Sunday 12 July 2020

Malvern Priory and Charles Darwins daughter - My Sunday Photo

In 1851 Charles Darwin brought his 2nd child Annie to Malvern for the water treatment after she suffered with scarlet fever, sadly she died aged 10.


Malvern Priory

The grave of Charles Darwin's Daughter, Annie


Dr. James-Manby Gully's patients at Malvern were woken at 5 am, undressed and wrapped in wet sheets then covered with blankets. An hour later, buckets of water were thrown upon the patients who then went on a five-mile walk, carrying an alpenstock and a Gräfenberg flask of mineral water, stopping at wells for the waters. They returned to the Malvern pump room for a breakfast of dry biscuits and water. They then had the day to spend bathing in a range of kinds of baths, or in some cases wore a wet sheet called the "Neptune Girdle" round their middle at all times, removing it only at meal times. Dinner which was always boiled mutton and fish was followed by a few hours in a dry bed. The exercise, plain food and absence of alcohol together with the congenial company of other wealthy patrons proved generally beneficial.

Copied from Wikipedia. Photos are my own.

13 comments:

  1. What an amazing looking Abbey, and an interesting story to go with it

    Thank you for linking up to #MySundayPhoto

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  2. What an amazing looking Abbey, and an interesting story to go with it

    Thank you for linking up to #MySundayPhoto

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  3. Aww! That is such a sad story but interesting to read about.
    Fantastic photos x

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  4. I don't know how wearing a wet sheet all day is beneficial - sounds like torture to me #MySundayPhoto

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  5. That was a very interesting read. It sounds like a horrendous treatment!

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    1. It does sound awful, but apparently it worked for some, but I guess just getting out the city and the smog helped also

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  6. Sounds like an interesting way to treat an illness. Don't tell Boris, he will be prescribing it for everyone. Although I suspect like all the old cures, it worked for some.
    MySundayPhoto

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    1. I think just getting out the smog of the cities actually did more good

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  7. What a gorgeous place to visit. Interesting sounding ways to treat things xx

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    1. I'm guessing just being out of the city was a big help

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