Skip to main content

An 18th century cure for kidney stones.



 
 
It's not often that medical details of ancestors from the 18th century come to light. Even with the commencement of death certification, causes of death must often have been nothing more than "best guesses".

So I was delighted to come across this detail from the Northampton Mercury, published on 22 June 1772. 

Francis Holyland was a farmer in Earl Shilton, Leicestershire. He was baptised there in  1729, married twice, and fathered a total of 16 children.

lithotomyFrom the description given in the newspaper letter, he suffered from stones in the renal tract ("the Stone and Gravel"). Treatment for stones in the 18th century sounds nothing short of barbaric; the only way of removing them was if they were in the bladder, when the patient was held down on their back, legs akimbo, and the surgeon cut up through the perineum (that muscular area just in front of the anus) and into the bladder. This was done without anaesthetic, and I can't imagine that many people would have survived the almost inevitable subsequent wound infection. Of course, this did nothing to tackle any other stones that were still in the kidney. A little later, the fashion arose for removing stones in the bladder via the urethra (the "tube" that carries the urine away from the bladder, down which we pee!). This didn't involve cutting but of necessity had to be done "blind" - there are reports of surgeons passing a long nail into the bladder then using a hammer on the nail to fragment the stone so it could be passed when the patient urinated! (1)

It is easy to see why people would try anything other than surgery to relieve the pain of stones. How thankful Francis must have been to find a "cure"! If only we could discover what it contained!

Francis lived another 28 years after this letter was published, and was buried in the graveyard at Earl Shilton in October 1800, age 72. I hope he remained free of his renal stones!

      

   

                   

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The vaccine-refusing Holylands!

  With all the talk about how different countries approach COVID vaccination, it seems timely to remember that vaccination against smallpox was compulsory in England in the past Between 1853 – 1947, parents or guardians were obliged to have their children vaccinated against smallpox within the first few months of life. Failure to comply could lead to a fine or even imprisonment. The Holylands were amongst those who were sometimes slow to have their children vaccinated, and the Leicester Mercury lists at least 3 instances: 1877 – Thomas Holyland was fined 10 shillings (it is not clear which Thomas this was, there being several possible candidates!) 1884 – Alfred Holyland of Wharf St, Leicester,   was fined 10 shillings with the threat (or option?) of 7 days imprisonment in lieu of the fine 1885 – Joseph Henry Holyland was summonsed and given one month in which to get his children vaccinated. Joseph and Alfred were brothers. Alfred’s first child was born in 1883, t...

When the Internet has it wrong! The real father of Mary.

  This lovely young woman was Mary Carmichael Smyth, the wife of James Carmichael Smyth, physician extraordinary to King George 111. Mary married James, who was several years her senior, in Gretna Green in 1775; the couple had 10 children and Mary apparently died in 1803 or 1806. This portrait was painted around 1788 by George Romney and is the possession of the National Gallery of Scotland . Multiple internet sources state that Mary's father was Thomas Holyland of Bromley, and her mother Mary Elton (eg, here: http://www.thepeerage.com/p20538.htm#i205375 ). However I am certain that these internet sources (many of which have probably been copied from each other) are wrong, and that Mary’s father was actually Christopher Holyland, a vintner of Cheapside in London, who died in 1769. Here’s my evidence. Firstly, I can find no baptism for a Mary Holyland (or variant on the name) to a father named Thomas in the south east of England in the mid 1700s. There was a baptism of Mary ...

New beginnings in America -- Charles John Holyland and family.

  The Holyland tribe has never tended to travel very far and there have not been many Holyland emigres from the UK. This does make life easier for the researcher who is not obliged to search through large numbers of records from across the globe! However, one person to buck this trend was Charles John Holyland   (1806 – 1865) who had several new beginnings – not only marriage and parenthood, but emigration, change of nationality and change of occupation.   Charles was the first child born to John Holyland and Mary (nee Taylor) and was baptised at the church of St Mary Somerset, London at the age of 13 months. His was an educated and fairly well-off family, his ancestors having made their money as carmen in London after moving there from Leicestershire in the mid 1700s, and in 1827 Charles inherited part of his grandfather’s £5000 estate. By 1828, Charles had moved from the family home at Broken Wharf, near to St Paul's in London, and was based in Lisle Street, nea...