Guernsey for his health?

[jane k]

My gt-gt-grandfather died in Guernsey from Consumption in 1866 despite having never lived there or, as far as I know, not having any family there.  He was only 28 and a musician.  The year before he died a concert was held in Exeter for his benefit as he and his family were in dire straits due to his ill health.  After he died his wife and 6 children were pretty well destitute. I don`t think he would have been well enough to go for work - and I feel he probably paid for his trip from the proceeds of the concert.

I am wondering if he went to Guernsey in the hope of finding a cure - is that possible?   (For a number of years he had lived in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight which I know had a reputation for being a healthy place to live)

[jane k]

I have received the following information from the Priaulx Library in Guernsey:

 

"The reason for Alfred William Boardman residing in Guernsey, may not be such a mystery.  At this period, the cost of living would have been lower in Guernsey than in England.  Guernsey’s climate was also more temperate than the UK mainland.  Even in the nineteenth century, frosts were rare as were strong winds from the north or north-east.  The sea breezes however, provided plentiful fresh, clean air.  Guernsey was therefore promoted as a resort for invalids.  Samuel Elliott Hoskins M.D., who was resident in Guernsey during the mid-nineteenth century was an amateur meteorological observer and also wrote treatises on public health.  In 1852, he wrote the following work: Home resorts for invalids : on the climate of Guernsey .- London : Richards, 1852.  Guernsey, with convenient sea links via Weymouth might well have been a logical destination for the consumptive Alfred Boardman."