Trophies from the Crimean War

In January 1858, The Age reported that a communication was received from Lord Panmure, by the Right Worshipful the Mayor of the City of Melbourne, in which that nobleman, as Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's Forces, offered to the City of Melbourne two Russian Guns, to be preserved in the City as Russian War Trophies. The offer was made in consequence of the manner the citizens of Melbourne displayed their loyalty to the Sovereign, and the handsome way in which they came forward with their subscriptions for the relief of the sufferers by the late Russian War (1). 

Russian Trophies, Botanical Gardens, 1862. 

Artist: George Stafford; Engraver: Samuel Calvert. 

State Library of Victoria Image H4205

The Russian War, also known as the Crimean War, was fought on the Crimean Peninsula between Russia and an alliance consisting of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia. It began in October 1853 and ended on March 30, 1856.  For people like me, who are not military historians,  the Crimean War is remembered due to its connection to Florence Nightingale who was in charge of nursing the British and Allied soldiers and improved the standard of care, cleanliness and food provided to the wounded. On her return to England she established a school of Nursing to improve the training of nurses.  

The other interesting thing about the Crimean War is that many Victorian place and street names are connected to the battles and personalities of the War. A prime example can be seen in the suburb of St Kilda which has a Crimea, Odessa, Sebastapol, Raglan, Alma, Inkerman (2), Malakoff and Redan Street and is next to the suburb of Balaclava; the last five are named after battles; Odessa is a port on the Black Sea. Sebastapol is named for a city on the Crimean Peninsula, which was besieged for eleven months from October 1854. It is also the source of the name of the town of Sebastapol, near Ballarat. Raglan is named for Baron Raglan (1788-1855) a commander of the British troops during the War and  there is also a town called Raglan, near Beaufort.  

The town of St Arnaud, was named for Armand-Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud (1798-1854), the Commander of the French forces.  Napier Street in St Arnaud is named for Sir Charles Napier (1786-1860), commander of the British Baltic fleet in the War.  

In Cranbourne there are three streets with a Crimean War connection -
Codrington - Sir William John Codrington (1804 - 1884) was Commander in Chief of the British Forces in the War; Clarendon - George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800 - 1870) was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1847 to 1852 and the British Foreign Secretary on three occasions from 1853 to 1870. He negotiated a favourable outcome for Britain at the end of the Crimean War in 1856 at the Congress of Paris Peace talks. The third Cranbourne street is Lyons Street - named for Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons (1790-1858), 1st Baronet Lyons, who commanded the Black Sea fleet during the War. 

I also believe that Pakenham was named after Lieutenant-Colonel Edward William Pakenham (1819 -1854) who was killed at Inkerman during the Crimean War. This has been disputed, but I stand by my research. You can read more about the naming of Pakenham, here.

The Russian cannons and the rotunda, Botanical Gardens, Melbourne, c. 1870.

State Library of Victoria Image H10788

Back to the cannons - the loyal citizens of Melbourne were indeed happy to accept the war trophies and a year later, they had arrived and The Age reported in January 5, 1859 -

A platform of stone work is now being erected in the Botanic Gardens, for the accommodation of the Russian guns presented to the colony, trophies of the late war, by the Home Government. The platform is in the immediate vicinity of the music pavilion (3). 

Two days later, The Argus had this detailed report - 

Trophies from the Crimea - Two of the Russian guns taken at the Redan fortification in the Crimea, and forwarded by the Imperial to the Victorian Government, have recently been placed in the Botanical Gardens, on an  elevated spot overlooking the southern and eastern portions of the city. The peculiar construction and formidable powers of these enormous engines of warfare render them well worthy of Inspection, not to take into consideration the ideas which they must naturally suggest of the sufferings and triumphs of the allied armies in the late war. 

The cannon weigh each three tons, and their comparatively light-looking carriages weigh a ton-and-a-half each. The carriages are of very peculiar form, being entirely of iron, and in some degree resembling that of the English field-gun, with the exception that the wheels are not more than 2½ feet in diameter, and are fitted with double-spokes of crossed iron bars. The sockets into which the elevating screws are turned project from the back part of the carriages, and when the screws are entirely removed form a rest for the breach, keeping the guns at point-blank range, beyond which range the muzzles cannot be elevated. The muzzles may, however, be so far depressed as to bear upon a force within a very short distance of an embrasure, in which they were no doubt placed. Each gun is 9 feet 4 inches in length, and about 2 feet in diameter at the breech. The calibres are 7¾ inches, and will receive balls weighing about 40 lb. When loaded with the full or distance charge (12¾ lb.) of powder, these imposing-looking iron magnates would propel their iron globes with much greater velocity than lighter guns of the same calibre to a distance of nearly 4,000 yards. 

One of the guns is "spiked"-that is, a brittle steel rod has been driven into the vent, and then broken off, of course rendering the gun useless until the steel is drilled out again. This must have taken place at the storming of the Redan. The other gun has the vent so enlarged from constant firing, that the finger may be readily introduced. Besides these evidences of use, one of the cannon bears a singular mark, caused by the bursting of a shell upon it breach. The projectile must have been thrown from a howitzer from the English trenches, as it has evidently entered the narrow embrasure in which the gun was placed in a horizontal direction, and has scored a horizontal trace along one side of the metal, and finally burst at the breech. The mark made on the metal where the shell burst is a deep circular dent, from which radiate pretty equally and pretty thickly, in every direction, grooves cut into the solid iron, some of them an inch wide and a third of an inch deep. Of course, the Russian artillerymen on that side of the gun must have been killed, and the man stationed at the breech, who would occupy a position similar to that occupied by an artilleryman No. 4 in working an English gun, must have been blown to pieces. The guns are of excellent workmanship, and bear the date 1836 on the trunnions. The sight of them will well repay a visit to the spot where they are placed (4). There is more on the date of manufacture, below.

