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| Rowlandson's 1793 depiction of an amputation. |
Development of healthcare
Surgery in the early 1800s was not for the squeamish. Without anesthetic, any surgical procedure was very painful. Antiseptics were unknown. The chance of death from shock or infection was as high as 80%. Surgeons wore gowns encrusted with fluids and material from previous operations. It was a badge of honour, showing their experience. Anyone needing medical attention had a poor outlook. For many, 'grin and bear it' was the favoured choice, particularly for the less well-off. Surgery was a last desperate resort, viewed with horror.
Neither was surgery an enjoyable prospect for the surgeon. Who would relish strapping down a fellow human being to inflict incredible pain? Speed was more prized in a surgeon than skill. The medical profession has one of the highest rates of depression and suicide. It was no less so in the 1800s.
Up to the late 1700s, barber surgeons performed operations. Skilled in using sharp instruments, they offered a range of medical services. For example, bloodletting, general surgery, setting bones and pulling teeth. The traditional barber's red, white and blue pole represents these activities.
Over time, surgeons specialised in operations. Since there wasn't a long queue for their services, they had other money earning activities. Surgeons performed post mortems or castrations, or acted as registrars.
Use of anesthetic spread in the mid-1800s and transformed the experience of surgery. Chloroform became the most common, used on Queen Victoria for the birth of Leopold in 1853 and Beatrice on 1857.
Florence Nightingale's work in the Crimean War in the 1850s was the first to prove the importance of cleanliness. The simple act of washing hands before surgery had a marked improvement on survival rates. About the same time, the use of carbolic acid as an antiseptic reduced harmful bacteria.
Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin in the 1920s and quickly realised its benefits in the fight against infection. Produced in commercial quantities for WWII, it had a dramatic effect in combating infection.
Surgeons in St Ives
The best record of surgeons are the directories published from 1839 to 1928. During this period, the highest number was 7 in 1839, and rarely dropped below 5. St Ives surgeons operated from their homes, distributed around the town centre. Here are the life stories of three St Ives surgeons.
HENRY MANNING was born in 1791 at Burnham Ulph, Norfolk. The first record of Henry in St Ives is in 1823 at the inquest into the death of James Howard.
By 1823 Henry was established in St Ives. In that year, his signature appeared with other prominent persons under a letter in a local newspaper. The letter objected to the admittance of Roman Catholics into either Houses of Parliament.
Tragedy struck the family. First Edward, Henry's only surviving son, died in 1832. The following year, Henry's wife Francis also died.
In 1836, Henry lived in a cottage by Darwood's Pond. When Matthew Wasdale bought two cottages, a dispute arose, widely reported as the St Ives Pond Case. At times the pond stank, full of sewerage and debris. Henry claimed Matthew Wasdale was abusing his rights. Wasdale employed a risky strategy in court and lost, paying Henry's expenses of £406 (today £47,000).
Henry was no stranger to the local court. In 1838, he charged John Fyson with damaging his wheat. Henry charged Thomas Rycroft with being drunk & disorderly and challenging him to a fight in 1841. He charged John Buttress with beating a horse in 1842. Henry charged some Houghton labourers with damaging his barn door in 1843. His servant in husbandry was sent to gaol for a month in 1844 when Henry claimed he had absconded. Henry took the replacement to court in 1847. He charged him with being drunk and neglecting duties.
Occasionally, Henry was the defendant. In 1845, Edward Toon sued Henry for wages and lost. The Houghton Churchwarden sued Henry in 1847 for the church rate and lost. The same year, Henry lost a case brought against him for wages. He again lost a similar case the following year, as well as being fined for placing manure on the street after 6am.
The 1839 Robson's Directory of the Norfolk Circuit shows William, aged 50 years, living and working in Bridge Street. One of his sidelines was as St Ives agent for the Crown Life Assurance Company.
In 1841 Henry was elected as a guardian of the workhouse. Matthew Wasdale and others presented a formal petition to the Poor Law Commission. They claimed the result was false. It appears Mathew still smouldered from his defeat over the St Ives Pond Case.
Henry belonged to the 'Members of the Somersham Association for the Prosecution of Felons &c' from 1844 or earlier. Prosecuting associations were popular before the widespread establishment of a public police force. They supported members in private precautions against offenders. This might explain Henry's regular appearance in court.
The 1847 Post Office Directory for Huntingdonshire lists Henry as 'surgeon & farmer, Bridge Street'.
Henry died in 1848, aged 63 years. An obituary in the Illustrated London News revealed Henry was the last of a distinguished bloodline.
WILLIAM ADAMS was born in 1833 at Brampton, Yorkshire. In 1841, he lived in Back Yard, Halifax. William was an only child, his father a coachman.
In 1851 William was one of two medical students lodging with Frederick Tucker, general practitioner in medicine and surgery, at 16 Broad Street, Halifax. Training was via apprenticeship, costly and paid for by William's father. In 1856, William became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. This required a medical degree by examination.
The earliest record of William in St Ives is 1856. At the inquest into the death of a St Ivian, the first medical person on the scene was 'Mr Girling's assistant'. This was probably William. Certainly William was in St Ives and practising in 1858, when he appeared at the inquest into the death of a child.
In 1860, William married Elizabeth Jane Earl, aged 18 years, St Ives born and bred. Elizabeth's grandmother described her occupation as 'lady'. Her father farmed and brewed at West End, St Ives. William had married well. They had two children, Helen in 1863, and Gorden in 1865.
