Charles Hastings

Towards the centre of England, in a region now termed the West Midlands, lies the county of Worcestershire, a landlocked area relatively distant from both the east and west coasts. With an area approaching 1,750 km2, it represents roughly 1.3% of England, with circa 620-thousand inhabitants. Similarly, this accounts for a little more than 1% of England’s total with a comparable population density. The county contains ~200 villages.

At its heart is the county town, the city of Worcester, today with around 107-thousand residents. A settlement that coalesced along the banks of the Severn, England’s longest river, its centre is dominated by the magnificent cathedral. Founded in 680 CE as a Benedictine monastery, the earliest surviving elements are a thousand years old. The building has witnessed much: the Norman invasion, the English Civil War, innumerable plagues, the Industrial Revolution, construction of a canal network, inception of the railways, and two world wars. To this day, a Christian spiritual hub.

A distinguished son of Worcester.

Deep-time Worcestershire

The verdant countryside has long accommodated a hominin presence. Evidence suggests this may extend over half a million years, a time of hunter-gatherers and before the emergence of Homo sapiens. Repeated glaciations occurred, pushing these early inhabitants out. Permanent occupancy has prevailed throughout the Holocene epoch, so perhaps ten thousand years. Within this period, during the Bronze Age, agriculture began and has persisted. The layout of fields and related tracks, in some areas, can be traced back to these early farmers. In this context, Roman dominance seems recent, a mere two thousand years ago. Before then, maybe 600 BCE, iron technology had been established. Roman Worcester became a discernible entity with industries extending beyond iron and utilising the adjoining river for the shipment of goods. An early logistics centre arose. The indigenous people would have observed pagan beliefs over their ephemeral lifespans.

Industry and poverty

Across the ensuing centuries, the population burgeoned, agriculture flourished, industries waxed and waned, and prosperity followed, growing slowly and unevenly. The 18th and 19th centuries were formative with many architectural ventures still resplendent today. Cloth production evolved and later, glove making. At its peak, half of England’s gloves were produced around the city. Porcelain manufacture began under the renowned Royal Worcester brand in 1751 CE and continued for ~250 years. Worcestershire sauce, commercialised in 1837 CE under the Lea & Perrins brand, is still produced in the city and supplied worldwide.

Despite the undoubted vigour and enterprise, like many industrial cities of the era, significant poverty and slum living conditions prevailed in parts of the city. Outbreaks of infectious diseases were frequent and treatment rudimentary. Life expectancy was low, depressed by child mortality with as many as 40% not reaching maturity. Adults could expect to reach their sixties.

Charles Hastings

This was the environment awaiting Charles Hastings after his birth in 1794 CE. Born in Shropshire, the ninth child of a cleric, his formative years were spent in Worcester, then with little more than 13-thousand citizens. Academically gifted, with an interest in natural history, he attended the Royal Grammar School Worcester before an apprenticeship with an apothecary and attendance at a London anatomy school, aged 16. In 1815 CE, he joined the medical course at Edinburgh University and was later elected as President of the Royal Medical Society, a student body. An exceptional student, he declined an offer of a university lectureship and eschewed a rewarding career in either Edinburgh or London.

He returned home to work at the Worcester Infirmary, committing his energies to the city. Beyond his immediate medical duties, Hastings campaigned for improved living conditions, advocating the construction of modern dwellings to replace the cramped, insanitary medieval conditions endured by much of the populace. Typhus and cholera outbreaks were regular. It is recorded that Hastings attended the afflicted during each epidemic, personally seeing every case without regard for his own wellbeing. A courageous man.

Public health reform

In districts where new housing developments adopted his prescription, a distinct fall in mortality rates transpired in the subsequent years. His demands for clean, fresh water to be piped to streets and homes met with obduracy from the city’s political leadership. National legislation in 1872 CE, after Hastings’ demise, eventually obliged the City Council to act.

Professionally, he was active, becoming recognised in 1832 CE as a founder of what later became the British Medical Association, or BMA. This body exists ‘to promote the medical and allied sciences, and to maintain the honour and interests of the medical profession’.

Recognition and legacy

In 1850 CE, the monarch, Queen Victoria, recognised his endeavours: he became Sir Charles Hastings. His traits, an innovative, caring medical practitioner with a profound social conscience, had been noted by the Crown.

Today, students are reminded of him by the main building at the University of Worcester’s City Campus: the ‘Charles Hastings Building’; the former infirmary building where he once worked. Here, the boardroom where the BMA’s formation was enacted may be found.

The route to Worcester Royal Hospital is named Charles Hastings Way.

In contemplating Hastings, we have embraced an arc encompassing the deep-time manifestation of ancient hominins through a 19th century industrial zenith to the legacy of a man with the compassion and intellect to influence the modern city’s identity.

A distinguished son of Worcester.