Recording Box's Doctors Myra Riney and David Ibberson, December 2016
We received this marvellous tribute to the present-day work undertaken at Box Surgery from one of our readers. It reminded us of how privileged we are to have the doctors' practice in the centre of Box and how difficult life was before the National Health Service of 1948. You can contrast the attitudes in our two stories below.
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Memories of the Box Surgery, Myra Riney (Golding), December 2016
I have been with Box Surgery since July 1968, when I went to live in the Market Place, Box, as a young wife and soon-to-be mother. The Surgery was in the same place but was a long low building, one room with the doctors rooms off it. Pattie Baldwin (nee Fudge) sat in a small room with hundreds of files around her; she knew where everyone's file was. |
You didn't make an appointment, it was first come first served. There were only two doctors, Dr Davey and Dr Taylor; both lived in the village. One day a week there was the baby clinic, where the babies were weighed and orange juice was given, they also had national dried baby milk. You could tell who was there by the prams that were parked outside, under a kind of shelter.
There were courses at the surgery for first aid with the late Dr Mcquitty and later Dr Bullen, and Miss Ancell was the district nurse who with Mrs Little helped with the St John's Brigade. I have to say that I've always felt well looked after by all the staff at the surgery and have many fond memories of how it used to be living in Box at that time.
There were courses at the surgery for first aid with the late Dr Mcquitty and later Dr Bullen, and Miss Ancell was the district nurse who with Mrs Little helped with the St John's Brigade. I have to say that I've always felt well looked after by all the staff at the surgery and have many fond memories of how it used to be living in Box at that time.
Victorian |
Medical Men of Victorian Box, David Ibberson, December 2016
The nineteenth century witnessed considerable changes in the medical profession. The legislation of 1815 imposed on the Society of Apothecaries responsibility for setting the standards of training and education for those entering the medical profession. |
Apothecaries, once members of the Grocery Guild of London, were evolving into the role of General Practitioners. What is interesting is that apothecaries served the poor by providing over the counter medicines when the cost of seeing physicians was beyond the means of many people.This part of the article tries to outline who provided care in Victorian Box, focusing on two doctors, Thomas Snow and Joseph Nash.
Thomas Snow: From Handyman to Medic
The story of one medical man in Box started in Aberystwyth, Wales, with the birth of Thomas F Snow in 1822. He didn't stay there and the 1851 census recorded him as living in Hound, Hampshire, with his wife Christiana and one child. The census recorded his occupation as that of Civil Engineer; however, someone had written alongside his entry handyman, perhaps suggesting a manual labourer as opposed to our modern understanding of civil engineering. Despite Thomas Snow's apparently humble employment, the family did employ one household servant.
In 1861 the same Thomas Snow, his wife Christiana and six of their children, were in the Hermitage, Box, previously the home of Alice Sudell, who died in mysterious circumstances in 1858 and was the sister-in-law of the then vicar, Rev Dr Horlock, .
Thomas Snow was no longer called a Civil Engineer and he described himself as a Medical Practitioner, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) and a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries (LSA). Kelly’s Directory of 1889 records Thomas Snow's occupation as Surgeon and Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator, Box District, Chippenham Union. Thomas Snow remained at the Hermitage until his death about 1892, leaving a little over £300.[1] How did a Civil Engineer aged 29 in 1851 appear in Box in 1861 aged 39 as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries, and a General Practitioner?
Society of Apothecaries
Apothecaries, were the chemists of Victorian England, particularly in rural areas where they provided the only medical care affordable to the poor. They went beyond the services provided by modern chemists by making house calls and prescribing medicines like today’s GPs. They also dispensed medicines as prescribed by Physicians.
The medical profession was divided into three groups: physicians, surgeons and apothecaries. Physicians, unlike surgeons and apothecaries, were governed by The Royal College of Physicians whose Fellows were mostly classically educated Oxford and Cambridge men. They had little clinical training and could prescribe drugs but only apothecaries could dispense. Only the financially better off could afford the services of Physicians.
