Poor-house. The old Workhouse on the eastern side of St. Peter's Street is still standing, as a miserable monument of how the helpless poor were treated in the olden time. Radford was certainly much smaller than it is now, but the conveniences were of the barest kind. In 1838, a new Union of the parishes of Radford, Lenton, Sneinton, and Brewhouse Yard having been formed, a Union house was built at a cost of £2,600, and the furniture and fixtures cost £1,1596. Richard Morley, Esq., of Sneinton (I. & B. Morley), was many years Chairman. The Union continued until the annexation to the Borough.
The newer building then became an Institution under the control of the Nottingham Guardians, for the care of poor children. The majority of such children are wisely placed in Scattered Homes, in various parts of the city, under the care of foster-mothers, for in a home of a dozen children the family ideal is better realized than in an institution, and it may be a sad change when a child has to leave an institution to go to possibly mean surroundings, but unless suitable foster-mothers can be found who are capable, sympathic. and helpful to the children, then the institution is better than a home in which they are treated as machines. Here 120 children, of from four to sixteen, have been well cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Burrows, who have recently retired, and well earned a rest. The premises are now announced to be closed, the children being placed in scattered homes, and it is hoped the buildings may become the headquarters of a Boys' Brigade Company, bringing together High School boys and poor boys who need and will repay help and guidance. In the old Board Room is a portrait of Alderman Burton, many years Chairman of the Guardians, and Mayor in 1884-85, and another portrait is in the present Guardians' Board Room.
Contrast the state of those children with the workhouse children of a hundred years ago. In 1801 the death rate per 1,000 of the population in Arnold was 33.23; in 1901 it was 12.67. Why was the former high figure? Nearly one-third of the deaths were of children sent by Poor Law authorities to the Cotton Mill then working, but afterwards pulled down. Read the awful account of the children at Lowdham Mill in "In and About Notts.," page 883, and there will follow, with a sigh of relief. "Thank God the times are changed for the better! "At Old Radford Cotton Mill, Samuel Miller, the manager, used to say to the children when they applied for work, "Go away, and eat a great deal more pudding before you come."
Peverel Prison. The Court of the Honour of Peverel was held in various places, but in its later years at the "White Hart," Lenton. When the Poor House in St. Peter's Street before-named was vacated, the premises were used as a Jail for debtors sued in the Peverel Court. In 1844 the Directory states the Court was then held at Radford. Its powers ceased in 1849. In those days no proof of ability to pay was required, and no provision was made for feeding the prisoners, who were dependent on charity, and pitiable tales are told of their sufferings.
Under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners the income from the old property, now used as two cottages, in St. Peter's Street and Peverel Yard, is utilized in two scholarships of twelve guineas a year for three years, for boys at the Nottingham High School, and for Girls at the Girls' High School. The end is better than the beginning.
Roads. Radford must in the olden times have been well "barred,' if not protected. Leaving Nottingham Market-place Bargate, or Chapel Bar, must be passed, outside of which was, two hundred years ago, a toll-house, hence "Toll-house hill," now Derby Road. Perhaps this was to pay for "hewinge downe both the ways; without Chappel Barr, and at Fox Lane end," in 1682. Higher up the hill Lord Middleton, in 1740, lowered the road twelve to twenty feet, as is shown by the rock on the southern side. Outside the Borough the roads, with their pack-horse burdens, must have been in a bad state, so Turnpike Acts were passed for the roads to Alfreton and Derby (1758-9), and to Ilkeston (1763). A toll bar was set up near Bobbers Mill, and a chain across the road near to Thackeray's factory; another bar was near to Radford Railway Station, and on Derby Road, one near to the top of Balfour Road, and another near to Beeston Lane end. These latter bars were removed in 1870, Ilkeston Road bar in 1874, and Alfreton Road bar in 1877, and the cost of repair thrown on to the county rates.
The Canal, which cost £80,000, with its many locks, was for the time being (1802) a benefit to both coal owners and users, and advantages were further extended when the Railway came in 1849, and still more when the Trowell branch brought one of the main lines through the parish. An extension of social conveniences followed, when electric trams, running every few minutes, saved labour, time, and cost.
Radford Local Board. For some years the parish was governed by a Local Board. At its dissolution in 1877, by the annexation with the Borough, the members had a grouped photograph taken. The Board then consisted of—Messrs. J. B. Alliott, R. Bakewell, S. Ball, T. Chicken. A. Doubleday, G. Goode. J. Hancock, G. Hooley, J. Miller, J. O'Hara, W. H. Parker, G. Parrott, J. Priestley, Isaac Smith, J. L. Thackeray, M. Southern, J. Waite, and Dr. H. R. Hatherley. Inspector, John Martin. Clerk, Richard Harwood.
