Typhoid Fever on the Oxford

Correspondence 83/662 – dated 11-10-83

Asks Govt to pay expenses incurred in case of Jas. McGuire an immigrant by ship “Oxford”

This particular story comes with a whole lot of background!

The immigrant ship Oxford left Plymouth on 27 January 1883, with over 300 passengers and a full crew.  About 10 days later the ship encountered a “prolonged and appalling tempest” and “in a disabled and semi-wrecked condition” was towed to Cardiff. (Evening Post, 2 April 1883, page 3 http://bit.ly/Io073a ).

It was arranged to convey all the immigrants by special train from Cardiff to Plymouth, as they were unable to remain onboard while the repair work was undertaken.  Those who wished to could remain at the Emigration Depot in Plymouth until they could again depart for NZ.  (Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1883 Session I, D-04  http://bit.ly/1ciLF6l and Evening Post, 3 April 1883, page 2 http://bit.ly/17Ky8Vx )

The conditions of the Depot in which the emigrants stayed were atrocious, with cramped quarters, filthy bedding, and an abundance of vermin (Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1884 Session I, D-03, No. 11 http://bit.ly/192m4Mi ).  In one report to the House of Representatives it was even stated that by the time the immigrants boarded the second voyage, many were in such bad health that under normal circumstances they would have been rejected. 

The repaired ship finally departed Plymouth on 26^th April 1883.  There were several cases of pthisis (aka tuberculosis) enteric fever (aka typhoid fever) during the voyage, with three adults dying.  Almost all the illness during the voyage was restricted to the single men and women (Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1884 Session I, D-02, Sub enclosure 1 in Enclosure No. 1, http://bit.ly/IosxtU ).  The Oxford arrived at Port Nicholson on 23^rd July 1883, but due to the presence of illness onboard, the ship was put into quarantine (Marlborough Express, 24 July 1883, page 2, http://bit.ly/IpBAuA ).

The passengers were held on Somes Island in Wellington Harbour.  Unfortunately conditions there were described by the immigrants as less than suitable (Evening Post, 9 August 1883, page 2, http://bit.ly/1dwOwh7 ).  Because almost all the sickness was amongst the single men and women, the married couples and families wrote to the Minister of Immigration on August 5^th calling it unfair that “we should be detained here through the carelessness of the single men and women”.  This letter is included in the correspondence file. 

One family, David & Sarah McGuire, and their two children, were released from Somes Island on 8^th August 1883 and went to live at a property in Newtown, Wellington, owned by David’s brother Hugh.  There was another brother, also living in Wellington, by the name of James.  (At this point it is probably worth noting that the name of the immigrant who died was David, however the documents in the correspondence file variously refer to him as Joseph or James.)  10 days later, on 18^th August 1883, David died of typhoid fever.

David was not the only passenger to develop typhoid fever after leaving quarantine – several other immigrants were despatched to their final destinations only to develop symptoms upon their arrival.

According to a report in the file, David had always had an “anaemic unhealthy aspect” and had been watched closely for typhoid symptoms, but none had presented, so he had been released from quarantine.  The majority of the correspondence file relates to Hugh and James McGuire, David’s brothers, and the City Council trying to reclaim the costs associated with David’s treatment, death and the required clean up following, from the Ministry of Immigration.

Firstly, there was the bill for the doctor who attended David.  It appears that following the death of David from typhoid fever, all bedding associated with David had to be destroyed, including mattress, blankets, sheets, quilt, bolster cushion and valance.  Included with the costs were 5 bottles of carbolic acid, 3 bars of soap and 4 tbs of roll sulphur.

The claim also gives details of work undertaken to decontaminate the house where David was living.  Thomas Blood, a painter, submitted the following description of the work required:

To stripping paper and fumigating walls with hot lime and re-papering and painting room, cleaning kitchen and passage and colouring kitchen and passage and cleansing the floors with hot lime and washing walls with hot lime after paper is stripped  £4-15

This particular case became a bit of a “passing the buck” situation.  The City Council claimed that the Immigration Department should be responsible for the costs incurred as they released a person infected with typhoid into the general populace.  The Immigration Department advised that the expenditure was not incurred under any authority of theirs, and suggested that the Central Board of Health should have been consulted.  The Central Board of Health said that they had no function whatever in connection with this matter and that the City Council, as the Local Board of Health, acted quite within its duties in dealing with the illness and deemed that the expenses should come from City funds.

In the meantime, while all this to-ing and fro-ing was going on, the McGuire family were carrying the costs.  This was proving quite a burden, as evidenced by a letter from James McGuire where he states that the family had sustained losses some time back and they were expecting their father to arrive via the Doric.  The father was an old man, not fit to work, but instead of their brother David being alive and able to help support the family they were having to cover these additional expenses related to David’s death.

David was buried at Bolton Street Cemetery in Wellington.  His brothers Hugh and James wrote a letter to the editor of the Evening Post, decrying the conditions the passengers of the Oxford suffered and which they blamed for the subsequent death of their brother.  (Evening Post, 20 August 1883, page 3, http://bit.ly/184iBgd )

At the time of David’s death, his wife Sarah was several months pregnant with their third child, and the only clothing they owned were the items they were wearing, the rest having been destroyed to “prevent contagion”.  Their plight was put in front of the Benevolent Institution (Evening Post, 22 August 1883, page 2, http://bit.ly/19YV0Nw ).  Sarah gave birth to a boy named John Walker McGuire in January of 1884.

I can’t help but feel sorry for the passengers on the Oxford.  Having first left England in late January 1883, it was 6 months later before they reached their destination, having suffered through what must have been a terrifying storm, being put up in poor conditions while waiting for the repairs and then suffering a hard, illness ridden voyage only to end up in quarantine at the other end.  The situation with the Oxford was such that a Commission was established by the NZ Government to look into the conditions.  You can read some of the statements from the passengers in the Evening Post, 14 August 1883 to 17 August 1883. (http://bit.ly/1bRird7, http://bit.ly/Iq9GPn, http://bit.ly/1aUT3oU, http://bit.ly/1fF33HG ).