Fascinating Picture of Life - August 22nd 2011
Thanks to 12 months of painstaking work by a team of 30 dedicated volunteers and staff at the Northumberland Archives based at Woodhorn, an amazing picture of life across the counties of Northumberland and Durham from the 18th and 19th centuries is emerging.
Funding for the Working Lives project from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Lord Crewe’s Charity has enabled cataloguing and close study of documents relating to industrial, commercial and rural history, and now some are available to the public for the first time.
”The records we have been studying have national and even international significance,” explained Lynn-Marie Early, the project co-ordinator. “They can tell the story of agriculture and industrial developments that have changed the world, political and social reform that changed the lives of people throughout the country as well as the stories of everyday lives of landowners and their employees and tenants.
“People will be able to find out the wonderful things we have available now at Woodhorn for viewing by searching on our electronic catalogue through the website. Some documents are also available to view over the Internet without having to come to Woodhorn.”
One of the volunteers working on the project was Brian Morris from Morpeth. He focussed on a book of medical accounts from the Lord Crewe’s Charity for the Bamburgh Dispensary from the late 1700s. Listing equipment, chemicals and services, the records offer fascinating insight into the kind treatment available. Amongst the purchases for spatulas, mercury, lavender and professional fees, there’s even an order for Ormskirk medicine – a treatment for rabies given to both humans and dogs. Brian’s favourite find was for the purchase of some kind of electrical shock machine at a time when scientists were only just beginning to understand electricity. The book also details of the number of people treated, those “relieved”, and those dead – in 1780 only 4 out of 834.
For anyone interested in finding out a bit more about Lord Crewe’s Charity and the findings, a new online exhibition will be launched at the end of August. It will be available through the Woodhorn website: www.experiencewoodhorn.com
The Working Lives project itself will continue until April next year, so more information and documents will be made available to the public over coming months.