Pair of orthopaedic boots, made for a child in 1935

Pair of child's orthopaedic boots, made from black leather and lined with canvas. There are six pairs of metal-ringed eyelets apiece on the uppers. The soles are fastened with brass tacks.

Given by Arthur Robert Collier

Arthur Robert Collier was born on 27th May 1930 to Emily May Collier and William Frederick Collier. They lived in Strone Road, Newham, London, in a house which Arthur’s parents bought when newly built and lived in until their deaths.

Arthur was born a healthy baby but at approximately six months old, when he began to sit up, he began to show signs of distress when he was picked up and especially when his pram was moving. After many futile attempts to get the medical profession to accept that there was anything wrong, Arthur was finally diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis. He was placed in the care of Great Ormond Street Hospital and admitted to the Lord Mayor Treloar Cripples Hospital in Hampshire. Arthur was approximately seven months old at the time. He remained in hospital until he was five years old. The brace was made for him to wear on discharge, along with the orthopaedic boots (B.41-2016). He wore the brace until he was nine years old, the laces at the front and shoulders were adjusted as he grew.

Arthur spent the majority of his years in hospital lying flat on a bed with a plaster cast on his torso to prevent any movement and deformity of his spine. Three years were spent on his back and the remainder on his stomach. Even when it was cold, his bed was wheeled outside for fresh air and sunshine. He remembers that at some point he had little lead soldiers on a table in front of his eyes so that he could look at them, and the nurses would move them around a little when they walked past. He also remembers the continuing silence and being given egg custard to eat at every meal. Arthur’s parents could only visit infrequently as the fare to Hampshire was a big expenditure for them. Also, visitors were restricted to three visits per year as the cure for tuberculosis at that time was rest (no excitement), fresh and quiet.

There are some photographs of one of Arthur’s parents’ rare visits when he was about five years old and close to discharge. He was either strapped to a bed or strapped to a chair (the straps can be seen in the photographs). He remembers learning to walk around this time.

When he was discharged he remembers meeting his two year old sister for the first time and feeling very confused because he had no idea what a sister was.

Arthur went to the East Ham School of Building when he was thirteen years old, the letter of admittance makes it clear that TB continued to affect his life in some ways. However, he grew to have no obvious signs of his disease. He married and raised a family. He worked as an electrician, a company buyer in Shoreditch and eventually a milkman in East Ham.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection which generally affects the lungs, but can also afflict other parts of the body. In its spinal form it is known as Pott Disease and is one of the oldest demonstrated diseases: evidence of it has been found in Iron Age spinal remains, and in ancient Egyptian and Pacific mummies. Pott Disease can cause abscesses to form and the vertebrae to weaken, eventually causing them to collapse which may result in damage to the spinal cord, and possibly full paralysis. Once it was observed that tuberculosis was spread through proximity to those who had it, it became common practice to house persons with tuberculosis in sanatoria away from the general public. The BCG vaccination, a familiar memory for many secondary-age schoolchildren, did not become commonly used in Britain until after the Second World War.

Treatment of spinal tuberculosis usually involved rest and the immobilisation of the spine using braces and collars, preventing the infected vertebra from collapsing and allowing the body time to fight the disease. Treatment today is similar, but uses antibiotics to destroy the infection.

In 1907, the Lord Mayor of London, Sir William Purdie Treloar, set up a ‘Cripples’ Fund’ to provide healthcare and education for children suffering from non-pulmonary tuberculosis. This institution opened the following year in Alton, Hampshire, in which region it remains as the Treloar School and College. Today, it is a non-maintained special school and college for disabled children and young people aged from 2 to 25.

Possibly made by staff at the Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital (certainly commissioned by them).

Arthur Robert Collier was born in East London in 1930. He unfortunately contracted spinal tuberculosis when he was a baby, which meant he spent much of the first five years of his life strapped to a bed in what was then known as the Lord Mayor Treloar Cripples Hospital, near Alton in Hampshire. Owing to the distance from his home in East Ham and the fresh air treatments for TB, his parents could visit him only very occasionally. On discharge, he was supplied with a brace to immobilise his spine (B.640-2016) and a special pair of orthopaedic boots (B.641-2016). He wore the brace until he was nine years old.

B.641-2016