CHARLES H. WELCH
30
Something of the character of the days of my childhood can be gathered from the following extract from the
Times for April 7th, 1880, which speaks of an action against a shipowner at Sierra Leone for being engaged in slave
trade; an advertisement for a second and third school master for Brentwood at a salary of £45 and £40 per annum, a
reference to General Garibaldi, to Renan, to Sims Reeve a well-known singer, to Moore and Burgess Minstrels, to
Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, and to `What Mr. Gladstone said' in Linlithgow!
In the portrait section, a photograph shows my mother holding me as a babe of thirteen months, dressed up like
an alderman, but innocent then of any problem of `Right Division'! Two months later I was badly scalded, and
rushed off to Guy's hospital, where small hopes of recovery were held out. However, after three months treatment I
left the hospital, but needing much attention. While in the hospital, the surgeon suggested that my mother be willing
to have a portion of skin removed from her body and used to promote the healing of the wound. However, as
another child was on its way, my father stepped in, but was met by an Irish nurse with her arm in a sling, who had
already volunteered!
Skin grafting, as it is known to-day, was not practised in 1880, but the surgeon was evidently feeling out towards
it. I of course can remember nothing of all this, being only eighteen months old when discharged, but one cannot
help but be grateful for the bravery and the kindness shown to a tiny mite; nor can one quite still the feeling that a
foreknown earthen vessel was preserved though scarred for life.
Guy's Hospital, which under God, saved my life, lies behind London Bridge Station, and the tall tower shown
here is a well known land mark. The hospital owes its foundation to Thomas Guy, born in 1645, who lived in Fair
Street, Horsleydown, and who left £200,000 endowment to the hospital. When I was born, no one possessing
200,000 pence would have chosen Fair Street as a suitable dwelling