Dr William Richard Grove

Dr William Richard Grove

When young Richard Grove, born in Staffordshire, put up his brass plate outside the door of his house in the Cattle Market in 1866 there was stiff competition from six other doctors in St Ives. But by his death in 1895, he had established a thriving practice.

Early in 1841, his mother, who was only 24, was widowed after being married only four years. Mrs Grove was left with two young sons, three-year-old William Richard, and two-year-old Joseph Francis. It was a huge tragedy, but not uncommon in this period. She supported her family by running a pawnbroking business with her mother. She managed to ensure that both her sons became qualified professionally – Richard as a doctor and Frank as a solicitor.

Medical training

Richard enrolled as a medical student at Guy’s Hospital Medical School in 1860 aged 22. After qualifying, he spent a short spell at Huntingdon Hospital which had opened eight years earlier in 1854 and was a ‘voluntary’ hospital, funded by charity through a subscription system. He moved to St Ives in 1863 as an Assistant to Dr George Girling, whose surgery and house were in the Bullock Market. Taking up a position as an assistant to an established doctor was a sensible step to gain experience for a newly qualified doctor. Richard probably met Girling through the hospital, and being single, he lodged with his employer.

Another young doctor immediately followed Richard in working as an assistant to Girling; this was Dr William Mence. After Richard set up on his own, Mence worked briefly with him, but then he set up on his own.

Marriage, home and family

Aged 30, Richard married Maria Long in 1868. She was from a small village in North Cambridgeshire where her father, Hanslip Long, was a wealthy tenant farmer. He also farmed in Swavesey and it was here that Richard met her on his medical rounds visiting patients. Within two months of their marriage, Maria was pregnant. She was to have four sons and one daughter. The eldest, Reginald, was later to take over the practice.

Richard and Maria set up home a few houses along from Girling’s surgery at what is now 33, The Broadway, which also was his surgery. The stench every Monday on market day was foul; the dung spread across the roads and a huge clean-up was needed as the day’s business came to an end; this was when the inns and public houses nearby did good business as the traders relaxed after a busy day. While his home was used as the surgery for consultations, like all doctors at this time, Richard spent much of his time visiting patients in their homes.

Apart from poor hygiene from dung and flies in the hot summer months, a surgery fronting a busy cattle market did not convey the right image to private patients. The family moved to a larger home in Cromwell Place ¾ mile away in the summer of 1881. Richard and Maria called their new home ‘’Slepe House’’. It was a fine, substantial building with an imposing front door and entrance hall and it served as a surgery and dispensary.

The Grove family at the wedding of Rev Bernard Wilder to Mabel Grove in 1894.
Back row: Ted (civil engineer), Richard (architect), Rev Bernard Wilder, Mabel & Ernest (soldier)
Front row: Maria Grove (née Long), Dr Richard Grove & Dr Reginald Grove.

As the family house was both home and surgery, the whole household shared in the life of the practice. There were constant comings and goings of patients as well as urgent call-outs at night. 

Richard’s medical practice

An advertisement taken out in the Huntingdonshire Home Mission Magazine in December 1866 by the manufacturers of the Metallic Airtight Coffin Company was endorsed by seven doctors in St Ives despite the town only having a population of 3,500 in 1861.

Besides Girling and Reginald, Drs Thomas Biddle, William Mence, Owen Williams, William Adams, and J. Deane were signatories. All were professionally qualified. Girling died in October 1868 aged 73 and it seems likely that Richard bought Girling’s practice on the latter’s retirement in 1866.

In August that year Richard was appointed by the Improvement Commissioners as St Ives’ first Medical Officer This was a highly unusual appointment given that he was only 28, had arrived only three years earlier and there were other more experienced and well-known doctors practising in the town. He must have impressed the Commissioners and he held the post for 28 years, being re-elected on an annual basis. His appointment was an important step, as not only did the salary provide a regular income, but also the position was a prestigious one which benefited his own general practice. He remained in this role, and that of Medical Officer for the St Ives Workhouse, until his death.

