The period from c1848 to c1948 saw radical changes in medicine moving from rudimentary understanding of disease to a science and evidence-based approach that led to major advances in surgery where issues such as pain, infection and blood loss were dealt with; to new treatments linked to germ theory and the use of vaccines.
In public health poor sanitation spurred significant government action leading to the setting up of the NHS in Britain on Tynwald Day 1948. The Isle of Man witnessed similar changes with events such as the cholera epidemic of 1832, devastating the Island and this event was a factor in the setting up of the Douglas Medical Dispensary. Other healthcare establishments were set-up during the century such as the Ballamona Hospital and of course Noble’s Hospital. Notable people linked to Manx medicine in this period were Nellie Brennan, Dr John Spencer, Henry & Rebecca Bloom Noble, Joseph Pilates, Annie Warren Gill, William Cowley and Annie Knox, Dorothy Pantin, AW Lewin and many, many more.
The Manx Medicine Loan Box – c1848 to c1948, is designed to link with the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE (9-1) history course and give a Manx perspective to the course and enable KS4 students to link the course to their own society but it can be adapted to suit all learners.
