Ethel Scrimgeour

In 1881 was a 16 year old scholar living with her family at 1 Queens Gate, Kensington, London (England Census)

In 1901 Census is listed as a sister (nurse??) in St Bartholomew's Hospital (funded 1123) in London

In 1911 Census - Woolbeding; address: The Lair, Pigeon Hill, Midhurst Ethel was Head of house, occupation Sick Nurse age 46 Others in household: Sarah Fanny Beck, Assistant, Occupation Masseuse, Age 53 Alice May Bexfield, Servant, Occupation Domestic Nurse, Age 35 Ellen O'Grady, Dependent, Invalid, Age 31 Anne Scrimgeour, Niece, Age 5 Joan Cordingly Colt, Visitor, Age 7

Ethel Scrimgeour lived at Pigeon Hill, Redford, near Midhurst and her brother Alexander lived at Honer Farm, South Mundham. Ethel was described as – ‘a tall and handsome maiden lady... whose appearance was made remarkable by an immense knot of hair twisted on the nape of her neck in the mid-Victorian way’. Age had turned her into ‘an apocalyptic figure... bowed’, her hair ‘shining snowwhite’. A trained nurse, she cared for children with tuberculosis and other illnesses at her home, running a kind of small-scale sanatorium. Some of the children were apparently orphans from London. In our modern age of vaccinations and effective drugs, it is easy to forget the scourge that TB once was. In the early 1930s, it accounted for almost half of UK deaths for people between the ages of 25 and 35. TB affected all classes, but was particularly prevalent where there was poverty and overcrowding. With no drug treatment possible, the medical profession’s main response was to remove sufferers to special hospitals – sanatoria – where there was a regime of fresh air, graduated exercise and a healthy diet. The King Edward VII Sanatorium, Midhurst was close to Miss Scrimgeour’s home and opened in 1906, soon after she started her work at Pigeon Hill. I have not been able to establish any direct connection. The nearness may have been a coincidence, except in the sense that sanatoria tended to be in isolated south-facing locations, so that patients received as much sunshine and fresh air as possible. Ethel was born in 1865, the daughter of Alexander Scrimgeour, a London stockbroker. The Scrimgeours made West Sussex their rural base and an outlet for their wealth. Ethel’s father had the large house ‘Wispers’ built near Stedham in the 1870s. John, another of Ethel’s brothers, acquired Stedham Hall in 1910 and he and his wife Jessie were notably generous to the village. For this family, financial security was no excuse for idleness. The Scrimgeours also bred a number of strong, independent women. Elizabeth, one of Ethel’s sisters, reared horses and owned a riding school at Selsey. ‘Good works’ are a recurring theme too: other Scrimgeour ladies ran an orphanage at Myrtle Cottage, Stedham and a school at Elsted. Nursing was another option for women from privileged backgrounds wanting to do something worthwhile. By the late 19th century, reforms by Florence Nightingale and others had transformed the profession – it no longer recruited only from the humbler ranks of society. Ethel trained at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London where she came top in the examination results in 1897 and won the gold medal funded by the Clothworkers livery company. Glowing reports on her progress from ward sisters during her training describe her as ‘punctual... most kind and attentive... always obedient... clean and neat... tactful and capable...devoted to the children’. Looking back 25 years to Sussex’s flooding disaster The 1911 census lists 14 ‘invalids’ (nine girls and five boys) as resident at Pigeon Hill, ranging in age from five to 17. All were from London or the home counties, although, perhaps confirming their orphan status, some have question marks against their birthplaces. Patients would sometimes find work as cooks or other helpers at the home after treatment. Interviewed in about 2008 at the age of 94, Midhurst resident Marjorie Bishop recalled being treated at ‘Scrimmages’ for tuberculosis of the bones. At Pigeon Hill there was fresh air, good food and, less appealingly, cod liver oil. Mrs Bishop lost a finger from the illness but otherwise recovered her health, as her longevity indicates. Ethel’s work with sick and crippled children at Redford lasted for nearly 50 years. She died in Midhurst Cottage Hospital in 1953 at the age of 87. Curiously for someone who believed diet was important in treating illness, her death certificate shows that scurvy (due to Vitamin C deficiency) contributed to her demise. An interesting footnote is that in the next generation, another Scrimgeour descendant also devoted her life to the care of sick children. Ethel’s niece, Isabella Forshall, carried out pioneering work as a paediatric surgeon at Royal Liverpool and Alder Hey Children’s Hospitals. https://www.gravelroots.net/families/julier/julier.html