At this time, just after the end of the Crimean War, Victorians were happy to display these trophies and  on occasions the cannons were fired. The Geelong Advertiser reported in March 1859 that a Military Band performed at the Botanical Gardens, the highlight of which was -

a performance of a Battle Sinfonie, descriptive of British troops leaving their native shores for the seat of war, the composition of the band-master, Mr Johnston. During the performance, one of the Russian war trophies placed in the gardens, was called into requisition and fired, to represent the daybreak morning gun. Owing to some negligence in not warning the spectators, a man who was crossing within range of the gun, was struck to the ground with a piece of wadding, which caught him in the face, and carried away a portion of his nasal organ. When removed from the ground, he was bleeding most profusely, and it will be fortunate if he has not received any severer injury (5). 

However, the relationship between England and Russia thawed as the years went on. They thawed to such an extent that on January 23, 1874 Queen Victoria's second eldest son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (6) married  the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, the daughter of the Russian Emperor, Alexander II, at the Winter Palace at St Petersburg (7). After this it was thought inappropriate to have such war trophies on display in such a prominent location so they were, as the Herald reported in February 1882, bundled into the barrack yard where they now lie (8).  By 1889, they were located either side of the central door at Victoria Barracks, St. Kilda road (9), where they are today.

The wedding of Prince Alfred to the the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, January 1874.

https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/russia-royalty-the-romanovs/the-queens-gallery-buckingham-palace/the-marriage-of-prince-alfred-and-grand-duchess-maria-alexandrovna

I don't have a specific date as to when they were moved from the Gardens to the Barracks, even though I do like to know these things - the best I can do is between 1874, when the Royal wedding took place and 1882. 

The Age report from 1859 said the guns bear the date 1836 on the trunnions. Major Bill Billett, in his book Victoria's Guns: a field guide (10) notes that the guns were restored  at the Ordnance Factory in Bendigo in 1989 and an attempt was made at translating the marks of  their origins. Major Billett, who was the curator of Arms and Armour at the Melbourne Museum, also says the guns were made in 1838, possibly at the Alexander Arsenal in Russia to a design  by Armstrong, or supervised by him,  for the Tsar of Russia.  He lists the guns as a Type 36-Pr SB with the numbers 26028 and 26046 (11).

The cannons at the Victoria Barracks, St Kilda Road, 1975.

Photographer: John T. Collins.

State Library of Victoria Image H98.251/183

Finally, even before the 1874 Royal Wedding, some Victorians were tiring of the glorification of the Allied victory over the Russians on the Crimea Peninsula - this is from the St Kilda Telegraph of August 1869, written by the journalist 'Figaro' - 

Why Redan and the Crimea? I ask the question in connexion with the naming of two new streets about to be formed in St. Kilda. I am sorry to see the council have sanctioned this ill-advised nomenclature. I do not approve of thus to perpetuating names that were brought into prominence by events which, if they cannot be forgotten, need not at least be thus ever-lastingly obtrusively forced on our notice. Have we not already Inkermann-street and Balaclava-road to keep the Russian campaign green in our memories, to say nothing of the trophy-guns in the Botanical gardens? Where, then, is the good of adding to these souvenirs of a miserable epoch in the national history? Why should we Australians in particular - who had nothing to do with the war, excepting as a matter of sympathy - thus perpetuate its sad memories? Besides, what might be justifiable when the Russians were at war with the mother-country, is, now they are at peace with her, very like an insult (12). 

I understand what 'Figaro' is saying, but I have a real interest in the origin of place and street names and find this pocket of Crimean War names in St Kilda an interesting part of our Colonial history.  There were , of course, Crimean War veterans who migrated to Australia and I have written about some of them, here. 

Footnotes

(1) The Age, January 12, 1858, see here.

(2) Inkerman Street was originally spelt as Inkermann, which was how the town on the Crimean Peninsula was actually spelt. I don't know when the last n was dropped. (Cooper, John Butler The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a City and after, 1840 - 1930, v. 1 (City of St Kilda, 1931), p. 93)

(3) The Age, January 5, 1859, see here. 

(4) The Argus, January 7, 1859, see here.

(5) Geelong Advertiser, March 15, 1859, see here. 

(6) I have written about Prince Alfred in this blog before, read it here. 

(7) https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/russia-royalty-the-romanovs/the-queens-gallery-buckingham-palace/the-marriage-of-prince-alfred-and-grand-duchess-maria-alexandrovna

(8) The Herald, February 3, 1882, see here.

(9) The Herald, March 18, 1889, see here. 

(10) Billett, Bill Victoria's Guns: a field guide (Scienceworks, Museum of Victoria, 1994)

(11) Billett, op.cit, p. 39.

(12) St Kilda Telegraph, August 7, 1869, see here. 

Leech Aquarium of Felton, Grimwade & Co., and the Leech Trade

Felton, Grimwade & Co., was founded in 1867, when A. Felton and F. S. Grimwade took over the wholesale drug business of Youngman & Co. (1). Felton, Grimwade & Co., soon expanded into other areas including the manufacture of drugs and perfumes as well as establishing a Chemical Company and the Melbourne Glass Bottle Works. Given that liquids, powders and potions were all packaged in glass bottles and jars at the time, this was logical move. 

The Felton of Felton Grimwade was Alfred Felton (1831-1904), who, before the partnership, had his own wholesale drug business. After his death his estate provided the funds for the Felton Bequest which purchased works of art for the National Gallery in Melbourne and supported charities. His partner was  Frederick Sheppard Grimwade (1840-1910). Grimwade also had a background in the drug business as his father owned a wholesale drug company in England (2). 

