The Military Hospital of Fort-de-France #3/3 Enslaveds to Serve the Sick (b)

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A few months ago, I worked for the setting up of an online database with information contained in notarial deeds from the 18th century in Martinique. Among the acts, the one on the annotation of the goods of the Fort-Royal hospital (now Fort-de-France) of 1793 surprised me, as there were 82 slaves working in the structure; as many as on a small sugar plantation! I was intrigued and curious to know what enslaved men and women were doing in such an establishment. In the first episode, I mentioned the project and construction of the military hospital of Fort-de-France; in the second, I was interested in the daily life of the men and women, enslaved, serving the sick at the end of the 18th century on this site. Today, in this last episode, I speak to you in particular about the apothecaries, surgeons’ assistants and nurses who contributed to the care of the sick at the Fort-Royal hospital.

Enslaved Apothecaries, Surgeon Assistants and Nurses

In the act of annotation of the goods of the hospital of the town of Fort de La République of March 25, 1793, what surprised me the most were the people directly involved in the care of the hospital’s patients despite their status as slaves. If this surprised me, it was first of all because access to these activities, where care was administered and remedies distributed, was theoretically inaccessible to enslaved and free people of color. Indeed, in 1764, a king’s ordinance forbade:

« negroes and all people of colour, free or slaves, to practice medicine or surgery, or to treat the sick, under any pretext whatsoever, subject to a fine of 500 pounds for each contravention of this article, and to corporal punishment as required in each case.
[aux nègres et à tous gens de couleur, libres ou esclaves, d’exercer la médecine ou la chirurgie, ni de faire aucun traitement de malades, sous quelque prétexte que ce soit, à peine de 500 liv. d’amende pour chaque contravention au présent article, et de punition corporelle suivant l’exigence des cas.]

In 1769, a decision of the Sovereign Council once again prohibited the use of slaves or free people of colour for the practice of these professions and required that:

« when they [surgeons, apothecaries and druggists] use slaves or other people of colour to bring drugs to the sick, they must stick labels on the vials or packets, failing which, in the event of a contravention, they will be declared deprived of the right to practise their profession. »
[lorsqu’ils [chirurgiens, apothicaires et droguistes] se serviront d’esclaves ou autres gens de couleur pour porter les drogues aux malades, d’en coller les étiquettes sur les fioles ou paquets, sous peine, en cas de contravention, d’être déclarés déchus du droit d’exercer leur profession]

In 1783, an order of the governor general and the intendant reiterated the prohibition.

« No Negro, nor any other free people of colour, nor slaves, may practise medicine or surgery, nor make any preparation of remedies, nor treat the sick in the city or in the country, from one house or plantation to another, under any pretext whatsoever.
[Aucun nègre, ni tous autres gens de couleur libres, ni esclaves, ne pourront exercer la médecine ou la chirurgie, ni faire aucune préparation de remèdes, ni traitement de malades à la ville ou à la campagne, d’une maison ou d’une habitation à l’autre, sous quelque prétexte que ce soit]

These measures were motivated by the deep-seated fear enslaved ou free people of color might poison white people. As a result, there was usually little more than a enslaved midwife or hospice worker on the larger plantation. Enslaved people such as Balthazar, who « treated negroes for snake bites » [traite les nègres de piqûre de serpent« ], were sometimes reported, but officially their knowledge was used to help and care for other enslaved people.

However, although theoretically forbidden, the 1772 contract shows that the hospital enslaved people could be brought to do treatment. In point 18, it is written that:

« religious surgeons may be assisted in operations and bandages by trained negroes, but these negroes may not bleed the sick, nor make any bandages without the presence of a religious or surgeon ».
[les religieux-chirurgiens pourront se faire aider dans les opérations & pansements, par des nègres instruits ; mais ces nègres ne pourront saigner les malades, ni faire aucuns pansements sans la présence d’un religieux ou chirurgien« .]

Of course the enslaved people participated under supervision; nevertheless, not only did they give care, but they had to have some semblance of training to do it properly! Without having the unusual destiny of a James Derham, the slaves providing paramedical services at the Fort-Royal hospital still occupied an unusual position in the colonial and slave-owning society of the 18th century.

There are obviously no photographs for the 18th century and the iconography concerning the tasks of enslaved people focuses on more customary situations in the colonial world, so I have selected for this post pictures from the end of the 19th century, taken from the French colonial world, which I believe can also illustrate the subject.

