I would have died two years ago...

[Guest]

If I'd lived in the early 1800's.

Just watching a program on BBC1, "The Natural History of The British Isles." This episode is about the industrial revolution; when we first starting fucking over this planet.

Because of pollution in the water cholera and other water-borne diseases were rife. The life expectancy of an adult in Britain right then was just 29 years!!!

Worse still, 57% of children died before the age of 5!!!

That's not to mention what we were doing to the trees and wildlife, etc.

Shocking stuff. Thank fuck we've learnt a bit and look after our planet a "little" bit better now.

Lou

 

[oggbashan]

My father was one of 12 children. Only 4 survived to become adults.

My mother was one of 12 children. Only 5 survived to become adults.

Both sets of families were born between 1880 and 1910.

Things weren't better by the end of the nineteenth century. They began to change in the 1920s and 1930s and improved dramatically in the 1940s and 1950s.

Now the death of a child under 10 is unusual; a disaster. In my parents' time it was normal.

In my time it wasn't unusual. My neighbourhood lost 30 children to polio in 1951 including my older sister. If that happened now it would be headline news across the UK. Then it made the front page of the local newspaper and no further.

Modern medicine has made childbirth and early childhood amazingly safe by comparison with earlier generations.

Og

 

[maggot420]

I would have died last May...almost did anyway but for the skill of a gifted surgeon.

It's amazing the changes that have taken place so recently to prolong and save lives and yet we seem to take them for granted.

Imagine what the future holds medically in say 100 years from now knowing how far we have come in such a short time.

I don't know where I'll be then but I sure won't smell too good

 

[minsue]

If I'd lived in the early 1800's.

Or if you lived in a different country now. Lovely roll of the dice, isn't it?

 

[CharleyH]

If I'd lived in the early 1800's.

Just watching a program on BBC1, "The Natural History of The British Isles." This episode is about the industrial revolution; when we first starting fucking over this planet.

Because of pollution in the water cholera and other water-borne diseases were rife. The life expectancy of an adult in Britain right then was just 29 years!!!

Worse still, 57% of children died before the age of 5!!!

That's not to mention what we were doing to the trees and wildlife, etc.

Shocking stuff. Thank fuck we've learnt a bit and look after our planet a "little" bit better now.

Lou

Ya, ya PM 10s and all the nicotine in the world is worse than ozone. BS 10s. We are still gonna die, mainly because eventually we will, but expediently because Bush is in power and Blair supports him. I wrote the book, well ok, press releases on Ecoli - what you want to know about those water thingys?

BTW, you have bypassed your days as an old lady, you are at thirty, but no worse than Abs, so you are safe. The Nazi's killed the old ones first - um ya.

NOW in NANO - you should be researching Elizabeth Bathory

GET BACK TO IT BITCH!! Cuz ain't no bad boy, big dicked LEWD hopeful around to say it

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Now the death of a child under 10 is unusual; a disaster. In my parents' time it was normal.

In my time it wasn't unusual. My neighbourhood lost 30 children to polio in 1951 including my older sister. If that happened now it would be headline news across the UK. Then it made the front page of the local newspaper and no further.


Og

True. A few years back, when we had a few children die of the Anthrax strain here in the U.S., it was nationwide news. Of course, we still have SIDS, and while not overly common, it still happens and is rarely reported (to my knowledge). Maybe this is one of those, "depends on why" deals...

Q_C

 

[MagicFingers]

The Flu

The big world wide epidemic of 1918 killed 18 million people, which is more than all the modern war deaths combined!

Anybody out there got a flu shot I could borrow?

 

[maggot420]

2/3 of all the people who have ever lived and died on earth have died from Malaria

 

[shereads]

I remember whenever my dad or mom would talk about their parents' generation of aunts and uncles and cousins, there was always at least one story of a child that died in infancy. We cling to life and take miracles for granted. Not long ago, raising a child to adulthood was something of a miracle. It didn't take much to kill a person; a minor cut could do it if it became infected.

There's a cemetery in Charleston, S.C. that wouldn't be unusual for you Brits, but is ancient over here, with graves dating back to the 1600s. In one family plot were the graves of seven infants, born one year apart. How heartbreaking it must have been to keep trying. I wondered if the mother had wanted to, or just kept trying because it was the normal thing to do.

 

[impressive]

How heartbreaking it must have been to keep trying. I wondered if the mother had wanted to, or just kept trying because it was the normal thing to do.

Genealogy is another of my hobbies (long neglected since I started writing). As recently as the late 1800s, it was very common for a man to marry in his early 20s, sire 8-12 children -- until his wife finally died in childbirth. Of those children, perhaps 75% survived to adulthood. He would then take another bride and sire another brood. Some hearty blokes even went on to a third.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for all the replies to this thread, I have been reading them all. It's given me plenty more to think on.

Min, you are so right. I often count my lucky stars.

Lou

 

[rgraham666]

I like walking through graveyards too.

There's one about twenty minutes walk from me. Some graves go back to the 19th century.

As impressive pointed out, the earlier sets of graves often include families of husbands, multiple wives (only one of which survived the husband) and children, many who didn't make it to five.

And these were rich families, judging from the gravestones.

Shudder to think what it must have been like for the poor.

Also there are a number of graves from 1914 to 1919. All young men. Suprisingly, most of the graves are after November 1918. That means the flu got them.

So few of us realize how good we have it now.

 

[neonlyte]

If I'd lived in the early 1800's.

Just watching a program on BBC1, "The Natural History of The British Isles." This episode is about the industrial revolution; when we first starting fucking over this planet.

Because of pollution in the water cholera and other water-borne diseases were rife. The life expectancy of an adult in Britain right then was just 29 years!!!

Worse still, 57% of children died before the age of 5!!!

That's not to mention what we were doing to the trees and wildlife, etc.

Shocking stuff. Thank fuck we've learnt a bit and look after our planet a "little" bit better now.

Lou

I caught that last night, great programme with some interesting insights on how 'nature' adapted to the Industrial Revolution, particularly the spreading of plants along railway lines and canal banks.

Flew back this morning, flew over your 'neck of the woods', Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door glinting in the morning sunshine.

Neon
PS I advise whisky with the water.