Felton never married, but in 1865, Grimwade married Jessie Sprunt (1842-1916) and they had nine children. Apparently, Felton and Grimwade, were not only business partners but were also to spend their afterlife together at the St Kilda Cemetery. A report notes that Alfred Felton's  body was interred in the family vault belonging to the deceased and Mr. Grimwade (3) and after Mr Grimwade's death it was reported the remains will be interred in the grave of the late Mr. Felton (4). 

This story exists because I come across this 1884 image of their factories.

Image: State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/257357 

Image originally published in the Australasian Sketcher of March 12, 1884, 

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246609555

The top images are the Chemical Works and Bi-Sulphide of Carbon works at Sandridge (Port Melbourne); the middle image are the Glass Works in Graham Street, South Melbourne. At the bottom are the Laboratory & Drug Mills, Jeffcott Street, West Melbourne and the Leech Aquarium, part of Drug works.

It was the Leech Aquarium that caught my eye, because that seemed a bit unusual. 

The Leech Aquarium of Felton, Grimwade & Co. 

Detail of image, above. 

Leeches have been used in medicine for centuries to remove blood from the body, thought necessary for a variety of conditions. Leech saliva has a substance which acts as an anti-coagulant on the blood and therefore increases blood flow which the leeches absorb (5).   In fact, so common was it that one report in 1893 noted  the palmy days of leeching, when "blood him" was the advice of every physician upon the slightest provocation (6).  

The Argus reported in April 1870 - 

Few persons have any conception of the magnitude of the leech trade. France is said to consume yearly 100,000,000 of leeches, England and Germany the same, and other countries in proportion. From official statistics of France, Germany, Russia, Italy, and Turkey, it has been gathered that the prime cost of leeches sold in Europe exceeds £2,000,000 per annum (7). 

This same report continues -

Some parts of Australia abound with leeches, those which frequent the Murray river being preferred

by the medical faculty to any other known specimen. They bite freely, and leave no inflammatory wound or mark behind. They thus equal, if they do not surpass, the famed speckled leech of Northern Europe. Messrs. Felton, Grimwade, and Co., of Melbourne, took measures some time ago for the conservation of the Murray leeches, and their contracts with the fishermen in the Murray district for the past season exceeded half a million. We are informed that the intercolonial demand is almost equal to the supply (8). 

Some of these leeches were imported and this is the method used to keep them alive on their journey overseas - 

The leeches have been packed in boxes of soft clay made to resemble as much as possible the muddy bottom of the river, which is their ordinary resort (9). 

Ten years later, in March 1880, The Age reported on Felton and Grimwade's leech business -

A contract has been taken by a resident of Echuca to supply to Messrs. Felton, Grimwade and Co., of Melbourne, 250,000 leeches. The Riverina Herald says the contract has been nearly completed, and on Thursday afternoon 50 lb. weight of leeches were sent down. The leeches are caught in the Moira Lakes, and are tied up in bags about the size of shot bags. Six of these bags are slung across a stick and are enclosed in a fruit case (10). 

I don't know when the Leech Aquarium was erected but it was located at their Drug Mill and Laboratory, which was in Jeffcott Street. This was one of several buildings on land between Spencer and Adderley Streets, built around 1878.  In 1906, a three-story office building facing Spencer Street was added (11).   

The Australasian Sketcher of 1884 has this description of the complex - 

The Drug Mills and Laboratory are in Jeffcott-street, West Melbourne, and consist of a handsome range of buildings, in red and white brick. Over these we are shown by the manager, Mr. Jackson, who referred with justifiable pride to the announcement telegraphed from Calcutta of the award to Felton, Grimwade, and Co. of a diploma of honour and no less than three gold medals for their various products. Some of these products we see in process of manufacture. In the mill-room linseed meal is being ground, in one room fluid magnesia is being made and bottled, another is devoted to yeast powder, another to Kruse's insecticide. We are shown through drying-rooms, packing-rooms, engine-room, and a large and busy laboratory, savouring strongly of medicinal tinctures and extracts. Beyond this are stills for the manufacture of nitrous ether, &c., and an elaborate and costly-looking apparatus for the manufacture of liquid ammonia. In the yard are sheds filled with the raw materials and packages required for the various manufactures, and at the end of the garden attached to the manager's residence a detached wooden building filled with leech tanks, in which large supplies of leeches are kept constantly stored. The aspect of the place is altogether one of busy and thriving industry (12).

Frederick Grimwade's 1910 obituary has this interesting but I believe not necessarily accurate, take on their leech business -

In 1870 he visited Echuca, and contracted for the delivery of 1,000,000 leeches at 10/ a thousand. They were caught by aborigines, who waded into swamps and allowed the leeches to fasten to their bodies. The leeches were sent packed in cases to a leech aquarium at South Melbourne, and-shipped to Europe, where they brought 30/ a hundred (13).

Firstly, the aquarium was in West Melbourne, as the 1884 contemporary report (above) confirms. The West Melbourne location is also confirmed by the 1937 reminiscences of former employee -
In their chemical laboratory in West Melbourne men and women were kept working. I was one of sixty there. Leeches were required by the medical profession more then than they are now. So Felton and Grimwade must have a leech house built there (14). 

Regarding this sentence from Frederick Grimwade's obituary - [the leeches] were caught by aborigines, who waded into swamps and allowed the leeches to fasten to their bodies. Fascinating, if true, but I would like to see other evidence to support this, as I haven't seen this anywhere else, and certainly the 1870 report (above) states that the firm was supplied by fishermen in the Murray District (15). 