Nursing staff at the Fort-Royal Hospital

The 1772 contract details the minimum religious staff that was to compose the hospital:

« There shall be a Religious Nurse General well experienced in the treatment & government of the sick, two Religious Surgeons & an Apothecary; they shall have under them other Religious or Surgeons, Apothecaries, & other employees able to assist them in their duties with the sick; but the number of Religious or Surgical Assistants shall not be required to exceed one for every fifty ordinary sick, & one for every twenty wounded. »
[Il y aura un religieux-infirmier général bien expérimenté au traitement & gouvernement des malades, deux Religieux – chirurgiens & un Apothicaire ; ils auront sous eu d’autres religieux ou chirurgiens, apothicaires, & autres employés capables de les aider dans leurs fonctions auprès des malades ; mais le nombre des religieux ou aides-chirurgiens ne pourra être exigé au-delà d’un pour cinquante malades ordinaires, & un pour vingt blessés.]

The contract adds that « one or more nursing servants will be on duty in each ward both night and day, and a clergyman or clerical assistant assigned by them will see to it that the servants do their duty to the sick. »
[sera tenu dans chaque salle un ou plusieurs domestiques infirmiers de garde tant de nuit que de jour et un religieux ou employé commis par eux, veillera à ce que les domestiques soient à leur devoir auprès des malades.]

The market of 1772 also recommended that people attacked by venereal disease should be « treated in a single place (…) separated from the other sick people, the place which will be chosen will be healthy, in good air; & if it is not enclosed by walls there will be a guard sufficient to prevent them from going out & to contain them: they will moreover be treated by Keyser’s Pills« .
[traité dans un seul lieu (…) séparés des autres malades, le lieu qui sera choisi, sera sain, en bon air ; & s’il n’est clos de murailles il y aura une garde suffisante pour les empêcher de sortir & les contenir : ils seront au surplus traités par les dragées de Keyser.]

Perhaps the slave nurses of Fort-Royal also ministered to his patients? In any case, it was in this context of under-employment that intervened the 3 enslaved apothecaries, the 3 assistant surgeons, the 7 nurses as well as the servant-nurse woman, the nurse’s domestic man and the pharmacy domestic man.

Patient care at the Fort-Royal Hospital

What were the tasks of the slaves? The Ancien Régime dictionary explains that « minor surgery consisted of incising abscesses, placing cauteries and suction cups, reducing fractures, bandaging, extracting teeth and, of course, bleeding » but it also sometimes involved amputations or trepanations, and other more technical operations for the more experienced surgeons. Vital, Silvestre and Joseph, the three assistant surgeons, had to assist the religious surgeons and surely perform some of the surgical procedures themselves.

Apart from these surgical acts, medicine consisted of diets, purgations, vomiting, the making of bandages and the administration of herbal teas and potions. Jean-François, Petit Laurent, Augustin, Veuf, Mausiste, Gaspart, Maximain, all seven nurses, therefore provided daily care, as did Douadu, the only woman presented as a servant-nurse. Guymy, the nurse’s domestic man, may have helped them all or looked after the sick, as recommended by the 1772 contract. For his part, Jean François was specially assigned to the officers and therefore worked alongside Tonton, the officers’ official servant.

Twice a day, at seven o’clock, at the time of the first meal, and in the evening at four o’clock, before dinner, the general nurse, the religious surgeons in chief and the apothecary, as well as a doctor, were required to visit the « febritic patients » [malades fébricitans »], i.e., those suffering from fever, to assess their condition and give the prescribed remedies. Then, it was necessary to make « bandages for the wounded ». The state of administration of the Fort Royal Hospital in 1773 shows that one out of every 25 patients taken in would die; therefore, the dead had to be buried in the hospital cemetery as well. In addition to injuries (caused by everyday accidents or during war campaigns), there were recurring diseases and epidemics were not uncommon: yellow fever (Siam disease  in old French), syphilis (or great pox, « grande vérole » in old French), smallpox (variola, « petite vérole » in old French), chicken pox (varicella or « vérette » in old French), dysentery… Scurvy (or sailor’s disease) also took its toll on crews during long voyages.

The apothecary or « master in the art of pharmacy » was an indispensable assistant to surgeons and nurses, for the preparation of remedies. Zephir, Baptiste, and Joseph, all three apothecaries, and Beaudy, the servant employed at the pharmacy, were not too much for the daily preparation of all the herbal teas, potions and other remedies to be administered to the hospital patients. The exploitation of slaves by apothecaries was neither new nor unknown in Europe, an account of an article mentions the phenomenon in the 14th-15th centuries in Genoa, Catalonia, Sicily, Malta (but not in Provence), although it only concerned a minority. Nevertheless, the setting is totally different.

The state of the quantities of drugs … consumed before the inventory … and the minutes of 1763 which I mentioned in the first episode show the diversity of the substances handled by the slaves in the hospital.  Among them, cinchona was used against malarial fevers, myrrh was used, for example, to disinfect wounds. I do not have the skills to study the list of products used, but it might be interesting to compare these products with those used in other hospitals in the kingdom to see if there were any notable differences, to see if some of the plants used were grown locally; I also wonder if we can detect traces of our current uses of simple, medicinal plants, otherwise known as rimèd razié. In any case, I imagine that by dint of preparing remedies every day, Zephir, Baptist, and Joseph had acquired, alongside the chief apothecary, a solid knowledge of the different medicines they made.