Expanding his medical practice

The number of doctors in St Ives eventually thinned out to two - Richard and Mence. The town’s population had increased by 300 to 3,800 by 1877 and there was a huge potential for providing a medical service over a wider area. The potential number of patients within a radius of six miles was over 13,500. While there were six doctors in Huntingdon with a population of 4,500, the nearest villages which had a doctor were Willingham, Sutton and Caxton.

Richard’s practice grew well beyond St Ives itself. He had patients in the Hemingfords, Houghton, Fenstanton, Swavesey, Earith, Bluntisham and Holywell. The furthest village was Gamlingay, 15 miles away; and the only means of transport was by riding horseback, or by pony and trap.

Both Grove and Mence had patients in the same villages, but there was no apparent wrangling between them. This may have been because, like Richard, Mence’s income was supplemented by being the Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator for the 1st District of the St Ives Union, as well as being the Medical Officer for the Post Office and Surgeon for the Oddfellows.

Richard opened a surgery in Somersham sometime before 1885 but the outpost did not prove viable and was closed in 1887. This may well have been because a Dr William Nicholls had started a practice there in 1885.

Then in the mid 1890’s Dr John Birtwhistle Griffiths set up a practice in the Market Place. He died in 1901 aged 43, having been ill for a long time having collapsed on a visit to a patient in Earith.

A country doctor

Apart from the help of a regular succession of new qualified young assistants Richard ran the practice single-handed. However, an assistant gave him the opportunity for a day off and a short annual holiday, as well as enabling the number of patients being treated to be increased, especially those who were poor. Richard’s obituary stated that ‘he took a deep and practical interest in everything concerning the welfare of the borough; indeed, he will be sadly missed and especially by the poorer classes’.

House calls

The middle class – the local businessman, the squire, the vicar, or genteel widow or spinster – were served by tradesmen who delivered their meat, groceries and coal to their door. There was a similar expectation that professionals like doctors would also call on them. A visit also avoided the embarrassment of finding themselves sitting in a waiting room next to their parlour maid or gardener. ‘Call the doctor’ was the order of the day.

With a high mortality rate, particularly among babies and young children, regular visits were vital. A number of minor operations, like lancing boils, were carried out in the homes of patients, often performed on a scrubbed-down kitchen table.

Many working-class patients from the town visited the dispensary to receive simple remedies for coughs, colds and similar ailments, which were prescribed and made up by Richard or his assistant.

Whether on a house call, or seeing patients in the surgery, general practitioners dressed formally in top hat and tailcoat and Richard was no exception.

Coroner’s Courts

Unexpected deaths always resulted in a Coroner’s inquest being held, and these were reported in great detail by the local newspapers. They were usually held within 48 hours following a death that appeared to be of a suspicious or unexplained nature. They were usually held in a local public-house in St Ives. Sudden death was a fact of life whether through accident, drowning, ill health, suicide or, in one instance, malnutrition.

One case in 1878 concerned a Mr. Paine, who had been Richard’s groom. One of those who gave evidence was Oliver Howard, who was a ‘servant to Dr Grove’, in all probability having replaced Paine as the groom. The jury was told that Paine had a ‘severe cold, and had taken some poison in mistake for paregoric, through the juxtaposition of the two bottles. Prompt medical assistance enabled Paine to pass safely through the crisis from the immediate effects of the poison, but unfortunately it brought on bronchitis, from which he died on Friday morning last. That fatal mistake was purely an accident [sic] one there can be no doubt whatever, and the particulars of the sad occurrence will effectually set at rest any rumours to the contrary’. The medicine, which contained opium, had been sold by Barton, the chemist, in Bridge Street. Richard was called when Paine fell in and treated him. He gave evidence, as did Barton. The jury brought a verdict of accidental death; the newspaper reported that ‘the jury afterwards handed in their fees to the widow of the deceased.’

Richard attended similar cases over the years. The newspaper reports of these have been helpfully typed up by a volunteer at the Norris Museum and are available for research.

Public service

As mentioned earlier, Richard was St Ives’ first Medical Officer of Health and his annual reports to the Town Council were detailed in newspaper reports. His first report to the Improvement Commissioners was made in 1867 after a cholera epidemic in 1865–66. He carried out a ‘sanitary inspection of the town’ and his report gives a fascinating insight into how most people in St Ives lived. His annual reports, were reported in the press, and chronicled the public health of St Ives over this period.

