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Nurse Mary Elizabeth Blanche
Clark was born the 7th October in 1875. She died on the 2nd May
1957 at the Isolation Hospital, Ely. The isolation hospital in
St. John's road, was opened in 1917 and was erected at the sole
cost of William and Mrs. Emily Ann Cutlack. The hospital was
located on the land, which is now housing, between St Johns Road
& Tower Court, which was once the workhouse & Tower Hospital.
Nurse Clark was born in Ely and
did her initial training at The Royal Hospital for Diseases of
the Chest, in Bethnal Green London, before moving on to the
County Hospital for Taunton and Somerset in the South-West of
England
In 1901 she went to South Africa and nursed during the Boer War
before going on to work at hospitals in Kimberley and St Helena,
also in South Africa.
By 1907 she had returned to Ely
and joined the Ely District Nursing Association and in 1912 she
joined the British Red Cross and formed the Voluntary Aid
Detachment in 1914. She became a Lady Superintendent in 1919 and
a Commander by 1938. Nurse Clark retired from the Nursing
Association in 1939, though she continued with her work as the
British Red Cross Commandant in Ely during World War II.
The Dispensary on St Mary’s
Street, from where she was based whilst in Ely, was opened in
1865, and as the inscription ‘Heal the Sick’ which can be seen
engraved above the door, the Dispensary was needed to provide
medical care to the people of Ely.
Dr John Muriel, a doctor who
purchased the Chantry House, a beautiful private home
overlooking the Palace Green and Ely Cathedral, in 1846
developed the rear of his estate which backed onto St Mary’s
Street. Homes and other fine buildings were built, along with a
plot of land, given by Dr Muriel, for the building of the
Dispensary.
Many people of low income at this
time could simply not afford to see a doctor when they were
unwell, and so relied on the recommendations of ‘wise women’ or
neighbours who advised the use of homemade potions or cures!
Unsanitary conditions, unclean water supplies and overcrowding
meant disease could spread quickly and was often catastrophic.
Illnesses were often treated with a potent tincture made with a
mixture of opium, collected locally from the poppies, and
alcohol known as laudanum, or even just with opium itself!
The public health board, with Dr
John Muriel as a founding member, was formed in 1850 with the
building of the Dispensary following in 1865. It was an attempt,
alongside other improvements to the sewage system, vital for
bringing clean drinking water to Ely, to improve the health of
city and was a place where local people could receive the
medical care they needed.
The Ely and District Nursing
Association was founded by 1886 and were based at the
Dispensary. Some years later, following her return to her home
in Ely from South Africa, Mary Clark nursed the people of Ely
for over 30 years from 1907 until 1939. Nurse Clark did live to
see the founding of the National Health Service in 1948 which
revolutionised health care in the United Kingdom!
By the 1970s, following the
building of the Health Centre in Chapel Street, the Dispensary
began to serve the people of Ely in many other ways, including
as a community and meeting place for many different groups,
classes and societies.
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