A History of the Barbados General Hospital, 1844–1910

Introductionthe Barbados general hospital opened on i July 1844 for the reception and treatment of the sick poor.1 It was the first institution of its kind on the Caribbean island and, as Tara Inniss so aptly highlights, its construction marked the intensification of the health-orientated philanthropy which had developed in Barbados by the mid-nineteenth century.2 Indeed, the establishment of the hospital owed itself to a group of farsighted individuals who realised that with the disintegration of the slavery system, thousands of the formerly enslaved would no longer have access to the medical care ordinarily afforded by their former masters. 3 As a result, the Barbados General Hospital offered salvation to the predominantly black labouring class who, in the postemancipation period, suffered from an amalgam of low wages, poor material living conditions and high mortality rates.4Hospitals have been receiving some historical attention of late, yet there is still a clear neglect of institutions outside of the Western industrialised world, including colonial hospitals, and it is only recently that works have been published on health care in the post-emancipation period. 5 Consequently, we are hindered in our ability to fully understand the spread of health care globally.6 Existing literature regarding the Barbados General Hospital is notably exiguous; however, it is apparent that, as Barbados remained in continuous British possession up until 1966, medical ideas from the 'motherland' were able to cross the Atlantic and infiltrate the functioning of the hospital.7 The aim of this study, therefore, is to highlight such comparisons between Barbados and England, and it will also discuss how the science of more industrially developed countries came to influence Caribbean society, and a medical institution in particular.The first phase of this investigation will focus upon the emancipation of the enslaved and how this altered condition of Barbadian society served as a catalyst for the establishment of the Barbados General Hospital. In the second phase, a statistical analysis of the archetypal patient profile will be provided, and the investigation will centre more closely upon staff relations and daily life at the hospital. Finally, the study will explore the problems faced by this medical institution and ultimately determine whether patients presented there in the hope of therapeutic benefit, or whether the hospital was simply a place of refuge and shelter for the poor. In shedding new light on Western medicine in the context of the Caribbean experience, the history of the Barbados General Hospital will serve as an antidote to the incipient Whiggism of much hospital historiography.8An act of benevolence: The establishment of the Barbados General HospitalFollowing emancipation, the privileges that had been available to the formerly enslaved were revoked and a large proportion of the Barbadian population was left without any access to medical care.9 The problem was further compounded by the fact that sugar prices had begun their long-term decline in the 1790s, and, as a result, many West Indian planters struggled with debt.10 This, in turn, saw many Barbadian labourers forced to accept abysmally low wages, sometimes as little as eight pence per day - comparatively lower than the income of their counterparts in Jamaica and Guiana.11The economy of Barbados in the early part of the nineteenth century was therefore in a much depressed state. As Kathleen Butler notes, the plantation owners had been compensated by the imperial government for the loss of slave labour in order to maintain the security of the colony, yet the welfare of the newly emancipated population was largely overlooked.12 The dominant social philosophy in nineteenth-century England was the laissez-faire approach, and the transmission of this policy to the West Indies was inevitable, as the relationship between the mother country and its colonies, such as Barbados, led to an inescapable diffusion of ideas and practices

Colonialism · Health care · Institution · Neglect · Political science · Possession (linguistics · Sociology · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law · Medicine · Nursing

• Introduction

  Jayme De Barros, Juanita De Barros et al.•Caribbean Quarterly•2003

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• Gendered Health Care

  Pedro L Welch, Pedro L V Welch•Caribbean Quarterly•2003

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• A Different Intervention

  Rita Pemberton•Caribbean Quarterly•2003

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• Sanitation and Civilization in Georgetown, British Guiana

  Jayme De Barros, Juanita De Barros•Caribbean Quarterly•2003

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• For the Children? A Preliminary Analysis of Health-Related Issues Discussed at the 1921 Educational Conference in Trinidad

  Janice M Mayers•Caribbean Quarterly•2003

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• Medicine and charity before the welfare state

  Open Access•C W Nuckolls•Social Science & Medicine•1994

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• The hospitals and population growth

  Cherry, Steve Cherry•Population Studies•1980

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