When I think of the enslaved people of the Lesser Antilles, I spontaneously think of the organization of the plantation in which one could distinguish between slaves in the fields, slaves for domestic service and  » talented  » slaves; this is the best known situation, because it concerned the majority of the people who were exploited in the so-called  » sugar  » islands. I am also thinking of enslaved people living in urban areas, house servants, craftsmen in the workshops of a master (blacksmiths, coopers, carpenters, etc.) or day workers who were indispensable for transporting, charging and discharging goods. But I can less easily imagine rarer situations such as that of these people enslaved in a hospital. And you, had you ever thought that enslaved people could be trained to work in the care of the sick? Learning how to prepare medicines, how to make bandages or how to perform a bloodletting operation. How did they live from being constantly exposed to disease because they were in daily contact with the sick? How did they perceive their task of caring for and saving the lives of those who possessed them? To conclude, I list below all the enslaved persons listed in the act of 1793.

List of enslaved people at the Fort-Royal Hospital in 1793

Here is the list of women and men reduced to the status of slaves in the order in which they appear in the base with the information we have on them

1. Elisabeth, Blanchisseuse / laundress
2. Vital, Aide chirurgien / assistant surgeons
3. Silvestre, Aide chirurgien/ assistant surgeons
4. Joseph, Nègre, Aide chirurgien/ assistant surgeons
5. Olive, Négresse, De jardin / of garden
6. Clément, Nègre, Domestique d’office / domestic for table service
7. Alexis, Nègre, Domestique d’office / domestic for table service
8. Alexandre, Nègre, Gardien des bêtes à cornes / Guardian of the horned beasts
9. Marie Ursule, Négresse , Blanchisseuse / laundress
10. Charlotte, Négresse, Servante d’office / servant for table service
11. Marie Rose, Négresse, Blanchisseuse / laundress
12. Jean François, Nègre, Infirmier des officiers / officer’s Nurse
13. Geneviève, Négresse, Servante couturière/ seamstress servant
14. Tonton, Nègre, Domestique des officiers / officer’s domestic
15. Beaudy, Nègre, Domestique employé à la pharmacie / domestic in the pharmacy
16. Bonaventure, Nègre , Commandeur (Mari de Véronique) / commander
17. Veronique, Négresse, (Femme du commandeur Bonaventure)
18. Berthe, Négresse, Servante couturière (Mère de Maxime) / seamstress servant
19. Maxime, (Fils de Berthe)
20. Louisanne, Négresse, Servante couturière (Mère de Laurencine et Marie Claire) /seamstress servant
21. Laurencine, Négresse, (Fille de Louisanne)
22. Marie Claire, (Fille de Louisanne)
23. Douadu, Négresse, Servante infirmière / nurse servant
24. Agathe, Négresse, Servante blanchisseuse / laundress servant
25. Elisabeth, Servante couturière / seamstress servant
26. Dedenne, Servante couturière / seamstress servant
27. Marie Françoise, Servante couturière/ laundress servant
28. Marceline, Servante blanchisseuse/ laundress servant
29. Marie Joseph, Estropiée
30. Rosette, Servante blanchisseuse/ laundress servant
31. Modeste, Domestique / domestic
32. Caroline, Servante d’office / servant for table service
33. Magdelonaite (sic), Servante d’office / servant for table service
34. Jeanne Claire surnommée Petite négresse, Couturière / seamstress
35. Marie , Négresse, Servante blanchisseuse/ laundress servant
36. Thomas, Nègre, Employé au jardin /garden employee
37. Edouard, Nègre, Cuisinier / cook
38. Joseph, Nègre, Cuisinier /cook
39. Lindor, Nègre, Cuisinier / cook
40. Leopard, Nègre, Marmiton /kitchen boy
41. Fortuné, Nègre , Cuisinier des malades / cook for the sick
42. Gros Pital, Nègre, Cuisinier des malades / cook for the sick
43. Antoine, Nègre de terre Mine, Occupé au jardin /garden employee
44. Boissille , Nègre, Occupé au jardin /garden employee
45. Montauban, Nègre, Commandeur / commander
46. Joseph, Nègre, Domestique cambusier /domestic of the caboose
47. Joseph, Nègre, Charretier / carter
48. Celestin, Nègre, Estropié
49. Toussaint, Nègre, Cuisinier / cook
50. Louis, Nègre, Boulanger / baker
51. Petit Laurent, Nègre, Infirmier / nurse
52. Augustin, Nègre, Infirmier / nurse
53. Zephir, Nègre, Apothicaire / apothecary
54. Baptiste, Nègre, Apothicaire / apothecary
55. Joseph, Apothicaire / apothecary
56. Adélaïde, Négresse, Employée au jardin /garden employee
57. Laurent, Nègre, Menuisier / carpenter
58. Baptiste, Nègre, Menuisier / carpenter
59. Joachim, Nègre, Menuisier / carpenter
60. Balthazar, Nègre, Menuisier / carpenters
61. Veuf, Nègre, Infirmier / nurse
62. André, Nègre, Employé au jardin /garden employee
63. Mausiste, Nègre, Infirmier /nurse
64. Celutu , Nègre, Bouteillier / bottler
65. Angélique, Négresse, Employée au jardin /garden employee
66. Claire, Négresse, Employée au jardin /garden employee
67. Jerome, Nègre, Employé au jardin /garden employee
68. Gaspart, Nègre, Infirmier / nurse
69. Didine, Négresse, Employée au jardin /garden employee
70. Catherine, Négresse, Employée au jardin /garden employee
71. Charles, Nègre, Employé au jardin /garden employee
72. Maximain, Nègre, Infirmier / nurse
73. Lisette, Négresse, Servante couturière / seamstress servant
74. Jean Laurent, Nègre, Domestique d’office / domestic for table service
75. Petit Baptiste, Nègre, Domestique d’office/ domestic for table service
76. Guymy, Nègre, Domestique d’infirmerie / domestic of nurse
77. Joseph, Nègre, Employé au jardin /garden employee
78. Elie, Nègre,
79. Alexis, Nègre, Domestique chasseur / domestic hunter
80. Marie Magdelaine, Négresse, Employée au jardin /garden employee
81. Cupidon, Nègre, Marin / sailor
82. Moïse, Nègre, Matelassier de son métier / mattress maker

