Sawyer, Robert 1891 January 10th Portsea
Serious Allegations Against Portsea Workhouse Officials
An inquest was held on Friday evening at Portsmouth relative to the death of Robert Sawyer, who died at the Portsea Island Workhouse on Thursday.
The evidence showed that on the 19th ult., the deceased fell down and fractured his thigh. He was removed on an ambulance litter to the Landport Hospital by the police, when he was stripped in the receiving room and seen by the house surgeon (Dr E Cooper). The porter had directions to wash the deceased, but the operation was suspended, and the nurse told the police-constables that the house-surgeon would not admit the man. The reason for the refusal was that Sawyer was in a filthy state, and the accident ward was full.
Constable Williams pointed out that the night was most bitterly cold, and that it would be better to allow the man to remain there until morning, as it was then eleven o’clock, and the workhouse was a couple of miles away. The officials, however, refused point blank, and the nurse would not allow their rugs or blankets to be used in covering the deceased on his removal. He had to remain stripped in the room for an hour and a half, and was then taken to the surgery of a private medical practitioner further down the street, where the injured limb was placed in splints.
It was half-past one before the deceased was got to the workhouse. As the man suffered from the fracture the relieving officer refused to direct his removal to the union unless he had a medical certificate, and this was eventually supplied by Dr Cooper, who stated that the deceased had an injured thigh, but he was quite well enough to be removed.
The deceased did not recover, and died on Thursday from shock, following the accident. It was stated that when the deceased was seen by the medical officer of the workhouse his pulse was good, and it was impossible to say that any serious effects had been set up through the experiences of the night on which the accident occurred.
Both Dr Cooper and the nurse stated that the blanket and rug supply at the hospital had run short, and that it was impossible to afford any assistance in that direction, while they also declared that the numbers in the hospital were in excess of the accommodation, and that there was no apartment where a person in such a filthy condition could be isolated.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, and added a rider that Dr Cooper had committed a grave error of judgement in not making a more thorough examination of the deceased, and also for allowing him to leave at such an hour.
Robert Sawyer was aged 77. ED
Wiltshire Coroner's Inquests 1801-1920 