Becoming an apothecary after 1815 was normally by apprenticeship but not exclusively so. Apprenticeships lasted five years, so we might make the assumption that Thomas started his medical career in this way. However, to become a Licentiate you did require some evidence in the formal study of chemistry, anatomy, physiology and the theory and practice of medicine. The MRCS was almost automatically awarded to successful LSA candidates who could produce evidence of attendance at dissection courses, hence most General Practitioners could boast the letters MRCS, LSA. Licentiates must also have spent at least six months in a hospital or infirmary or nine months at a dispensary.
However, changes were taking place in mid-Victorian medicine and in 1858 the General Medical Council was established and more formal approaches to the study of medicine introduced, leading, by the end of the century, to the universally accepted MB (Bachelor of Medicine) and ChB (Bachelor of Surgery).
Thomas F Snow probably completed his training between 1851 and 1857 when he arrived in Box and before the 1858 legislation. Whatever the quality of his training, academic or otherwise, he offered medical care during a time of limited facilities and understanding.
Life and Death in Victorian Britain
Thomas Snow's ability to fight disease was restricted by the lack of drugs, in particular antibiotics, and as a result many otherwise healthy people met an early death. The Glamorgan Gazette, in 1868 published a list of those dying that year which provide an insight into the causes of death.
Among adults, industrial accidents accounted for a large number of deaths; two young men died having had carbuncles surgically removed; another two of bronchitis; a young pregnant woman died of heat exhaustion; several people died in their sleep, as a result of a visitation of God; several children died of measles and another of fits. Drowning among babies was not unusual with two drowning in pans of water. A young man died as a result of plaster being applied to a cancer by a doctor who it seems was the local blacksmith. The Gazette makes no reference to those diseases such as rickets, diphtheria, consumption, cholera, typhus which brought death at sadly young ages. All this suggests that people died not just from lack of medicine but also from ignorance on the part of doctors.
The question arises, who or what brought Thomas Snow to the village of Box? and the answer lies with the Nash family.
Joseph Nash Comes to Box
In 1861, visiting Thomas Snow and his wife Christina, was Jane Amelia Nash, aged 61. Another person called Nash was also resident in Box. Living in the surgeon's House in Kingsdown Lunatic Asylum was Joseph Nash MRCS, LSA, the resident physician also born in 1822 but in Stepney, London.
Ten years later, in 1871, Jane was living at Ashley Manor, where she had a large household, comprising her daughter, Susannah, a servant, Thomas Nowell, gardener, and his wife Alice, housekeeper, and Alice's four children. There was another resident also: Georgina Awdrey, recorded as a fund-holder but described as a lunatic, with her nurse, Louisa Allan. The fact that Jane was providing accommodation for a lunatic possibly reflects her family association with Kingsdown House.
What prompted the Nash family to move from London? The 1851 census shows Jane living with her husband Joseph Nash MRCS and their five children, including Susannah, in Whitechapel, London. We might surmise that Jane moved to Box on the death of her husband on 28 March 1857 to be closer to her children, Joseph Nash and Christiana Snow. Jane died in 1880 aged 80 years.
It would seem Joseph was following in his father’s footsteps and it is possible that Joseph Senior introduced and guided Thomas Snow in the medical profession as he had done for his own son.[2]
Joseph Nash, Family Man
Whilst researching the life of Joseph Nash two questions nagged me: first, was he married; and secondly, where did he go when he left Box sometime after 1861? Both questions can now be answered here. He was married, to Elizabeth A Nash (nee Holworthy) and they had several children.
Elizabeth was born in Corsham to Ann Holworthy and moved to Box where she lived at Newtown House, Middlehill (now called Heleigh House) with her mother, two brothers, Henry and Samuel, and two sisters, Henrietta and Harriet.[3] In the 1851 census Ann describes herself as a Gentlewoman, suggesting she came from a wealthy family.
