Etruria - living conditions

[rickjt62]

Hi all

My 2x great grandparents buried three children aged 8, 3 and 1 in under three weeks in Feb/Mar 1866, all burials taking place at St. Matthews, Etruria - cause of death for all three was diphtheria

I know very little of the area and I'm wondering what living conditions were like in this place at this time

[dawnsh]

I've been to the museum.

Reading about the history of the whole area and the industries involved will give you a sense of conditions

http://www.etruriamuseum.org.uk/history/

You're looking at the Potteries and the Canal, so industrial in nature

[rickjt62]

Thank you Dawn 

[england100]

hi, a lot of my family lived and died around this area in stoke-on-trent.  Industry, pottery, coal, steele works givng a very polluted atmosphere. It was a very poor area, back to back terraces houses, large families living in just a couple of rooms and poor sanitation.  Infant mortality was very high and a high number of deaths to respiratory diseases.

[philipsearching]

hi, a lot of my family lived and died around this area in stoke-on-trent.  Industry, pottery, coal, steele works givng a very polluted atmosphere. It was a very poor area, back to back terraces houses, large families living in just a couple of rooms and poor sanitation.  Infant mortality was very high and a high number of deaths to respiratory diseases.

Good point.  Overcrowding, poor housing, poor sanitation and poor access to medical care were important factors.

I wonder how many causes of death were misdiagnosed.  Maybe diphtheria was listed as the cause of deaths from lung (and organ) ailments caused by china clay dust, lead, silica dust, coal dust and other pollutants in air and water.

Philip

[ChrissieL]

hi, a lot of my family lived and died around this area in stoke-on-trent.  Industry, pottery, coal, steele works givng a very polluted atmosphere. It was a very poor area, back to back terraces houses, large families living in just a couple of rooms and poor sanitation.  Infant mortality was very high and a high number of deaths to respiratory diseases.

Good point.  Overcrowding, poor housing, poor sanitation and poor access to medical care were important factors.

I wonder how many causes of death were misdiagnosed.  Maybe diphtheria was listed as the cause of deaths from lung (and organ) ailments caused by china clay dust, lead, silica dust, coal dust and other pollutants in air and water.

Philip

I agree, this was an area that was very poor and packed with air polluting industries.


Chris

[rickjt62]

Thanks for the replies

Their second daughter, Catherine (b 1859) survived ... another child, Alfred, died aged 3 in 1870 whereas my great grandfather was born in 1869 and a brother in 1871

Conditions appear akin  to the area they came from and returned to in 1867 ... the South Wales mining valleys