My Victorian grandmother's cures for various ailments, when I was growing up.
Always wear a vest and pull it right down your back to keep your kidneys warm. (Wee-ing problems and to keep colds at bay) I also wore a Liberty Bodice. Called Liberty bodices, because they originally were to be worn instead of the stiff corsets of the 19th Century. So you were liberated from a corset! I never minded wearing one, it kept you warm. No central heating only one coal fire in the living room.
I do remember I had a bed cardigan and even in todays time, I sometimes wear one, when I'm in bed and the heating has switched off early. When I was little in winter, the bed was warmed by a brick heated in the oven with a bit of old blanket wrapped round it.
Goose grease smothered on your neck, then a Lyle stocking wrapped round it, secured with a safety pin.(Sore throat)
Sheep's wool gathered off barbed wire fence, washed and inserted into your ear for earache. Something we always gathered when we visited my Grandmother's sister in Maesteg, as their road was at the bottom of a mountain with wandering sheep.
Bread, milk and water made into a mash, heated and spread on a piece of cotton and topped with another piece of cotton and pressed on the area with the boils, still hot, a poultice.. Wound round with strips of cotton to keep in place. (Any boil or ulcer)
Starch powder sprinkled on itchy areas to stop the irritation. (Any itchy rash)
Cold salted water streamed on bruises to reduce swelling.
Honey, vinegar and butter.. brought to the boil, then sipped slowly for a sore throat and coughs. (I loved this)
Cabbage water after the cabbage had been boiled to a pulp!! A cup of the cabbage water drunk for your bowels! Ugh Plus Syrup of Figs on Saturday night.
And then the rest of the cabbage water poured down the outside lav. to clean the 'U' bend!
I had the usual childhood illnesses, mumps, measles and Yellow Jaundice, (what ever that was?) But I can't ever remember missing school with a cold, so somethings must have worked!
She was born in 1887 and had 8 children.. only 5 survived into adulthood
Gladys (1906-1990) Marion (1908-1924) Thelma (1912-1994) Eunice, my mother (1918-1945) Rachel (1920-2016)
I think my Aunty Glad (Gladys) found the money from somewhere and coerced my father, to help pay for me to go to that private school, so I'd get a good education. She went into Service age 12 in a big house in Penarth! She sometimes spoke about it and how hard it was.
I had quite an alternative childhood to many children of my age.. and I survived. My grandmother had no patience and often flew into a rage, today I wonder was it hormones??.. It was fine while my grandfather was still alive, because he used to take me out.. He used to say...'Dere 'm cariad'.. (come here darling) and we'd sneak out the back door. I learnt to keep out of her way.. and I often wonder, if that was why my aunt paid for me to be a boarder.
I loved that school and they were the happiest days of my teen years.. And this nun, Sister Mary Bernadine, Headteacher was amazing. She treated me as though I was special and I loved her.
Chrisxx
11 comments:
Your school and teacher was your saving grace. A difficult childhood, and you over came so much to be a great mother yourself.
How I remember those “remedies “ thought that some of them were local to rural Yorkshire, but obviously not.
We had blankets and eiderdowns on our beds when we were little. And with no central heating, we’d get up and get dressed so quickly on a school day. I remember how cold it was!
We were pretty hardy children and like you we only missed school if we caught measles, mumps, chicken pox etc.
Shame about your grandmother! I wonder why she was like that?
Like you, I loved my schooldays!
Kaolin poultice for sore throats - it smelt wonderful but was so hot to begin with. I was spared liberty bodices - my mother didn't like them.
I can remember leaving my liberty bodice under my pillow one day before I went off to school. Mum didn't notice for a few days and then was furious, you'll catch your death of cold, Dad was well she's not come to any harm and its one less thing for you to wash! Milk of Magnesia was given to cool our blood , and the blue bag rubbed on insect bites. We all survived pretty well. Xx
Those were interesting facts and a few I remember as well, when I was a little girl.
My daughter was horrified when I told her that I was given Kaolin and Morphine as a child when I had an upset tummy. Even more horrified when I told her that it was available over the counter at the local pharmacy. She wasn't too impressed when I told her about Cod-liver Oil and Malt either, but I loved it and would sneak extra doses when Mum wasn't looking!
I absolutely hated my liberty bodice and the day each year when Mum decreed that it was warm enough not to wear it was a day of celebration .
On the plus side, she was sensible enough to reckon that a good, varied diet and plenty of exercise would take care of my bowels without needing any other encouragement. Thank goodness!! xx
My mother’s family put beach rocks to heat in the oven of the wood stove. Sometimes the rocks fell out of bed at night and woke up the whole house.
I had a nun who was amazing too. I wish I could have told her how much she meant to me.
A girl at my school had polio and got around on callipers. The salk vaccine became available in Aus when I was about 7. The van came to the school and we all lined up to get sugar lumps with vaccine in them. No one was an anti vaxxer.
And yet despite all of that - you survived.
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