| Description | Two Acts passed in 1840 and 1841 afforded increased facilities for vaccination, the arrangements being the responsibility of the Guardians, under the direction of the Poor Law Board. However, in Aston Union provision had already been made for public vaccination programmes. A minute from an 1837 meeting of the Guardians states that where no facilities exist, notice should be given 'in the Church or otherwise when and where the parties may apply [and] that a fee of 2/6 be allowed for each case' (see GP AS/2/1/1), although the charge was later reduced, and may have been dropped altogether. During the 1850s, the Union was divided into seven areas for the purposes of vaccination: Bordesley, Deritend, Ashted, Aston Road, Erdington, Castle Bromwich and Sutton Coldfield districts (see GP AS/2/1/6). Any parents in receipt of relief who refused to have their children treated were liable to lose that relief (see GP AS/2/1/5). The process was also very closely monitored by the central authority, with frequent enquiries by the Commissioners as to the number of cases of small-pox and other diseases within the Union (see GP AS/1/2/5 and following). A further re-organisation took place in 1898, when the Union was divided into 3 vaccination districts: Deritend and Bordesley, Duddeston, Nechells and Aston Manor, and Erdington and Sutton Coldfield. |