From the few reports I have seen it did not seem to be necessary catch a leech by having them latch on to your body. Here are some methods of catching leeches. This is from 1870 -

Joseph Hendricks, of fruit and fish-selling note at Pleasant Creek, proposes to devote himself in future to leech-finding in the lakes. He reckons to catch 3000 per day if the weather be warm, and to sell them for 30s per 1000. He does not divest himself of his clothing, but after perturbing the waters, skims the surface with a small net and thus secures his prey (16). 

A 1893 article noted the following way that leeches were collected - 

The method of catching them was, and is, to throw a freshly removed sheepskin into the water where they live. When the skin is taken out the leeches are found clinging to it by hundreds (17).

This was the method described in 1915, under the heading - Boys and Leeches.

Dr. J. Leach, of the Education Department, has initiated a scheme to help the Melbourne Public Hospital, in addition to assist the Children's War Fund, and finally to send food to heroic Belgians. 

8,000 leeches are needed by the hospital and each school is invited to send as many as possible in small tins containing damp grass, and posted to Dr. Leach. Teachers' College, Carlton. He will deliver to the hospital authorities, and forward the cash to the schools for the Belgian Fund. He warns children not to go near deep water, nor to run any risk. Dr. Leach adopts the following plan for catching leeches :- Sink a loose meshed sack, such as a potato bag, bated with a scrap or two of raw meat, in a shallow water hole where leeches abound. After some hours the harvest may be gathered in safety. Price paid 10s per 100. The black leech is not used. It is the five striped leech which is needed at once, before the first frost causes them to hibernate. The postal address of each school sending must be plainly stated (18). 

In spite of the fact that the aptly named Dr Leach seemed to think only boys collected leeches, it was a past-time for girls as well. Ada Crossley (1871-1929) was born in Tarraville in South Gippsland and became an internationally renowned singer. She was interviewed in 1903 and said -

I am still as fond of fun as in the old Gippsland days when as a youngster I caught leeches and sold them to a local chemist in order to buy a ticket for a travelling circus (19). 

Before we leave the topic of leech catching, in 1917 Labor Call, the newspaper of the Political Labour Council of Victoria, suggests that Frederick Grimwade's own son was sent out to catch leeches -

Norton Grimwade [is] an upstart pill and poison seller of Melbourne.... His father was one of the

firm of Felton and Grimwade, and he started in life by a successful use of his legs for leech-catching in ponds. The article continues with a scathing account of Norton and his father, one of the harshest oppressors of the workers (20).  It is possibly true that Norton caught leeches for the family business, however as he was the oldest child and was only four in 1870 when the Company commenced their large leech operation it seems unlikely (21). 

Felton, Grimwade & Co,  may have been the largest leech merchant but they were not the only ones. They did, however, cover all aspects of the leech market as Chemists and households would keep their leeches in a leech jar or 'aquarium' which was conveniently available for purchase from Felton, Grimwade & Co.

Products sold by Felton, Grimwade & Co., in 1872

The Argus, September 24, 1872   https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5839344

Here are some advertisements from other leech merchants who operated in Victoria over the past 180 years.

1841 - The finest leeches seen in Port Phillip.

Port Phillip Patriot, February 11, 1841 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/226511316

1848 - Leeches in Geelong.

Geelong Advertiser, May 6, 1848  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/91458473

1853 - Leeches from Upper Plenty

The Banner, November 8, 1853 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/179481843

1859 - Charles Armstrong, sole agent for Lake Moira leeches

Bendigo Advertiser, October 12, 1859 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87992785

From 1862, Alfred Felton began advertising leeches for sale. 

This was before his partnership with Frederick Grimwade.

The Age, June 24 1863 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/154965450

1866 - Negus & Co., Leech Merchants

Bell's Life in Victoria November 24, 1866 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/199056923

1870 - Felton, Grimwade & Co., advertisement.

The Argus, October 31, 1870 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5837089

1870 - The Melbourne Hospital invites a tender for the supply of leeches

The Age, December 27, 1870 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/189330607

1874 - Leeches from the Murray, apply to Hirundo. 

Hirudinea is the scientific name for leeches.

The Age, November 14, 1874 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201533835

1882 - Leeches for sale form Rocke, Tompsitt & Co. 

The Age, June 9, 1882 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/202529903

1885 - Attention - Leech catchers in Echuca

Riverine Herald, December 4, 1885 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/114638122

1889 - H. Francis & Co. will purchase leeches

The Age, August 19, 1889 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197325600

By the 1890s, the demand for leeches had declined, as confirmed by this 1895 report, which also noted the leeches success in predicting changes in the weather - 

When leeches were kept in every chemist's shop, and often in private houses, their behavior was subject of constant observation; and it was generally noticed that in still weather, dry or wet, they remained at the bottom, but rose often as much as 24 hours in advance, before a change, and in case of a thunderstorm rose very quickly to the surface, descending when it was past (22). 

However, Felton, Grimwade & Co.,were still in the leech business in 1916, as confirmed by this answer to a correspondent in the Bendigo Advertiser in 1916 -
We are informed that there is no market in Bendigo for leeches, the chemists obtaining requirements from Melbourne. Messrs. Felton, Grimwade and Co., of Melbourne, who have special means of keeping leeches alive, buy from recognised suppliers in large quantities during certain seasons. The prices given, we believe, range from 17/6 to 25/ per thousand (23). 

This 1916 article is the last I can find which has a connection between Grimwade, Felton & Co. and the leech trade.  However, as we saw before, leeches were still being used in hospitals at this time, as Dr Leach of the Education Department, was urging boys to collect leeches for the Hospital. 

