The History Forum: Sabrina Rampersad -- An Archaeological Journey into the Egyptian Delta

HIST 3030 The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados: A. Bellamy on Baby Saving Leagues in Barbados

The Role Baby Welfare Leagues played in the provision of maternal and child health

By Adrian Bellamy, HIST 3030 The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, women gave birth at home in the British Caribbean. They were assisted by traditional midwives. These were mostly African or Asian traditional midwives were also referred to as “grannies”. The colonial powers often referred to these grannies as ‘savage, uncivilized, ignorant, superstitious, and possessed of devilish obeah practices’. They blamed midwives for the high infant mortality. This led to the emergence of maternity wards, midwifery hospitals and lying-in wards, where medical care and education could be had. Almshouses also fulfilled this function. Accommodation was provided for all socio-economic groups of women. These establishments also provided training for midwives and birth attendants in an effort to curb the high infant mortality rate.

It is interesting to note that Bridgetown was the only large urban area that did not have a public hospital. The colonial hospital was state subsidized, but privately owned. Within the first two decades of the twentieth century, a number of infant and maternal welfare initiatives emerged. This was due to the interest in population growth by imperial and colonial officials. Both privileged White and Black women played important roles within these organisations. Physicians, trained midwives, governments, church groups and social elites also supported these baby saving groups.

The earliest health-oriented organizations in Barbados included the Ladies Association for the Relief of the Indigent, Sick and Infirm in 1820. It was established by privileged White women and their target group were respectable women, who were often White. During the period of slavery the organization focused on poor whites, but by the 1830s it was mandated to serve poor Afro-Barbadians. However, by the early twentieth century it had fallen on to hard times.

There were a number of reasons that lead to the formation of baby saving leagues, these include:

●      Population anxieties of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

●      Growing attention of governments to the health of the young.

●      Colonial pressure.

●      Contemporary gender norms that represented women as nurturing and maternal aspects.

There was an international conference held in London in 1913 that was the driving force in the establishment of Baby Saving Leagues in the British colonies. Following this in 1921, Baby Saving Leagues were formed in Barbados. For the first decade, these Baby Saving Leagues were mostly located in urban areas, with their activities limited to the main urban areas such as Bridgetown in St. Michael. There was an attempt in 1923 to establish an infant welfare clinic in St. Peter, but it suffered from lack of financial support from estate owners. The aim of these Baby Saving Leagues was to educate mothers on infant healthcare and to save young lives by providing health care for theses mother that may otherwise be unavailable.

Baby Saving Leagues had some support from colonial governments and local colonies. In Barbados, parish authorities in St. Michael, for example, gave £50 (because of colonial pressure). The colonial legislature also supplied a grant of £150. There were also a number of individuals outside of the government who played a vital role in the emergence of baby saving leagues. Among these were:

●      Florence Sinclair - A druggist who in the early stages used her home as the clinic for the Infant Welfare association until the early 1930s when the organization got its own.

●      John Beckles - Opened the Children’s Goodwill League in Constitution Road in Bridgetown, St. Michael. Here he accommodated 26 children daily while their mothers went to work.

●      Elizabeth Elise Ifill-Barrow - In 1937, she also started the Baby Welfare League at Oistins, supplying the babies of poor mothers with milk and barley.  A branch was established at Dayrells Road and in November 1940 a Day Nursery was added. She was also responsible for establishing the Danbury Court Day Nursery and The St. John’s Baby Welfare League in 1950.  

The annual Report of the department of medical Services for 1944-1945 reported that three private organizations which had established clinics, were instrumental in increasing the life expectancy in Barbados for women and children (also men).

These were: the Children’s Goodwill League; the Baby Welfare League and the Christ Church Baby Welfare League.

There were a number of benefits to be had for poor women and their children, as clinics spaces provided a space for:

●      Health care - Poor mothers could bring their ill children and receive medical care.

●      Maternal education - Mothers received advice on child care and feeding and also sometimes acquired milk and food.

●      Social welfare assistance

These clinics had a few paid staff members, with most of the staff being volunteers. In 1924, a network of ‘enquiry officers’ was formed. This was small group of female volunteers who undertook home visits. These women allowed for individuals to receive the benefits that the associations had to offer. These volunteers also aided in bastard cases, where they used bastard laws to provide access to the poor law system. This was part of an initiative to compel men to support their children, in an effort to save them from an early death caused by maternal poverty.

In conclusion, it can be stated that Baby Saving/ Welfare Leagues were essential in providing both health care and education for mothers in Barbados. The expansion of these efforts by the 1960s led to an overall reduction in the child mortality, and increased child survival.

Sources

Chamberlain, M. (2010). Empire and Nation-building in the Caribbean: Barbados, 1937-66. New York: Manchester University press.

De Barros, J. (2014). Reproducing the British Caribbean: Sex, Gender, and Population Politics After Slavery. Chapel Hill : The University of Carolina Press.

HIST 3030 The Evolution of Social Policy in Barbados: J. Watkins on Waste Management in Barbados

Where did our waste go before the Sanitation Service Authority in Barbados? 

           

At the beginning of the 20^th century Barbados found itself in the peculiar position of being a colony with little to no idea or the means of how to maintain proper sanitary conditions throughout the island. This effected every corner of the island as citizens struggled to look after their health and sanitary means under the limited scope of the Vestry system in the island.

