do not know whether this was a relative of the Town Clerk
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