William's occupation was a general practitioner in 1861. He and Elizabeth lived in Back Street (today East/West Street). They had two live-in servants. The 1862 Directory of Bedfordshire & Huntingdonshire lists 'Girling and Adams, surgeons, Bullock Market'.
The partnership didn't last long. In 1863 George Girling placed a notice in the Cambridge Independent Press notifying the public their partnership was dissolved. It seems William took solace in alcohol to numb the horror of his profession. With 60 pubs in St Ives, he was never far from temptation. No doubt as his addiction grew, the strength and dexterity required by his profession diminished. The other work necessary to supplement his earnings from surgery diminished. In 1866 William was declared bankrupt. By this time he was unable to tend to his patients.
William's behaviour became increasingly erratic. In May 1867 he was summoned for killing a dog owned by his wife's younger sister, Kate Earl. The case never came to trial after William paid Kate the value of the dog. Relationships with in-laws must have been strained.
In October 1867, the Cambridge Independent Press reported extensively on William's 'shocking suicide'. He suffered from delirium tremens for some months, caused by his alcoholism. At the inquest his wife Elizabeth, aged 27 years, spoke of William's depression and suicide attempts in the last week of his life. The day before his death, William sent Elizabeth a note:
Lizzie - As I cannot see you to say good-bye, this must be the alternative - good-bye and God bless you. W.
I hope you will never reproach yourself.
On the day of his death, Elizabeth attempted to save William. Nevertheless, he poisoned himself with prussic acid and laudanum. He was aged 36 years.
After William's death, Elizabeth moved to London, living in comfort as an 'annuitant'.
REGINALD GROVE was a high flyer, educated at Cambridge University and Guy's Hospital Medical School by the best surgeons. He qualified as a surgeon and physician. Reginald returned to St Ives to take over his father's medical practise when his father suffered ill health. Thus began a career lasting 54 years tending to the sick of St Ives.
William Reginald Grove was born in 1869 in the Bullock Market (today The Broadway), St Ives. Reginald's father ran a successful GP surgery from the family home. Reginald, his three brothers and sister lived in comfort with three servants.
So successful was the surgery, Miss E Thorpe's Legends of St Ives (Norris Museum) mentions his practise. In The Legend of the Golden Lion, the lion takes a lodger at the Golden Lion around St Ives. Speaking in riddles, the lion says,
'How should you like to stand the seasons as I do', asked the king of beasts, 'eh?'.
'Not at all, not for all your gold'.
'Well then, come along, if you catch any harm , I can take you to a Grove for medical herbs'.
'A what!' asked Richards.
'Bless me, can't you understand,' said the lion " Our Cattle Market has become quite lively with the lame, halt, and blind since we established a Grove near it.'
The family moved to a larger house in 1881, Slepe House, in Cromwell Terrace. It is still used as a surgery today, 140 years later. The Grove Medical Practice is named after Reginald, his father Richard, and his son Bill. Three generations of the family who practised medicine in St Ives.
In 1891, Reginald lived with his brother, Edward, at 94 Clapham Road, London. Both were students. He married Clara Hilda Stevenson at Lambeth in 1897.
Reginald's father died in 1895. Always an innovator, within months of taking over his father's practise Reginald was dashing to see patients in a three-wheeled car. He was one of the first doctors to adopt motorised transport. His car registration EW6 showed there were only 5 other car owners in Huntingdonshire before him.
Reginald continued to live at Slepe House, which by 1901 was a 13 room house, with his wife and daughter. Also resident were a cook, housemaid, nurse and nursing governess. By 1913, they had 10 children.
Like his father, Reginald's became Medical Officer of Health for St Ives and Medical Officer for St Ives Union Workhouse. From 1914 to 1918 he was President of the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Medical Association. Reginald was also a regular contributor to medical magazines and continued his medical research.
Reginald regularly appeared at coroners' inquests to give evidence following an autopsy. The Hunts Post reported on Reginald's most difficult case in 1913 under the title 'Dr Grove's Remarkable Narrative'. He was called to the Temperance Hotel (today W H Smith) after midnight on Sunday 2 February 1913. Reginald examined the bodies of Gustave Kunne and Elizabeth Warnes. It appeared Kunne had murdered Mrs Warnes in a fit of jealousy, the two being lovers. Kunne then committed suicide. Reginald gave extensive testimony of what he found and his views on what he thought had happened.
As Medical Officer for St Ives, Reginald reported annually on the health of its residents. A selection of his detailed and comprehensive reports are available for 1913, 1915, 1917 and 1921.
Reginald's hobby was photography. He was president of the Stereoscopic Society from 1925 to 1948. In 1937, Reginald moved to a new house he had built in Tenterleas, St Ives. The 1939 register shows him living there with his wife and niece. He died in 1948, aged 79 years.
Reginald's obituary in the British Medical Journal says:
Dr Grove made personal friends of his patients and knew their past history and domestic troubles. He always emphasised the fact that doctors have to deal with human beings, with troubles mental and physical, and not with diseases.
Today, the first point of contact in the NHS for medical advice is your GP. Reginald Grove was one of the first family GPs. A consultation with Reginald Grove was like chatting to a friend. Such was the impact of anaesthetics.
To read a fuller version of Reginald's life story, click here.
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