Bridgetown had become a central hub, for business, trade and tourist activity; but unfortunately, it had also been riddled with urban slums, poorly placed vendor markets and very unsanitary conditions. The illegal dumping of night soil (excreta), garbage/refuse, the unsafe use of water and rivers, the congestion of gutters and drains along with lack of sanitary practices often lead to the outbreak of diseases. In 1908, the Public Health Act maintained that persons who lived in the city ought to clean outside their premises or business by 8am; those in the suburbs were to be done by 9am. Informal dumping sites had also been designated around the city, in areas such as Hill Road, Bank Hall, Black Rock, Carrington’s Village, Reef Grounds, Cheapside, Brittons Hill and other approved private lands.

           

John Hutson was a public health officer in 1905 who was appointed to the Board of Health between 1902-1924 to improve the deplorable living conditions in Barbados which were leading to high infant mortality rates. By 1914, the infant mortality rate was at its highest 403 deaths for every 1000 births, however when compared to Trinidad and even England and Wales, it was notable 3 times higher than the countries average. Waste was disposed of in various ways such as in cesspits, latrines, privy pits, galvanized pails, groundsills, disused buckets, a keg or tin, compost, refuse sites, old quarries, dumping (food items and large items) at sea by barges, or incineration. Night soil was buried directly in the yards of homes or random areas and used to fertilizer crops. Fire was often used to burn leaves and waste around the island.

Dump sites were often poorly maintained and when heavy rains fell, they became large breeding sites for mosquitoes causing outbreaks such as the Malaria epidemic in 1927. Many parishes used standpipes and there was no waterborne sewage system that service the entire island in the 1930s. Illegal and improper dumping of night soil lead to many diseases such as hookworm and typhoid as many homes had dirt floors and impoverish persons mostly were barefoot. Scavenging was provided by the cleansing department to keep the streets and gutters clean throughout Bridgetown. It also collected refuse in carts and motor vehicles in the late 1930s.

In the Northern districts, parishes such as St. James and St. Peter had their own unique ways of dealing with lack of access to sanitary services. In Holetown, the hole swamp provided natural drainage of rain water, which prevented the spread of many diseases until the late 1950s. They also had weed collectors who used donkey carts to collect the weeds and tree clippings throughout the parishes. Parishes such as St. Lucy, St. Andrew and St. Joseph had the poorest sanitary conditions as many including poor whites or “Redlegs” lived in huts, had no proper sanitary disposal methods. They received little to no assistance from the vestries and lack oversight from the sanitary inspectors. This led to residents often burying their night soil in shallow latrine pits which caused a severe hookworm infection in 1912-18, when the rains fell and flooded the area. Barbadians often dumped their garbage in the sea, on the beach and in gullies which surrounded the area.

The riots of 1937, highlighted Barbados’s lack of sanitary services and the need for the Board of health to properly manage the sanitary conditions around the island. In the 1940s, conditions in Bridgetown and other parishes started to improve. In St. Michael in 1945 and onward, latrines, privy pits, groundsels were provided, repaired, washed and maintained by the cleansing department often known as ‘rose tree trimmers’. In 1950, a new septic tank latrine and bath was introduced at Kensington and open to the public and the Eagle Hall Market was constructed in 1953 as a means of dealing with overcrowded vending. In the northern parishes, in 1950, the Medical officers of health were inspecting and introduced a new improved pit toilet. Although only one tenth of the Barbadian budget went for medical and sanitary services in 1950; by 1956, this shifted to thirteen percent. By 1954, 10,000 piped water installations took place throughout the island.

After the passing of hurricane Janet in 1955, death and destruction permeated every part of the island, this drastically changed the operations of Board of Health and Government’s approach to public health. All Hurricane relief centres required constant inspections and were disinfected daily using disinfectants. Other surviving hurricane shelters, almshouses and clinics were inspected by sanitary inspectors. New standpipes and repairs were carried out by the Sanitation department. Many of the public baths and latrines were destroyed. By 1959, government received aid from the UNICEF fund to provided pit latrines to impoverished Barbadians. By 1962, the infant mortality rate had steadily declined to 55 out of every 1000 live births with the introduction of new sanitary measures and better education on health services.

           

The Health Service Act of 1969, gave the now centralized Minister of Health, greater powers over managing public health and sanitation throughout the island and was fully enacted on March 1^st, 1975 with established the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) to service the public. This act allowed for the construction and maintenance of sewage disposal sites and laying pipes to complete Barbados waterborne sewage system. It also gave them greater control over streets, drains and sewages. With the powers to facilitate the inspections of homes, schools and other properties while appointing trained public health inspectors and a Chief Medical Officer to deal with matters throughout the island.

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J, Merrit B. "Developing Little England: Public Health, Popular Protest, and Colonial Policy in Barbados, 1918-1940." University of Florida Scholar Commons (2016): 71-126. Thesis.

J, Powell. Report of the Public Health Commission, Barbados, 1925-1926. Barbados: Bridgetown, Barbados: Advocate Co., 1927. Document.

J, Sheppard. The Redlegs of Barbados their orgin and history by . KTO, the University of California , 1977.

Johnson J T C. "A report to the Public Health Commissioners on the organization of the medical and sanitary services of the colony of Barbados with recommendations by J.T.C. Johnson." 1926.

M, Greenidge. Holetown, Barbados : settlement revisited and other accounts. MG Events, 2004.

Merrit W. W. Annual report of the Sanitation Department of the Parish of St. Michael. . Barbados: Sanitation Department, 1950.

Merritt W. W. Annual report of the Sanitation Department of the Parish of St. Michael. . Barbados: Sanitation Department, 1945.

R, PEMBERTON. "A Different Intervention: The International Health Commission/Board, Health, Sanitation in the British Caribbean, 1914-1930 ." (2003): 94-96.