In the end, Dr Leach's campaign was successful as The Argus reported in April 1916. The article has many engaging leech facts, so it is reproduced in full -
It may not be generally known that the leech is still largely used in medical practice. Each year about 8,000 are used in the Melbourne Hospital, mainly in cases of pneumonia, in which they have a beneficial effect in easing the characteristic pain in the back. They are used, too, in cases of bruising. The leeches are collected mainly by the school children of the State, in swamps and ponds. Some months ago it was feared that the supply for this winter would fall short, as it did last, and an appeal was made to the children, who are paid 5/ a hundred for the leeches. One small boy reassured the Hospital by writing:-"I will send as many leeches as possible as soon as possible,''

Soon the leeches began to arrive. Now there are about 8,000 of them-a year's supply-stored in stone filter-cases, with six inches of pebbles at the bottom of the water. Against these pebbles they scrape off the slime, which would otherwise kill them. Most of them come from the Murray and Goulburn districts. The children fish for them with baits of meat; some daring youngsters wade in the swamps, and the leeches fasten on their bare legs.

Some years ago, in the old dispensary of the Melbourne Hospital, the gauze was found to have been removed from the top of the vessels in which the leeches were kept, and the leeches vanished, not one being found in a search of the dispensary. It was finally found that the rats were the culprits, it being surmised that they put their tails into the water, and that the leeches, fastening upon these baits gratefully, were drawn up and eaten. The leeches are not fed. They are thus more ready to do their work of blood-sucking when the time comes. When once they have gorged themselves they are discarded. The reason for discarding them is obvious-one cannot sterilise a leech. If, however, one wishes to keep them as pets afterwards, it is interesting to know that about four months' rest is necessary before the leech is ready for business again (24). 

On September 26, 1917, a factory in the West Melbourne site, was wracked by a explosion, which fortunately caused no loss of life. The reports tell us that - 
Since the war began, the manufacture of carbolic acid has been carried on by Messrs Felton, Grimwade and Company at their works in Jeffcott street, West Melbourne. Today the works were destroyed by fire, the result of an explosion in a naphthalene retort. The extent of the damage, which was great, has not yet been estimated. Thick black clouds of smoke hung over the western end of the city, and caused thousands of people to run to see the fire. The factory was of iron, and four men were at work when the retort exploded. Nobody was injured. In an instant there was a huge flame which shot right through the factory, where carbolic acid, lysol substitutes, cresol, and naphthaline wore in process of manufacture. The plant was quickly gutted. Hundreds of gallons of carbolic acid, cresol, and caustic, and many barrels of raw naphthalene were destroyed (25).

The Laboratory and Drug Mills, Jeffcott Street, West Melbourne.

Detail of image at the top of the post.

As you can see from the image above, the West Melbourne Complex was a large one, with many different buildings and I have no information as to which building was destroyed.  However, they were still producing drugs, or pharmaceuticals, on the West Melbourne site into the 1950s at least (26). What of the Leech Aquarium? I have no information as to when it closed. 

Trove - I have created a list of articles on the Leech Trade and the Leech Aquarium of Felton, Grimwade and their role in the Leech Trade, access it here. 

Footnotes

(1) The Argus, July 1 1867, see here.

(2) Alfred Felton (1831-1904), Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here; Frederick Sheppard Grimwade, Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here. 

(3) The Leader, January 16, 1904, see here.

(4) The Age, August 5, 1901, see here. 

(5) https://www.britannica.com/science/leeching

(6) The Age, June 24, 1893, see here.

(7) The Argus, April 26, 1870, see here.

(8) Ibid

(9) Ibid

(10) The Age, March 20, 1880, see here.

(11) Punch, August 27, 1907, see here.

(12) Australasian Sketcher, March 12, 1884, see here.

(13) The Age, August 5, 1910, see here.

(14) The Age, March 27, 1937, see here.

(15) The Argus, April 26, 1870, see here.

(16) Mount Alexander Mail, November 14, 1870, see here.

(17) The Age, June 24, 1893, see here.

(18) West Gippsland Gazette, April 27, 1915, see here.

(19) The Argus, October 3, 1903, see here. Ada Crossley - Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.

(20) Labor Call, March 29, 1917, see here. 

(21) Read the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for Norton, Harold and Russell Grimwade, here. Russell Grimwade owned a property in Baxter, where he grew geraniums for the perfume industry and during World War Two, herbs for use in the drug trade. I have written about this here,   https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2023/01/geranium-harvesting-and-ten-acres-of.html

(22) The Herald, October 21, 1895, see here.

(23) Bendigo Advertiser, November 10, 1916, see here.

(24) The Argus, April 27, 1916, see here.

(25) The Herald, September 26, 1917, see here.

(26) Report and photos of the pharmaceutical laboratory Labor Call, October 19, 1950, see here;  Job advertisement The Argus, September 8, 1954, see here.

Nurse Brockhurst's private hospital in Cranbourne

In May 1918, Mrs Isabella Brockhurst applied to the Cranbourne Shire Council to register a private hospital. Dr Langley, the Shire Health Officer reported to the Council meeting that whereas the building is not large and the rooms small, the place is very clean, and the rooms are quite suitable for the purposes of a maternity hospital. In the hands of Mrs. Brockhurst it will be well conducted, and a great benefit to the district (1).  The Hospital was called Kilora. It would be interesting to know who the first baby was born at her Hospital, the earliest birth notice I can find is this one of Mervyn Forster, born September 22, 1918.  He was the son of Arthur John and Bertha May (nee Smith) Forster. 

The birth of Mervyn Forster at Nurse Brockhurst's Hospital, 1918

The Age September 22, 1918 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155133300

Sadly not all births had a happy ending and this is the notice for baby Leslie Westaway, who only lived 40 hours. Leslie was the son of Ernest and Theresa (nee Keighery) Westaway.

