Stoke Damerel Contents & Search

The need for somewhere on Britain's western approaches to repair and replenish naval warships became apparent during the Dutch Wars of 1652-74. In the 1690's the Admiralty asked its Naval Agent at Plymouth, John Addison, to draw up plans for a dock at Point Froward. Royal Dockyards were managed by the Navy Board Commissioner. The Yard was still known as Plymouth Dockyard until September 1843 when it became Devonport Dockyard. It is today the largest naval base in Western Europe and the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Royal Navy. During most of the Victorian era, people--including doctors--knew very little about the causes of disease. Health was a challenge because for most of the 19th century, people did not understand about germs. People had no idea why they became ill, and often, medicine was no more than guesswork. If a serious illness did not cause death, often some of the "remedies" did. The often deadly irritative fever, known as Plymouth Dock Fever, is a term used in 19th century medicine to describe a condition in which the pulse becomes quicker from an increase of irritation; and was often associated with typhus. This rare medical book, now widely available as a re-print, was produced from a digital copy held in the Bodleian Library collection that can be downloaded from http://books.google.co.uk/books, with a search by either author or title. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

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Last updated: 1 Jun 2011 - Brian Randell