Women and Health Care
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Record Number: 8.101
Record Type: Audio
Caption:
Part of this recollection relates to Royal Albert bathing routines, probably in the 1950s. Long after the ward would have been occupied, this is a photograph of the bathroom on what was Coupland Ward taken in October 2006.
(Photo Ref: UTP Oct 06 IMG 0453)
Summary:
In this extract from an interview recorded on March 21st 2007, Mrs Creed recalls amongst other things the lack of underwear for female (and male) residents and in particular the extremely basic arrangements for women when they were menstruating. She is talking about the the few years after she first started work at the Royal Albert, so this probably refers to the late 1940s and 1950s.
'And don’t forget they only had one bath a week in those days. And one carbolic soap. But one bath – Each ward, say Dayroom would be Monday, Collingwood would be Tuesday, but, except private patients they had their own bathroom, not personally, but their own, they’d still use the same bathroom, they only had one but it would be, they wouldn’t have to come down into the old place like, you know.
'So in those early days what were the bathing routines then?
'Bathing routines were, whatever ward it was, the nurse, us like, you know, would go down. 4 nurses would be allocated to the 4 baths, and ten – Because don’t forget we had between 30 and 40 patients, so we had to bath them and the person that was in charge would sit and if there was any bruises or any marks or anything or if – now this is a thing, they don’t do it now, they weren’t allowed a bath if they were menstruating. ‘Out of bathing.’ It was written down ‘Out of bathing.’ Right. So they would just get a, a stand up wash. You know. They’d get a wash! But for some unknown, damn unknown reason, it was an old fashioned thing wasn’t it? You didn’t wash when you were – And also they didn’t have, they didn’t have, they couldn’t afford proper pads. They had sheets. We used to go to the Sewing Room and they used to have all these old sheets. And we used to tear them up. And they used to use sheets. And they didn’t, they didn’t have belts or anything because they could be dangerous to a patient in those days. So they had to be held up with the, well what the sewing maids used to make is a square, square pinafore for their underwear. They didn’t have knickers like, or bras or owt like that when I first went. They had this sort of material.
'Like denim type material?
'Denim. Like it would be a couple of buttons underneath that we had to fasten because some of the patients didn’t know how. When we were dressing them we had to fasten them for them, you know. And then these, this sheet used to hold it, keep it in place, at least you know, And then of course it was our job to make sure that, you know, it was changed. But we had to use old sheets and –
'And did any of the sort of, the patients –
'They’d take them off.
'They took them off. Did they -?
'Oh yeah! They’d throw ‘em away. They’d throw them away anywhere.
'And would they ever complain about –
'And they had clogs when I first went. They had clip on clogs, don’t forget. They couldn’t afford ‘em shoes. Except on a Sunday the girls used to have sandals. On a Sunday. But through the day they had clogs.
So did the women ever complain about the sort underwear arrangements?
'No.
'No.
'No because they, that was all there was. You know. But when they start – I always remember when we started getting knickers and skirts, you know, and things like that and they hadn’t a clue, you know… And then they used to get these summer dresses, you know, materials but the violent patients had what you call, they used to have - the ones that would rip the clothes and everything which we did have them there – we called a stuffed dress, a stuffed dress. It was a thick denim cris-crossed like a, all over so that you couldn’t –
'Tear –
'Rip it. That’s right. And the men from what I could see like. They just had denim, no underpants, just a loose top, thin top and denim elasticated pants down to about here, you know, when I first went.
'So are saying that when you first went there was like no underwear.
'No. No they didn’t – They just had this, they had this long thing that was classed as knickers and top of this material.
'Like denim material?
'Mmm.
'That’s what the women would wear.
'And we used to have to fasten it for ‘em because they had buttons underneath. Yeah. Oh no they didn’t have – until this morning started coming in and then we started seeing that they were, you know, and we had to show them how to wear ‘em, how to use knickers. We had to demonstrate to patients… ‘You put one leg in … ‘ Because they’d never done that.'
'And don’t forget they only had one bath a week in those days. And one carbolic soap. But one bath – Each ward, say Dayroom would be Monday, Collingwood would be Tuesday, but, except private patients they had their own bathroom, not personally, but their own, they’d still use the same bathroom, they only had one but it would be, they wouldn’t have to come down into the old place like, you know.
'So in those early days what were the bathing routines then?
'Bathing routines were, whatever ward it was, the nurse, us like, you know, would go down. 4 nurses would be allocated to the 4 baths, and ten – Because don’t forget we had between 30 and 40 patients, so we had to bath them and the person that was in charge would sit and if there was any bruises or any marks or anything or if – now this is a thing, they don’t do it now, they weren’t allowed a bath if they were menstruating. ‘Out of bathing.’ It was written down ‘Out of bathing.’ Right. So they would just get a, a stand up wash. You know. They’d get a wash! But for some unknown, damn unknown reason, it was an old fashioned thing wasn’t it? You didn’t wash when you were – And also they didn’t have, they didn’t have, they couldn’t afford proper pads. They had sheets. We used to go to the Sewing Room and they used to have all these old sheets. And we used to tear them up. And they used to use sheets. And they didn’t, they didn’t have belts or anything because they could be dangerous to a patient in those days. So they had to be held up with the, well what the sewing maids used to make is a square, square pinafore for their underwear. They didn’t have knickers like, or bras or owt like that when I first went. They had this sort of material.
'Like denim type material?
'Denim. Like it would be a couple of buttons underneath that we had to fasten because some of the patients didn’t know how. When we were dressing them we had to fasten them for them, you know. And then these, this sheet used to hold it, keep it in place, at least you know, And then of course it was our job to make sure that, you know, it was changed. But we had to use old sheets and –
'And did any of the sort of, the patients –
'They’d take them off.
'They took them off. Did they -?
'Oh yeah! They’d throw ‘em away. They’d throw them away anywhere.
'And would they ever complain about –
'And they had clogs when I first went. They had clip on clogs, don’t forget. They couldn’t afford ‘em shoes. Except on a Sunday the girls used to have sandals. On a Sunday. But through the day they had clogs.
So did the women ever complain about the sort underwear arrangements?
'No.
'No.
'No because they, that was all there was. You know. But when they start – I always remember when we started getting knickers and skirts, you know, and things like that and they hadn’t a clue, you know… And then they used to get these summer dresses, you know, materials but the violent patients had what you call, they used to have - the ones that would rip the clothes and everything which we did have them there – we called a stuffed dress, a stuffed dress. It was a thick denim cris-crossed like a, all over so that you couldn’t –
'Tear –
'Rip it. That’s right. And the men from what I could see like. They just had denim, no underpants, just a loose top, thin top and denim elasticated pants down to about here, you know, when I first went.
'So are saying that when you first went there was like no underwear.
'No. No they didn’t – They just had this, they had this long thing that was classed as knickers and top of this material.
'Like denim material?
'Mmm.
'That’s what the women would wear.
'And we used to have to fasten it for ‘em because they had buttons underneath. Yeah. Oh no they didn’t have – until this morning started coming in and then we started seeing that they were, you know, and we had to show them how to wear ‘em, how to use knickers. We had to demonstrate to patients… ‘You put one leg in … ‘ Because they’d never done that.'
Notes:
Record No. 15.101 ('Coal'), this recording and the extract in Record No. 11.104 are all part of a continuous segment (in that order) from Mrs Creed's interview of March 21st 2007.
Keywords:
Wardlife Female Resident Routines 1940s 1950s Men
Underwear Clothing Bathing Regime Menstruation
Bathroom Photograph Coupland Ward Photograph Punishment Ward Photograph