Birth notice of Leslie Westaway at Nurse Brockhurst's Hospital, 1923

The Argus, November 12, 1923 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1997125

In February 1919, Nurse Brockhurst applied to register the building as a nursing home (2), I presume so she could broaden the scope of her services. The Hospital was advertised regularly in 1920 in the South Bourke & Mornington Journal. The advertisement was always on the bottom left corner of the front page. 

Mrs Brockhurst's regular advertisement in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal in 1920

South Bourke & Mornington Journal June 10, 1920 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66198223

In the last months of 1926 and throughout 1927, Mr Branston, the Dentist, ran this advertisement, below. He consulted at Nurse Brockhurst's Hospital on Monday between 1.00 pm and 5.00pm. Arthur Branston began practicing as a dentist in Dandenong in 1902 and was an enthusiastic member of the tennis club, the Dandenong Progress Association and the Dandenong Mechanics' Institute (3).  As a matter of interest, in 1913, he sued Drayton & Garson, Funeral Directors for damages. They had inserted a notice regarding the funeral of an Arthur Branston, which he alleged in Court, thereby meant he was dead, and was to be buried, in consequence whereof  [he] has been greatly damaged in his reputation and business (4).  He didn't win the case, you can read about it here. 

Arthur Branston, Dentist, consults at Nurse Brockhurst's.

South Bourke & Mornington Journal September 23, 1926 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article214585764

On June 8, 1927, Isabella was appointed the Registrar of Births and Deaths at Cranbourne (5). She held the position until her resignation on November 24, 1931 (6). This means that she could have both delivered the baby and then registered the birth.

Isabella's appointment as Registrar of Births and Deaths at Cranbourne

Victoria Government Gazette June 15, 1927  http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1927/V/general/79.pdf

There was an article in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal in June 1927 saying that Sister Gould had taken over the Hospital vacated by Nurse Brockhurst (7), however there are still references in the newspapers of Nurse Brockhurst's Private Hospital after this so either Sister Gould did not stay long or perhaps it was still referred to by it's original name. 

What do we know about Mrs Brockhurst? She was born Isabella Suriez around 1884 in the Falkland Islands, that very remote part of the British Empire in the South Atlantic Ocean. She is the first person I have ever come across born in the Falklands. Isabella was married to Frank Brockhurst on March 6, 1906 at St Stephen's Church of England, West Ealing, which is part of Greater London.   He was a 23 year old Dairyman, born in Alton in Hampshire and she was a 22 year old Spinster. Her father's occupation on the marriage certificate was listed as Shepherd in the Falkland Isles (8).

I believe Isabella's father was actually called Carlo not Claro. This is an excerpt from Isabella and Frank's Marriage Certificate showing his occupation.

London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers;

Reference Number: DRO/148/01/009 - From Ancestry.com

Their daughter, Isabella Mary, was born November 2, 1906 at Godalaming, Surrey and their son Francis George (known as George) was born June 5, 1908, also in Godalaming (9).  The family were listed in the 1911 Census at Godalaming - Frank's occupation was a Dairyman; Isabella's occupation was 'assisting in the business'. The household also had two boarders and a servant living with them (10). 

I do not have a date for when the family came to Australia, but in 1914 they were listed in the Electoral Rolls at Tallangatta. When Frank enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on November 27, 1916, they were living in Cranbourne. Frank was not considered fit enough  to serve overseas but spent two years with the Army on Home Service (11).  The 1917 Electoral Rolls shows them at Spring Meadows in Cranbourne. They are also listed at this address in 1927 (12).  Frank's occupation was a farm hand and they did not own the property. 

There was a clearing sale of cattle and some equipment held at Spring Meadows in February 1920 and the owner was listed as George Lehman (13) and another sale in March 1928 when the property was auctioned. It was described as 327 acres, stocked 750 sheep and 80 cows were milked  - a large concern in those days. Sel. Kennon Esq., was the owner in 1928 (14). This was Selbourne Kennon, of  J. Kennon and Sons - the operators of a large tannery, leather manufactuary and wool exporters in Richmond on the Yarra River (15). With Frank's previous experience as a dairyman, he would have been a valuable employee. After the farm was sold,  Frank and Isabella moved to Perivale,  a house in Childers Street,  Cranbourne (16).  Perivale is less than two miles from West Ealing in England where the couple were married - perhaps that was the location of their first home together.

Whilst the family was at Cranbourne their daughter, Isabella Mary, known as Molly was married on March 30, 1929 at St John's Church of England to Fred Whiteway of Northcote. The Church was filled, the bride being very popular said the report in the Dandenong Journal. Iris Stick was one of Molly's bridesmaids and later in 1929 she married Molly's brother George (17). George enlisted in World War Two, on August 11, 1943. He was a Post Office employee in civilian life and served with the 2nd Australian Base Postal Unit, initially in Victoria but from May 1944 until September 1945 in Lae, New Guinea (18).

Frank and Isabella left Cranbourne in October 1931 - Much regret is expressed that Mr. and Mrs. F. Brockhurst, after a residence of 15 years in Cranbourne, are shortly leaving the district. Mrs. Brockhurst has conducted a private hospital for a number of years, and has won the affection of many residents. She and Mr. Brockhurst have taken an active part in local movements' for the welfare of the town and district. They have been especially interested in St. John’s Church of England, having been actively associated with the organisation of that church (19). 

The next I can find of the Brockhursts was that in 1937 they were listed in the Electoral Roll at Maffra.  Isabella died on October 6, 1954 at Maffra and Frank in September 1963. They were both cremated at the Necropolis at Springvale (20). 

Small private hospitals, like the one operated by Isabella Brockhurst were the mainstay of medical care in the suburbs and country towns at this time - almost always run by women, and they dealt with births, deaths and everything in between - including illness, accidents and caring for people after operations

Other examples of small hospitals in this region are -

  

Shepton Private Hospital in Berwick, operated by Kathleen Duigan and Florence Vines. 

