Godfrey’s Cordial is a medicine for children who have colic. It was made with opium, alcohol and spices with treacle so the taste wasn’t too bad. Use of this product and products like it contributed to infant mortality rates. Since it was sold without prescription, many poor mothers use it to quiet their children when they had to work for 12h in factories or when they had not enough to feed them. Sadly it was popular among the poorest people. And when the child was sedated with it, he was not hungry anymore. So much children died of malnutrition because of this. And during the victorian era, there was a lot of food adulteration like plaster instead of flour in bread. So you can imagine why a child could have colic! Many also died of overdose because opium is more dense than others ingredients so the last few doses was much more concentrated. It may even have been used to murder unwanted children in poor families of early 19th. We often see the victorian era like a romantic period but believe me, it was not. The more I dig, the more I think it was a terrible time.
Godfrey’s Cordial, acrylics on wood 12 x 16 in