It is not clear when he was appointed as the Medical Officer of the Workhouse, but it was probably in 1865. Both this post and that of Medical Officer for the town provided two secure income sources. While some Medical Officers were appointed on an annual basis, in St Ives it was a ‘job for life’, as the only way in which the incumbent could be removed was through a government inquiry. His role was to examine new inmates, attend the sick and report on the sanitary conditions of the building – what today would be classed as ‘health and safety’. He was also required to advise on the appropriate diet for inmates, vaccinate children, supervise the medical work of the nurse, and report on any inmate whose mental health was a danger to themselves or others, and who should be confined to a lunatic asylum.

Richard’s service to the Workhouse was recognised by the Board of Guardians after his death. Having known him personally for 20 years, the Revd Close, one of the Guardians, put forward a motion for the Clerk to send a letter of condolence and sympathy to Mrs Grove and the family. Close reminded the meeting how they all ‘knew well that he had discharged his duties to the entire satisfaction of the Board and the general public’. He went on to say that ‘Dr Grove’s death had been very remarkable which was possibly owing to the great anxiety he displayed in the performance of his duties’.

Medical general practice was hard work, particularly with a seven day a week, twenty four hour a day service being provided. But despite this, in rural areas like St Ives, it was possible to become involved in the community as well as pursue a variety of personal interests and activities.

Politics

Although he was a Conservative and a member of the local St Ives Primrose League (which was formed to spread the principles of Conservatism after Disraeli’s death), Richard did not get deeply involved in politics. But he was passionate that St Ives should take advantage of the opportunity to become a recognised municipal borough in its own right like Huntingdon and Godmanchester. His motivation was that public health could be improved, especially through better town drainage, which could be funded through more revenue from increased rates levied on businesses and residential properties.

He was one of those who signed a petition to Queen Victoria in 1873, asking for the Privy Council to grant a Charter of Incorporation. In 1874, eleven years after Richard came to St Ives, a charter was granted. There were 25 candidates from the Liberal and Conservative parties who stood for the 12 seats of the new Council. The Returning Officer was a local solicitor. Richard acted as his deputy.

Volunteer Reservist

Richard was commissioned as an Assistant Surgeon in the 1st Hunts Corps of the 1st Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Rifle Volunteers in 1876. Joining the military on a part time basis was not uncommon during this period and serving ‘crown and country’ became common among doctors through the Volunteer movement.

Like others who joined, he had a deep commitment and passion about the importance of public service carried out in this way. While some might have seen this as merely a hobby, most viewed it as a serious duty and Friday evenings were set aside for drilling and other training. These took place in the Corn Exchange as well as at the National School. He also took part in annual camps held under canvas for a week in the summer in Norfolk.

It was not all too serious however. For instance, the St Ives detachment held its annual supper in November 1876 at the White Horse Hotel which, as a newspaper reported, was ‘exceedingly well patronised, not only by members of the Corps, but by the local gentry.’

The next year 160 attended the event which was held at the Corn Exchange and attended by the Mayor, a number of Aldermen from the Town Council, the Vicar and a nonconformist minister. Speeches were made by Colonel Heathcote encouraging those present who had not enrolled to do so, and thanking at the same time Assistant Surgeon Grove for his hard work during the year in recruiting new Volunteers – no doubt among his patients!

Richard replied that what was needed was not just prizes and money, important though these were, ‘but the sympathy of the employers of labour and their influence with those under them to get them to join’. He looked forward that by the next annual supper ‘they would have a full company’. Loud cheers greeted this statement! The meeting ended, after ten major toasts had been proposed, at about eleven o’clock. Given the amount of alcohol consumed it was a merry evening by all accounts.

In April 1889, Richard aged 51 was commissioned as a Surgeon Major in the medical reserve and continued to hold this rank until his death.

Outside interests

There were a vast range of clubs and societies, outside church, chapel and civic activities, available for the middle-class townsfolk of St Ives and something to suit every interest and taste; a list complied in Norris’ History of St Ives gave 24 clubs or societies from the Angling Society to the Whist Club.

At his death, patients, friends and family recalled Richard’s enthusiasm to support a wide range of clubs and activities. The main ones were the Rowing Club and the Angling Society.