I have written about Nurse Vines, here.

Dandenong Advertiser January 29, 1914 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/8487638

Mrs Harriet Fink's Private Hospital in Dandenong

Koo Wee Rup Sun August 20, 1919.

Mrs Osborn was at Koo Wee Rup - I am unsure whether she operated a hospital in her house or if she attended to patients in their own homes.

Koo Wee Rup Sun August 13, 1919.

From 1911, Bush Nursing Centres were established in country towns. The Bush Nursing movement provided a country town with a qualified, experienced Nurse and the local community had to raise the money to fund the cost of the nurse’s salary, board, uniform and transport. The earliest Bush Nursing Centre in this area was at Koo Wee Rup which opened in July 1918. The Nurse treated patients in their home. On May 23, 1923 the Victorian Bush Nursing Centre, Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital was opened in Koo Wee Rup. In December 1955, it was replaced by the Westernport Memorial Hospital. Pakenham Bush Nursing Hospital was established in 1926 and Berwick in 1940. The first large public hopsital in the area was opened at Warragul in August 1908 and Dandenong was opened in April 1942.

Opening of the Koo Wee Rup Hospital

Koo Wee Rup Sun May 10, 1923

Isabella Brockhurst and many other nurses like her who operated their own hospitals in country towns provided a valuable service to the local area, where they were involved in community life and and even more importantly, won the affection of many residents (19).

Trove List
I have created a list of articles on Trove on Isabella and Frank Brockhurst and the Hospital, access it here.

Footnotes
(1) Lang Lang Guardian, May 11 1918 see here.
(2) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, February 6 1919, see here.
(3) Arthur Branston - Weekly Times, July 19, 1930, see here;  Dandenong Journal, February 9, 1949, see here.  
(4) The Argus, July  4, 1913, see here.
(5) Victoria Government Gazette June 15, 1927, p. 1910 http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1927/V/general/79.pdf
(6) Victoria Government Gazette December 2, 1931, p. 3348
http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1931/V/general/278.pdf
(7) South Bourke and Mornington Journal, June 16 1927, see here.
(8) I found out Isabella's maiden name and birth place from the Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages. This led to their Marriage Certificate, which is available on Ancestry.com and their entry in the 1911 Census, also available on Ancestry.com and these documents contained the details in this paragraph.
(9) Isabella Mary's Baptism record in on Ancestry.com and that gave her date of birth. Francis' birth date comes from his Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947 at the National Archives. He enlisted in the Army on August 1943 and was discharged January 14, 1947. See Footnote 18. 
(10) 1911 U.K Census is on Ancestry.com.
(11) National Archives of Australia - Applications to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force papers,
https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6535344&S=1&R=0
(12) Electoral Rolls available on Ancestry.com
(13) The Argus, February 21, 1920 see here.
(14) The Argus, March 14, 1928, see here.
(15) Articles about J. Kennon & Sons in The Australasian, August 25, 1923, see here and the Weekly Times of September 3, 1932, here.
(16) Dandenong Journal, April 11, 1929, see here.
(17) The wedding was reported in the Dandenong Journal, April 11, 1929, see here. George's wedding date is from the Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages. Molly and Fred had two sons - Raymond and Robert. Raymond sadly died in July 1942, aged 12 years old. George and Iris had one daughter, Valma.

Death notice for Raymond Whiteway, Frank and Isabella's grandson.

The Argus July 18, 1942 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11986395

(18) National Archives of Australia, Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947

https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6060532
(19) Dandenong Journal October 29, 1931, see here.
(20) Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust https://smct.org.au/deceased-search

A version of this post, which I wrote and researched, appears on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past. This is an updated and expanded version of that post.

Geranium harvesting and 'ten acres of drugs' at Westerfield, Baxter

I actually love geraniums, they are easy to grow, look pretty and come in many colours, so I was interested to come across these photos from 1929 of germanium harvesting at Westerfield, at Baxter. Westerfield was a property owned by Russell Grimwade (1879-1955) (1). He was the son of Frederick Sheppard Grimwade (1840-1910) (2) a founder of  Felton, Grimwade & Co. They were manufacturers of drugs and perfumes and they also established a Chemical Company and the Melbourne Glass Bottle Works. Given that liquids, powders and potions were all packaged in glass bottles and jars at the time, this was logical move.

Felton, Grimwade & Co., Factories - the top images are the Chemical Works and Bi-Sulphide of Carbon works at Sandridge (Port Melbourne); the middle image are the Glass Works in Graham Street, South Melbourne. At the bottom are the Laboratory & Drug Mills, Jeffcott Street, West Melbourne and the Leech Aquarium, part of Drug works.

Image: State Library of Victoria http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/257357 Image originally published in the Australasian Sketcher of March 12, 1884, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246609555

The Felton of Felton, Grimwade & Co., was Alfred Felton  (1831-1904), whose estate provided the funds for the Felton Bequest which purchased works of art for the National Gallery in Melbourne and supported charities (3).  I have written about more about Felton, Grimwade & Co., especially their connection to the leech trade, here. 

As a matter of interest, in 1917, Russell and his brothers, Norton, Harold and Sheppard, donated the family home, Harleston in Caulfield to Melbourne Grammar as a memorial to their parents, Frederick and Jessie,  and it was renamed Grimwade House (4).  

Geranium harvesting at Westerfield, Baxter, December 1929. Photographer: Russell Grimwade.

University of Melbourne Archives http://hdl.handle.net/11343/77615

Westerfield was in Robinsons Road in Baxter (5). The property also grew drugs for the pharmaceutical industry during World War Two, you can read about that below.