By 1861 Elizabeth was married and lived at Ashley Manor as Head of the household, which included six servants. She described herself as a Fund-holder, and it would seem she was financially independent of Joseph Nash. However, the fact that on the nights of the census in 1851 and 1861, Joseph was resident at Kingsdown Lunatic Asylum does not mean he and Elizabeth led separate lives, it may be purely coincidental.
By 1871 the family had left Box and moved to Brockley Hall, Brockley, Somerset, a seventeenth century country mansion. Joseph still described himself as a physician. This was a family living in some style: the needs of Joseph, Elizabeth, their four daughters and a son being catered for by seven servants including a governess, footman, nurse and four general servants. In the Hall’s lodge lived a coachman who we can assume was in the service of the Nash family. We know that Joseph retained his interest in Kingsdown Asylum until his death. In Kelly’s Directory of 1889 Mrs Joseph Nash was recorded as Proprietress, Kingsdown Private Asylum, Resident in Bath.[4] By 1880 the family had moved to 59 Great Pulteney Street, Bath, where Joseph died on the 24 March 1880, the same year as his mother, Jane. Joseph left around £8,000. The 1881 census recorded Elizabeth’s income from property and houses. The Hermitage, Ashley Manor House, Heleigh House and the Surgeon's House at Kingsdown Lunatic Asylum can all claim an association with the Nash family.
Joseph Nash throughout his time in Box appears to have at lived and worked at Kingsdown Lunatic Asylum. However, there is evidence to suggest that he may have practised in the wider community. A letter written in 1852 in defence of Eliza Dore (transported to Australia for the murder of her baby) by Joseph Nash was addressed from The Wilderness.[5]
Thomas Snow: From Handyman to Medic
The story of one medical man in Box started in Aberystwyth, Wales, with the birth of Thomas F Snow in 1822. He didn't stay there and the 1851 census recorded him as living in Hound, Hampshire, with his wife Christiana and one child. The census recorded his occupation as that of Civil Engineer; however, someone had written alongside his entry handyman, perhaps suggesting a manual labourer as opposed to our modern understanding of civil engineering. Despite Thomas Snow's apparently humble employment, the family did employ one household servant.
In 1861 the same Thomas Snow, his wife Christiana and six of their children, were in the Hermitage, Box, previously the home of Alice Sudell, who died in mysterious circumstances in 1858 and was the sister-in-law of the then vicar, Rev Dr Horlock, .
Thomas Snow was no longer called a Civil Engineer and he described himself as a Medical Practitioner, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) and a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries (LSA). Kelly’s Directory of 1889 records Thomas Snow's occupation as Surgeon and Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator, Box District, Chippenham Union. Thomas Snow remained at the Hermitage until his death about 1892, leaving a little over £300.[1] How did a Civil Engineer aged 29 in 1851 appear in Box in 1861 aged 39 as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries, and a General Practitioner?
Society of Apothecaries
Apothecaries, were the chemists of Victorian England, particularly in rural areas where they provided the only medical care affordable to the poor. They went beyond the services provided by modern chemists by making house calls and prescribing medicines like today’s GPs. They also dispensed medicines as prescribed by Physicians.
The medical profession was divided into three groups: physicians, surgeons and apothecaries. Physicians, unlike surgeons and apothecaries, were governed by The Royal College of Physicians whose Fellows were mostly classically educated Oxford and Cambridge men. They had little clinical training and could prescribe drugs but only apothecaries could dispense. Only the financially better off could afford the services of Physicians.
Becoming an apothecary after 1815 was normally by apprenticeship but not exclusively so. Apprenticeships lasted five years, so we might make the assumption that Thomas started his medical career in this way. However, to become a Licentiate you did require some evidence in the formal study of chemistry, anatomy, physiology and the theory and practice of medicine. The MRCS was almost automatically awarded to successful LSA candidates who could produce evidence of attendance at dissection courses, hence most General Practitioners could boast the letters MRCS, LSA. Licentiates must also have spent at least six months in a hospital or infirmary or nine months at a dispensary.