St Ives Rowing Club

The river gradually declined as a commercial thoroughfare, and by the mid-1870s was being used more for leisure. St Ives Rowing Club was formed in April 1865, just after Richard came to St Ives. No records survive of the start of the Club except a newspaper article some years later which stated the club rules dated from 1864–65. A plaque in the Boat House states the founding committee as Revd John Linton, President, Mr Westby, Captain, Mr C.P. Tebbutt, Treasurer, with Richard being on the committee. It cost 10s 6d (£66.37 in today’s values) per season to be a member but ‘any lady or gentleman paying an annual subscription of not less than 5s (£31 in today’s values) shall be an honorary member of the Club but not entitled to vote’. This was definitely a sport for a gentleman.

The Club elected Richard captain from 1866 to 1869. He was followed the next year by John H D Goldie, the son of the vicar of All Saints, St Ives. Goldie junior was at Cambridge when he was appointed captain and became famous for being captain of the Cambridge University crew which beat Oxford in 1870, 1871 and 1872.

In June 1874 the Rowing Club organised a regatta which soon became an annual activity. 11 years later, in April 1885 at the club’s annual meeting at the Corn Exchange Richard was elected as one of two Vice-Presidents. Alderman Warner, who had been Mayor in 1877, was the other. By this time, Richard's rowing days were over.

There was huge rivalry between the Huntingdon and St Ives’ clubs and supremacy was decided at an annual race for four-oared boats which first took place in 1884. It was held in the early evening at Houghton Whale, just above the mill and halfway between the two towns. Richard’s eldest son, Reginald, rowed in the 1887 race, and in 1889 he was stroke again. In that year St Ives broke the sequence of defeats by beating Huntingdon by three lengths. Richard was so delighted with this victory that he gave each crew member a miniature silver oar.

All four of his sons later rowed for the club in their school holidays. Reginald was captain in 1889, 1893 and 1894. In later years, after he gave up rowing as a sport, he followed his father in helping run the club.

The Angling Society

The St Ives and District Angling Society was founded 1881 and held the fishing rights for the seven miles of the river from Houghton Mill down to Overcote Ferry. Richard was not an angler himself, but at some stage he became involved in running the club, elected as President in about 1882. Eleven years later, after the death of Richard, Reginald was re-elected President himself. The next year at the Annual General Meeting Reginald was elected as one of 13 vice-presidents, one of the others being, the Hon A. E. Fellowes, the MP for Huntingdonshire.

Church Warden duties

Richard and his wife were faithful members of All Saints Church. He was appointed in 1868 to the committee which was set up to run the new Church Institute. This was a new initiative to encourage reading and companionship for men and boys.

In April 1876, Richard was nominated by Revd Dashwood Goldie to be his Vicar’s Warden. The Vestry meeting was an ill-tempered one and at the end of it he told the Vicar he was not willing to stand. Goldie then nominated his groom, Mr Whiteman. Richard took over from him as Vicar’s Warden in April 1888; Thomas Knights JP was the other Warden who was reappointed. Richard continued to serve as the Vicar’s Warden after Goldie’s death when Revd Luke Paget, and Edward Tottenham were the incumbents until February 1895 when he stepped down due to ill health.

The practice in 1895

Hard and precarious it might have been, but Richard built up a successful practice before he fell ill from a stroke; senile dementia later developed. By then, Reginald was running the practice. At his father’s death in December 1895, Reginald wrote a note which stated the following: 

William Richard Grove: after a long illness died on Christmas Eve 1895. The cause of his death was influenza (3 years); cerebral sclerosis (2 years); hemiplegia (13 months).

Mence signed Richard’s death certificate.

Richard was buried in the Cemetery at St Ives 28th December 1895, the funeral ‘attended by representatives of doctors from a large area, the Cambridge Volunteers and all the bodies with whom he had been connected.’

Besides the gratitude of his many patients, Richard left an estate of £3,943 4s 10d (£500,000 in today’s values) to his widow, Maria, which included Slepe House. He left his son a successful and thriving medical practice built up carefully over many years.

Authored by Peter Flower, one of Richard's great grandsons.