James Newlands

Panel 7

James Newlands was born in Edinburgh in 1813, the son of a ropemaker. He attended Edinburgh University and gradually practiced as an architect. As early as 1838 he was writing for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and in 1847 was appointed the first borough engineer for Liverpool and the UK. 1847 was also one of the worst years of the potato famine in Ireland when thousands of Irish men, women and children fled to British cities, particularly Liverpool, to escape starvation. Nurses from Ireland established themselves during the cholera outbreaks, in particular Agnes Jones from County Donegal, who provided professional nursing care at Liverpool Workhouse Infirmary. In addition to her praise of Newlands, Florence also described Jones as ‘one of the most valuable lives in England’. 

The Crimean war lasted from 1853 until 1856 when Russia was defeated and signed the Treaty of Paris.  Vulnerable to Russian invasion and alarmed at Russian expansion, the Ottoman empire had allied with Britain, France and Piedmont-Sardinia. Britain and France declared war against Russia in March 1854, hoping to swiftly take the port city of Sevastopol and destroy Russian naval power in the Black Sea, but the war lasted a further two years. Death rates soared as disease killed more than four times that of enemy action. Cholera and dysentery were responsible for 50% of all deaths from disease. Newlands was the effective expert civilian helping alongside military personnel at the Balaclava harbour and hospitals once it became clear that mismanagement and lack of experience by the military contributed to the poor conditions. 

Fig 7.1 James Newlands (Liverpool Central Library and Archives)

Fig 7.2 Map of Liverpool 1866 showing high numbers of deaths in the city from Cholera. This was continued into the 1860s. (Liverpool Central Library and Archive) 

Link: National Library of Scotland: Liverpool Town Plans 1840s-1860s 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=19&lat=53.40637&lon=-2.96744&layers=117746212&b=1

References

Agnes Jones, (2022). The Florence Nightingale Museum https://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/agnes-jones-1832-1868/

Burrell, S. & Gill, G. (2005). The Liverpool Cholera Epidemic of 1832 and Anatomical Dissection--Medical Mistrust and Civil Unrest. Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences. 60. 478-98. 

James Newlands (2022). Graces Guide to British Industrial History. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/James_Newlands.

Kearns, G., Laxton, P., Campbell, J. (1993). Duncan and the Cholera Test: Public Health in Mid Nineteenth Century Liverpool. Transactions of the Historic society of Lancashire and Cheshire for the Year 1993, 143 (1), 87-115.

Neal, F. (1995). Lancashire, The Famine Irish and the Poor Laws: A Study in Crises Management. Irish Economic and Social History, 22, 26–48.

Robins, C. (1997). Cholera and Dysentery in the Crimean War: A Laymans View. Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, 75(304), 240–245. 

Sheard, S., (2015) James Newlands and the Origins of the Municipal Engineer. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Engineering History and Heritage, 168 (2), 83-89.