However, changes were taking place in mid-Victorian medicine and in 1858 the General Medical Council was established and more formal approaches to the study of medicine introduced, leading, by the end of the century, to the universally accepted MB (Bachelor of Medicine) and ChB (Bachelor of Surgery).
Thomas F Snow probably completed his training between 1851 and 1857 when he arrived in Box and before the 1858 legislation. Whatever the quality of his training, academic or otherwise, he offered medical care during a time of limited facilities and understanding.
Life and Death in Victorian Britain
Thomas Snow's ability to fight disease was restricted by the lack of drugs, in particular antibiotics, and as a result many otherwise healthy people met an early death. The Glamorgan Gazette, in 1868 published a list of those dying that year which provide an insight into the causes of death.
Among adults, industrial accidents accounted for a large number of deaths; two young men died having had carbuncles surgically removed; another two of bronchitis; a young pregnant woman died of heat exhaustion; several people died in their sleep, as a result of a visitation of God; several children died of measles and another of fits. Drowning among babies was not unusual with two drowning in pans of water. A young man died as a result of plaster being applied to a cancer by a doctor who it seems was the local blacksmith. The Gazette makes no reference to those diseases such as rickets, diphtheria, consumption, cholera, typhus which brought death at sadly young ages. All this suggests that people died not just from lack of medicine but also from ignorance on the part of doctors.
The question arises, who or what brought Thomas Snow to the village of Box? and the answer lies with the Nash family.
Joseph Nash Comes to Box
In 1861, visiting Thomas Snow and his wife Christina, was Jane Amelia Nash, aged 61. Another person called Nash was also resident in Box. Living in the surgeon's House in Kingsdown Lunatic Asylum was Joseph Nash MRCS, LSA, the resident physician also born in 1822 but in Stepney, London.
Ten years later, in 1871, Jane was living at Ashley Manor, where she had a large household, comprising her daughter, Susannah, a servant, Thomas Nowell, gardener, and his wife Alice, housekeeper, and Alice's four children. There was another resident also: Georgina Awdrey, recorded as a fund-holder but described as a lunatic, with her nurse, Louisa Allan. The fact that Jane was providing accommodation for a lunatic possibly reflects her family association with Kingsdown House.
What prompted the Nash family to move from London? The 1851 census shows Jane living with her husband Joseph Nash MRCS and their five children, including Susannah, in Whitechapel, London. We might surmise that Jane moved to Box on the death of her husband on 28 March 1857 to be closer to her children, Joseph Nash and Christiana Snow. Jane died in 1880 aged 80 years.
It would seem Joseph was following in his father’s footsteps and it is possible that Joseph Senior introduced and guided Thomas Snow in the medical profession as he had done for his own son.[2]
Joseph Nash, Family Man
Whilst researching the life of Joseph Nash two questions nagged me: first, was he married; and secondly, where did he go when he left Box sometime after 1861? Both questions can now be answered here. He was married, to Elizabeth A Nash (nee Holworthy) and they had several children.
Elizabeth was born in Corsham to Ann Holworthy and moved to Box where she lived at Newtown House, Middlehill (now called Heleigh House) with her mother, two brothers, Henry and Samuel, and two sisters, Henrietta and Harriet.[3] In the 1851 census Ann describes herself as a Gentlewoman, suggesting she came from a wealthy family.
By 1861 Elizabeth was married and lived at Ashley Manor as Head of the household, which included six servants. She described herself as a Fund-holder, and it would seem she was financially independent of Joseph Nash. However, the fact that on the nights of the census in 1851 and 1861, Joseph was resident at Kingsdown Lunatic Asylum does not mean he and Elizabeth led separate lives, it may be purely coincidental.
