This might be the saddest tale ever told in Sunderland
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The haunting tale of a Sunderland family has emerged - showing the plight which once faced starving Wearsiders.
The sad circumstances of the Hood family emerged when an inquest took place in 1897.
It heard how 29 year old William Hood lived in appalling conditions in a street called Maling’s Rigg.
Philip Curtis explains more in the January edition of the Sunderland Antiquarian Society newsletter.
He was in one room with his mother, grandfather and sister. Their only income was four shillings a week which the grandfather got in a pension.
Yet the rent for the room was two shillings and the four relatives were left at the point of starvation. They had no furniture and shared one mattress - of straw.
‘For two years they had been struggling to survive but the family refused to seek charity or consider the workhouse,’ said a report which has been included in the January issue of the Antiquarian Society newsletter.
The family’s suffering became known when a neighbour called on them and found William lying unconscious on a straw mattress. She told the family they needed to get a doctor before the neighbour went for one herself.
Dr Bowmaker came out and found a room with no furniture and William lying in an ‘insensible condition’ on one of the corners of the mattress.
All the other family members were half dazed.
The doctor immediately arranged for them to have a beef tea and sent groceries to the house. But it was too late for William who passed away the next day.
His mother Mary gave evidence to the inquest, and was asked if she had ever applied to the parish for relief.
‘No’ was the answer, and Mary added: “We all thought it best not to let our poverty become known.”
They had never asked for help from local churches or neighbours and their best source of income, William, had ended when he was injured in an accident at Hartley’s glassworks years earlier.
William’s sister Isabella, 19, gave evidence and said the family had sat for ‘many a day’ without food’ and waited for sleep to come. They did not like to complain to anyone.
The coroner took note of the appearance of both women and said the best outcome was for them to go to the workhouse and gain strength before looking for work.
Both women said they would not do it and the coroner told the hearing that the ‘pitiable’ tale was not uncommon in Sunderland.
He said he had ‘come across families who, rather than disclose their poverty, would mutely bear their troubles until death freed them.”
You can find out more about the Antiquarian Society by getting along to its Heritage Centre which is open in Douro Terrace on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9.30am to 12pm.
You can also visit the Antiquarian Society’s Facebook page or its website which is at http://www.sunderland-antiquarians.org
And to become a member, email [email protected]