We will assume they all did their duty, but their powers and resources were limited, and it was good for the parish to be annexed, for the main sewer, sanitary and paving arrangements, the baths and park, the schools, libraries and reading rooms, the electric trams running in several directions, all tell of advantages for an industrial population tending to promote health and well-being.
Medical Inspection. There is a district in Radford to which a nickname has been given symoblical of sin, vice, and crime. The appelation is unjust, for the inhabitants are not worse than other people, and the district has modern houses, with air, light, water, paving, etc., but although the term ought not to be applied to a district, it may be applied to a class, dispersed in various districts, who, having neither the fear of God nor regard for man, are an annoyance to their neighbours. Medical inspection of the schools has proved a great blessing, and revealed a class of men and women who are frequent drinkers, filthy in their persons, habits, and houses, and who are absolutely unconcerned about the health, the education, or the morals of their children, the result being that whatever money they obtain, a large proportion of it must go in drink, and their houses are dirty, and their children not only ill-fed and clothed, but they carry vermin with them to school, and the children of cleanly and decent people are annoyed and disgusted, and infectious diseases are the more spread. This state of affairs is now being dealt with, but must be stamped out. In Germany cleanliness can be secured, and it must be here. Other evils have prevailed and have been removed. Small Pox was a plague, and vaccination, isolation, and sanitation subdued it. The habit of spitting in railway cars and trams has gone. Consumption continues, but the average death rate from it was, fifty years ago, twice what it is now—so says that indefatigable worker for the public health, Dr Boobbyer. Twenty years ago there was in Radford Marsh fields a huge mound of refuse, estimated at 60,000 tons, which the authorities knew not what to do with, for they had no Destructor, and the great hill of garbage became a promoter of pestilential atmosphere, a positive danger, but gradually that evil was removed, and exists no more, nor will it, for 10,000 tons of refuse in a year is dealt with by the Destructor, but a greater danger than dead matter is dead souls, to whom all appeals of love and kindness, all rules of health and cleanliness, all warnings of the constituted authorities, and reputation and character are of no value or care. To these persons the rigour of the law must be applied, with the power of expulsion on a simple magisterial order in days, not weeks, not so much for the interest of the landlord, as for the protection of the health of decent people.
It may be a comfort to the lovers of Radford—and they are many—to know that the evils referred to are not only not worse, but are not so bad as in some other parts, and what is more important is that since medical inspection began to tell there is an improvement, slow but sure, in regard to the cleanliness of the children in boots and clothes, in hair and skin—the poverty is there, but the manifestations are such as to be distinctly encouraging for further improvement. Teachers, Medical Inspectors, Sanitary authorities, are all doing their duty, and doing it well, and a hearty co-operation on the part of parents in regard to the children's teeth and eyes, and personal and domestic cleanliness, must ensure success.
The Recreation Ground will aid in promoting the health of the children, and it is a pleasure to see them romping there in preference to the streets, but why, O why, was that ground surrounded on three sides by sculleries, instead of houses with double fronts ?
Welcome. A Mother and Babies' Welcome is a useful institution on Alfreton Road, conducted by a committee of ladies, who render voluntary service, aided by contributions from the Health Committee, and by donations from various persons. Here babies are from time to time weighed, advice as to their feeding and management is given, lectures on health are delivered, and classes for teaching the making of garments are held. A month's report shows 714 attendances, 232 penny dinners, and 59 new babies. It should be here named that the rent has hitherto been paid by the late Mr. Wienberg.
The Baths. The Radford Baths are a great advantage, and much appreciated. Sixty thousand persons in the course of a year use them, and 150 children are taught swimming. They are much too small School children use the swimming bath on Wednesdays, and part of Tuesdays, the girls having only four hours between nine schools, and there are just two women's private baths. Within the radius of these baths there is a population of probably 70,000, or, to put it in another form, there are in the schools more than 10,000 children, and the district has a large colliery class, specially needing baths. There is adjoining vacant land belonging to the Corporation, waiting for thirty years, there is ample heating power, and a capable and willing staff, so that why the extension needed should not now be made Lord Dundreary would say, "No fellah can understand." Finance, however, was not one of his lordship's strong points.
Gardens. The loss of allotment gardens during the last twenty years has been a distinct disadvantage to the parish. Nearly all the land east of the Leen is now occupied with houses, and the City Council might usefully consider the practicability of obtaining garden land on the western side. A garden is so useful to a family, not perhaps financially, for the market-place is the cheapest garden, but for health, pastime, quietness, a love of flowers, and in other ways. Failing this, let us have trees where practicable in our streets, and shrubs, creeping plants, and flowers in our back yards, and flower boxes in our windows, and at school, and cut flowers on our tables.
Population. The population of the entire parish of Radford was in 1801, 2,269; 1851, 12,637; 1901, 35,354, but the area may not at each date have been the same. The figures for 1911 have not been obtainable, and may possibly not be given separately.