Mike Pearce

The Scrofula Infirmary Mike Pearce

This story is fiction but based in part on the Royal Sea Bathing Infirmary (hospital) in Margate, Kent, and other events that occurred over the years. The Royal Sea Bathing Hospital was formed for the scrofulous poor of London, for the saving of limbs and preserving the lives of those persons on the brink of death. The treatment at the infirmary originated from Marcus Aurelius's physician-milk, fresh air and the seaside. The Italian and zoological gardens have gone but still some cages remain in the grounds of the Hall by the Sea which is better known as Dreamland. Mr. George Sanger and family set up this menagerie with exotic animals and travelled with a circus around the country some of the animals were taken to the infirmary much to the amusement of the children. Storms always battered Margate and in February 1953 an especially strong storm with huge waves damaged the pier, destroyed the sixty-foot lighthouse, water entered the old town, and in other places made the farmland unusable for many years. The story relates to two small children and their experiences whilst in the infirmary.