MAY I be allowed a comment on the photograph published under the heading 'Flashback' on page 12 of the Ludlow Advertiser July 23 issue, and make a correction.
It is in fact a photograph of the master and matron of the Ludlow Workhouse, Frank and Martha Davies, their two children, Reg and Doris, and members of the workhouse staff. It dates from the period 1910 to 1918, the time when Mr and Mrs Davies were in post.
The fact that one or two of the staff appear to be nurses is because the workhouse had its own infirmary – now the hospital maternity wards – in an attempt to cope with the infectious diseases which continually plagued the inmates of the insanitary building.
Ludlow Cottage Hospital was, until 1982, situated in College Street.
The photograph can be found in the late Derek Williams' thoroughly researched book, The Story of the Ludlow Workhouse, published by The Logaston Press in 2012. Your readers may be encouraged to buy it since Derek insisted that for each copy sold, 50p should go to The Friends of Ludlow Hospital.
ROY PAYNE
Ludlow Historical Research Group
Temeside, Ludlow