Read previous episodes:

• The Military Hospital of Fort-de-France 1#3 The Laborious Construction
• The Military Hospital of Fort-de-France #2/3 Enslaveds to serve the sick (a)

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French Bibliography

• Bély, Lucien, Dictionnaire de l’Ancien Régime, PUF, 1996.
• Julien Pierre. L’emploi d’esclaves par des apothicaires méditerranéens aux XIVe-XVe siècles : Jean-Pierre Bénézet, « Esclaves et apothicaires dans les pays de la Méditerranée occidentale » in Buttl. Soc. Amies Hist, i Ciència Farm. Catalana, 4, n° 9, 1995. In: Revue d’histoire de la pharmacie, 84ᵉ année, n°309, 1996. p. 215.

Bibliothèque nationale de France

• Durand-Molard, Code de la Martinique, textes :
  n°293, 30 avril 1764, ordonnance du roi, portant Règlement pour l’exercice de la Chirurgie dans les différentes Colonies françaises de l’Amérique,
  n°426, 5 septembre 1769, arrêt du conseil souverain, Concernant les Chirurgiens, Apothicaires, droguistes et autres Distributeurs de Drogues,
  n°627, 25 décembre 1783, ordonnance général et intendant, concernant la Police générale des Nègres et Gens de couleur libres.

Archives nationales outre-mer

• Affaires religieuses, hôpitaux, enseignement, État des quantités de drogues qui, ayant été consommées avant l’inventaire de l’hôpital du Fort-Royal, ont été déduites sur la totalité des médicaments inventoriés 26 septembre 1763, COL C8 A 65 F° 198.
• Affaires religieuses, hôpitaux, enseignement, Procès-verbal donnant le détail des meubles, effets et médicaments cédés au roi par les religieux de la Charité du Fort-Royal lorsqu’ils ont abandonné la gestion de l’hôpital de cette ville 26 septembre 1763, COL C8 A 65 F° 201.
• Affaires religieuses, hôpitaux, enseignement, le Marché conclu avec le frère Juste Vialard, procureur-syndic des religieux de la Charité, au sujet des hôpitaux de la Martinique. 27 février 1772, COL C8 B 13 N° 95.
• État de gestion de l’hôpital du Fort-Royal en 1773 (1773), COL C8 A 72 F° 324

Data base « Esclavage en Martinique » of Manioc

• Annotation des biens de l’hôpital de la ville du Fort de La République du 25 mars 1793.
• fiche de Balthazar qui « traite les nègres de piqûre de serpent« 

Iconography

• Archives nationales outre-mer, Infirmiers et infirmières à l’hôpital d’Arivonimamo, 1894-1911, Arivonimamo (Madagascar), FR ANOM 8Fi2/94
• Archives nationales outre-mer, Théotime Bray, surveillant du bagne de Nouvelle-Calédonie (1887-1903), Presqu’île Ducos. Hôpital. Vue intérieure d’une salle de malades, [1886-1904], Office colonial, FR ANOM 8Fi51/95