AT ONE time Southampton was a high-society retreat, a leading spa town where the aristocracy came to take the waters.

By the mid-Victorian period Southampton was striving to maintain a reputation as a health resort, and was instead advertising its balmy south coast climate.

However, there was a dark side to Southampton that the wealthy who came to enjoy its bracing sea air did not see or if they did it was by accident when they took the wrong turning and found themselves among the local poor who were living in the most austere of Victorian conditions.

This is why, as the gouty and the rheumatic were being invited to ease their aches and pains in Southampton, a little-known organisation was established to bring a little comfort to the poverty-stricken families who were just about surviving on the breadline.

The Mayoress of Southampton’s Blanket Loan Society sought to help families, especially in winter months. Subscribers to the society were issued with tickets which they could pass on to poor families who in turn could borrow blankets after paying a deposit of 6d (2p) each which was given back when the blanket was returned.

The loan lasted six months and the blankets were returned in March, then washed, disinfected and redistributed the next winter.

When it was finally wound up in 1950 the society told the Daily Echo: “It appears that not only were blankets now not wanted, but that those who hired them were not the class of people intended to benefit from the charity.

“The main reason there is no call for the blankets was that much of the population moved from the centre of the town to outlying districts. It is difficult for people with families to travel long distances to the store and then to carry the blankets home.”

It was ironic, as the poor were clearly suffering so badly from the cold, that in the mid-1800s Southampton was promoting its mild climate.

Advertisements at the time declared it was the perfect place for those suffering from poor health to come and recover or convalesce.

People with bronchial and pulmonary diseases were especially urged to head for the town. In fact, Southampton’s weather was virtually declared to be a sort of cure-all for illness. Unfortunately, some soon found that, far from restoring health, the bracing walks along the waterfront made them worse.

As a consequence the advertisement writers found they had to exercise more discretion. It was pointed out that the climate of the lower part of the town was invaluable to those chest problems, while that of Portswood and the higher ground of Bitterne and between Southampton and Winchester, where the air was clear and comparatively bracing was very good for those suffering from – nervousness!