By 1871 the family had left Box and moved to Brockley Hall, Brockley, Somerset, a seventeenth century country mansion. Joseph still described himself as a physician. This was a family living in some style: the needs of Joseph, Elizabeth, their four daughters and a son being catered for by seven servants including a governess, footman, nurse and four general servants. In the Hall’s lodge lived a coachman who we can assume was in the service of the Nash family. We know that Joseph retained his interest in Kingsdown Asylum until his death. In Kelly’s Directory of 1889 Mrs Joseph Nash was recorded as Proprietress, Kingsdown Private Asylum, Resident in Bath.[4] By 1880 the family had moved to 59 Great Pulteney Street, Bath, where Joseph died on the 24 March 1880, the same year as his mother, Jane. Joseph left around £8,000. The 1881 census recorded Elizabeth’s income from property and houses. The Hermitage, Ashley Manor House, Heleigh House and the Surgeon's House at Kingsdown Lunatic Asylum can all claim an association with the Nash family.
Joseph Nash throughout his time in Box appears to have at lived and worked at Kingsdown Lunatic Asylum. However, there is evidence to suggest that he may have practised in the wider community. A letter written in 1852 in defence of Eliza Dore (transported to Australia for the murder of her baby) by Joseph Nash was addressed from The Wilderness.[5]
Myra's details of Box medical care is a great contrast to the standard of medical knowledge 150 years earlier.
Sources
Ancestry.co.uk
JJ Rivlin, Getting A Medical Qualification in England In The Nineteenth Century, http://www.evolve360.co.uk/data/10/docs/09/09rivlin.pdf
Glamorgan Gazette, 1868, Deaths in Glamorgan.
The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, www.apothecaries.org/society/ourhistory
Brockley Hall http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brockley,_Somerset
Martin Devon for details about Newtown House (Heleigh House)
Kelly’s Directory for Box, 1889
Ancestry.co.uk
JJ Rivlin, Getting A Medical Qualification in England In The Nineteenth Century, http://www.evolve360.co.uk/data/10/docs/09/09rivlin.pdf
Glamorgan Gazette, 1868, Deaths in Glamorgan.
The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, www.apothecaries.org/society/ourhistory
Brockley Hall http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brockley,_Somerset
Martin Devon for details about Newtown House (Heleigh House)
Kelly’s Directory for Box, 1889
References
[1] At the time of his death, waiting in the wings, as recorded in Kelly’s Directory of 1889, was James Pirie Martin, Surgeon.
[2] The question arises as to how and where the Nash and Snow families met. Joseph and Thomas were born in the same year but in different parts of the country. It is possible that Thomas Snow moved to London with his family or Joseph met Thomas whilst pursuing their medical studies. This gives rise to the possibility that whilst living in Hound, Hampshire he was already qualified to practise but could not secure a medical related post.
[3] Newtown House was renamed Heleigh House by the Hon Dorothea Twisleton.
[4] William Nash in 1881 was living in Newtown (Heleigh House) with his Housekeeper, he was then aged 25. He also, like his mother Elizabeth, records that his income came from house and property.
[5] A Dr Joseph Gladstone, lately Medical Officer for the poor in Ditteridge and Box also wrote in support of Eliza; he had retired to Freshford, Somerset.
[1] At the time of his death, waiting in the wings, as recorded in Kelly’s Directory of 1889, was James Pirie Martin, Surgeon.
[2] The question arises as to how and where the Nash and Snow families met. Joseph and Thomas were born in the same year but in different parts of the country. It is possible that Thomas Snow moved to London with his family or Joseph met Thomas whilst pursuing their medical studies. This gives rise to the possibility that whilst living in Hound, Hampshire he was already qualified to practise but could not secure a medical related post.
[3] Newtown House was renamed Heleigh House by the Hon Dorothea Twisleton.
[4] William Nash in 1881 was living in Newtown (Heleigh House) with his Housekeeper, he was then aged 25. He also, like his mother Elizabeth, records that his income came from house and property.
[5] A Dr Joseph Gladstone, lately Medical Officer for the poor in Ditteridge and Box also wrote in support of Eliza; he had retired to Freshford, Somerset.