Sickness Gallery

Father Thames introducing his offspring to the fair city of London., 1858

Father Thames introducing his offspring to the fair city of London., 1858. (A design for a Fresco in the New Houses of Parliament.) Father Thames introduces his children, Diptheria, Scrofula and Cholera to the lady on the left who represents the City of London. In the background, to the left, can be seen the murky outline of St. Paul's. The architect, George Godwin, in his work Town Swamps and Social Bridges had described how a man living by the Thames had been able to tell the time by the constant reappearance with the sluggish tide of a swollen, dead dog. The summer of 1858 had been very dry and this had heightened the everyday problems caused by the usual filthy state of the Thames. A poem in Punch, Bake, bake, bake, includes the lines, And the swoln dead dogs go down Through the bridges, past Tow'r Hill'. This is a play on the title of Tennyson's famous poem, Break, Break, Break. From Punch, or the London Charivari, July 3, 1858

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Mother and Daughter, 1897. Creator: James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Mother and Daughter, 1897. Whistler's mother-in-law Frances Birnie Philip, and one of his sisters-in-law, probably Ethel Whibley

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The Éclair steamer and "The Lazarette" off Motherbank, 1845

The Eclair steamer and "The Lazarette" off Motherbank, 1845. L'Eclair sailed from Devonport...having a crew of 146 officers and men, for the coast of Africa, on which station she remained until the 23rd of July last, up to which period she had lost nine men from the common coast fever. Four days after sailing from Sierra Leone, one man died with fever and black vomit, the first case of the kind which had taken place...eighteen were attacked with the same fever, with black vomit...the disease continued to spread rapidly amongst the crew...permission having been obtained from the Portuguese Governor, it was determined to land the crew, sick and well, and purify the vessel...Every measure was taken to purity the ship by washing and whitewashing, fumigation....The disease...continued to prevail amongst the officers and men on shore, thirty-one men having died...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII

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