Geranium oil was used in the manufacture of perfume. Russell Grimwade gave an address on essential oils in 1924. It was reported on in The Age -
The art of the perfumer, Mr. Grimwade said, was to gather from all possible sources the essential oils, and blend them in the proportions that gave the most beautiful perfumes. The oils generally known as essential oils were not really what they were called, because they were not pure oils, though they contained pure oils in various proportions. They were really volatile, or ethereal, oils, and were obtained in all forms of growing plants (6).

Geranium harvesting at Westerfield, Baxter, December 1929. Photographer: Russell Grimwade.

University of Melbourne Archives http://hdl.handle.net/11343/77617

It makes the process sound easy, however a large quantity of plants were required to produce the oil. An 1886 report in the Weekly Times on the Manufacture of Perfumery noted that half an acre will sustain 800 geranium plants, giving 2,250lb. of geranium leaves. That's 1020kg of leaves. As a comparison jasmine requires about a third of an acre to produce, during the entire season, 30,000 plants, which will furnish 2,2501b. of flowers...the orange tree at ten years of age will require an acre to grow 100 trees, producing 2,2501b. of flowers (7).

Geranium harvesting at Westerfield, Baxter, December 1929. Photographer: Russell Grimwade.

University of Melbourne Archives http://hdl.handle.net/11343/77616

Geraniums were not the only plants grown at the Grimwade farm. I found this very interesting article about ten acres of drugs being grown there during the Second World War for the pharmaceutical industry. It is from The Herald, August 24, 1946 (8) and reproduced here in full.

Ten acres of drugs by Angas Brammall

On a secluded pine-sheltered hillside three miles from bustling Frankston are 10 privet-hedged acres of herb garden which through the war provided all Australia with drugs formerly coming from abroad. This garden even provided the drug used in the AlF's invasion anti-sea-sickness pills. The rows of purple, red and white blooms are the result of the enterprise and foresight of Mr Russell Grimwade.

Thousands of pounds worth of digitalis, heroin, hyoscine, opium, and other deadly, but life-saving drugs were produced during the war from the 10 acres, which are part of Mr Grimwade's beautiful estate. More than 20 years ago Mr Grimwade made a hobby of cultivating small patches of herbs and drug-yielding plants. When the Second World War started he foresaw a shortage of certain essential drugs. Immediately the war started he cabled an English firm for a pound each of five drug seed varieties. Within a few months rows of plants were showing their heads above the fertile, sandy loam.

The deadly leaf harvest was gathered and sufficient seed extracted to make a hundred-fold crop the following, season. Meanwhile, engineers, architects and industrial chemists had been busy. Drying rooms, were built which; could handle 700 pounds of leaves in a single day. Choppers and desiccators were designed, and the whole vast resources of the drug industry co-opted.

The next crop was bumper. Mr Grimwade's Welsh farm manager (Mr W. Griffiths) watched with pride the steady growth of the "deadly nightshade," or Atropa belladonna, from which atropine is extracted. He saw the dark-leaved foxglove, or digitalis, flourish in the summer sunshine. He beheld the tossing red or white heads of the popples from which came opium and morphine. That harvest, too, was gathered. The new drying-rooms worked perfectly, and soon the pungent bales of drug leaves were being transformed at a city ware-house into the drugs for which military and civil hospitals had been pleading so desperately.

Assay and analysis proved Mr Grimwade's digitalis and atropa superior to the imported drugs, and, with hyosclne and colchicum, they were soon in use in hospitals throughout Australia and on every battlefront in the North.

Although a deadly poison, hyoscine in minute doses, is an antidote to sea and air-sickness, and hundreds of pounds' worth was extracted by Mr Grimwade's company from Australian-grown plants. Hyoscine tablets were issued to troops before all major landings.

Digitalis contains four important glucosides, of which three are invaluable heart stimulants; but it is an extremely poisonous drug and a lethal dose causes almost instant death. Colchicum is an amazing substance derived from a bulb. It has an immediate depressant effect on the heart and speedily causes death from collapse if an over-dose is taken, It is used, medicinally, for gout patients. Its most extraordinary property is its effect on plant life. Injected into trees or shrubs it causes giantism and the tree will grow to many time's its normal size.

Russian scientists evolved perennial wheat by soaking hybrid seed grains in a solution of colchicum before planting. The digitalis and hycscyamus leaves are treated in very much the same manner as tobacco leaves. They are strung on poles and quickly dried off at a temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. They are then baled under great pressure and sent to the Melbourne warehouse for the extraction of the drugs. Each bale weighs 130lb.

Atropin is extracted from the root of the belladonna plant. Dahlia-like in appearance, the root is first sliced in a chopper, then dried off and crushed. Opium and morphine normally come from the white latex which is taken from poppy heads before they have ripened and dried. But by a new Australian process morphine is now extracted directly from the poppy capsules. This eliminates the laborious scraping of latex from the poppy heads.

Other products of Mr Grimwade's farm are nicotlana rustica, from which nicotine is derived, and the squill plant, which yields a valuable expectorant. Geranium oil is extracted from the Pelargonium radula, and lavender oil from carefully selected strains of the ordinary lavender plant. 

Footnotes
(1) Sir Wilfred Russell Grimwade (1879-1955). Read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.
(2) Frederick Sheppard Grimwade (1840-1910). Read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.

(3) Alfred Felton (1831-1904), Read his Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, here.

(4) https://www.mgs.vic.edu.au/about/our-history/history-grimwade-house
(5) I found the address from this advertisement in the Frankston Standard, December 1, 1949

  

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74253500

(6) The Age, November 28, 1924, see here.
(7) Weekly Times, March 13, 1886, see here.
(8) The Herald, August 24, 1946, see here.

A version of this post, which I wrote and researched, first appeared on my work blog, Casey Cardinia Links to our Past. This is an updated and expanded version.