Dr Andrew Jackson

By Dr Andrew Jackson DrAndrewJackson

‘It is not only a duty to ourselves but also to our neighbours to stay indoors when we have a bad cold or a mild or severe attack of influenza.’ Familiar? Indeed, this statement was made by a local government official in the Autumn of 1918, as a global flu pandemic swept into Lincoln and across the county.

Today we tend to look to the web and social media to read government information. One hundred years ago it was the district medical officers of health who led the way in providing professional advice, and it was to the local newspapers (like the Echo and the Chronicle), posters in public places, and word-of-mouth that we would turn for the latest guidance.

In October 1918, the Lincoln Corporation published its six precautions to avoid influenza. Some of these rather reflect their times. Others, though, still have relevance and are echoed in the official directives and common-sense measures that we are putting into practice now.

1. ‘Overcrowding … in unventilated rooms and places of entertainment should be avoided’
2. ‘Aggregation of large numbers of persons in one room, especially for sleeping is dangerous’
3. ‘Alcoholism or over-strain favour infection, and complication by pneumonia is especially fatal among immoderate drinkers’
4. ‘Dirtiness whether personal or of living and working rooms, and dusty conditions, favour infection’
5. ‘Indiscriminate expectoration is always a source of risk of infection’
6. The last, and the one ringing ever louder in our ears today: ‘If every person … took all possible precautions, the present danger and mortality from such Epidemics would be much reduced’

The medical officers also started making appeals to the community: ‘Home helps wanted during Influenza Epidemic, in houses where mother is ill. Any woman who has no serious home duties and has knowledge of housekeeping, and is willing to help, is invited to apply.’

The local authorities faced decisions over what additional sanctions to impose as well, in order to restrict our normal customs and activities outside of the home. By the end of October 1918, official edicts fell short of closing all places of entertainment, but admittance to those under 14 years of age was banned, and the full ‘ventilating and disinfecting the buildings and allowing a suitable interval to take place between performances’ were required.

By the end of November 1918, political activities were being curbed. In Grimsby, for example: ‘in consequence of the alarming increase in influenza in Grimsby … Parliamentary candidates, after consultation with the medical officers, have in the interests of the public health agreed not to hold any public indoor meetings.’

History is repeating itself in so many different ways at present. Last week in The Lincolnite we saw that rationing returned to Lincoln stores 106 years on, in much the same way that it had appeared in 1914, at the outbreak of the First World War. Panic buying has featured again, along with the introduction of restrictions on the sale of highly sought-after items, and changes to home delivery patterns and shop-access hours.

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Dr Andrew Jackson is the Head of the School of Humanities. Andrew is a historian with current research interests that include twentieth-century urban and rural change, and local and regional history. He also engages in consultancy and project work relating to community history and heritage, digitisation and e-learning. Andrew joined the staff of Bishop Grosseteste University in 2007, following ten years at the University of Exeter.

By Dr Andrew Jackson DrAndrewJackson

Many of us have been taking ourselves to the shops over the last few days to stock up a little more than usual, with fears growing in relation to the spread of the Coronavirus and the likelihood of increasing shortages of basic supplies.

Shoppers at Burton Road Co-op will have been confronted by the notice: ‘Customer information. Due to seeing higher demand than usual we’ve decided to put a restriction of three units per person in place to protect availability for all our customers on the following categories’. The notice continues with a list of commodities: ‘Paperware – including tissues, toilet rolls and kitchen roll’, as well as hand sanitiser, anti-bacterial soap, and anti-bacterial hand and surface wipes.

Rationing is closely associated with the Second World War Home Front, and the austerity years that followed, and indeed this will be within the memory of many still alive today. However, the need to ration was also a necessity just over a century ago, during the crisis of the First World War. In fact, around the country, co-operative stores were among the first retail outlets to start controlling supplies. Furthermore, leading co-operative representatives were some of the keenest in pressing government to introduce national rationing schemes.

The online archive for the Lincolnshire Co-operative gives an insight into how rationing developed through 1914-18. Panic buying broke out in the opening months, certainly, and co-operative stores were quick to start limiting supplies to their customers in an as equitable way as possible.

Shortages became more and more widespread, but certain commodities attracted higher levels of concern. Flour and bread supplies were a particular worry, in the same way that in the present pasta and rice have been among the more sought-after items among consumers. Less of a challenge today, but certainly so during the Great War, was sugar, as a sweetener in so much domestic food preparation. The same was the case for heating for the home, in the form of coal supplies for the hearth and stove.

Some of the shortages of the early First World War years might be less easy to guess now. Personal hygiene, health and cleaning products did not appear to be among those highlighted by the local co-operative society.

Availability of packaging paper and string, however, did became a difficulty early on, and customers were urged to return their bags and pieces of string to the store. Shops were not the supermarkets of today, with their open shelves holding generally pre-packed commodities, and with queues leading up to staffed or ‘self-service’ checkouts. Instead, orders were ‘made up’ by weight or volume into packages, and collected or delivered.

Early on in the 14-18 war home deliveries had to be cancelled as well, as the army requisitioned greater numbers of draught horses. Customers had no other choice but to go to their local store, and indeed were asked to spread the timing of their visits, rather than all heading for peak times. One tip still relevant today – from personal experience.

‘We have had to meet difficult and hitherto unknown problems’, the Lincoln Co-operative Society wrote to its members and customers in October 1914, ‘prompt measures were necessary’.

Dr Andrew Jackson is the Head of the School of Humanities. Andrew is a historian with current research interests that include twentieth-century urban and rural change, and local and regional history. He also engages in consultancy and project work relating to community history and heritage, digitisation and e-learning. Andrew joined the staff of Bishop Grosseteste University in 2007, following ten years at the University of Exeter.