High Country History Group

Thomas Velley was born on the 15th May 1748 in Chipping Ongar, the son of the Revd. Thomas Velley who was incumbent at St. Martins, Chipping Ongar. Little is known of his early life or his education, although it may be assumed that he was educated at home. However in1766 he matriculated from St John’s College, Oxford.

In 1771 he graduated as a bachelor of civil law. He became an officer in the Oxford Militia, eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He remained attached to the Militia until four years before his death, retiring in April 1802.

In 1787 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in civil law.

He resided for many years at Bath, and devoted himself to botany, and especially to the study of algæ, collecting chiefly along the south coast. Research into the part played by Velley in botanical science of his day shows that he was the friend and correspondent of many eminent botanists of his time.

Very little seems to be known of the legal career of Thomas Velley, or of his private life. He was married and had five children. There is no record of his legal career in that city; his name does not appear in the Law Lists of the Bath Directories and Guides. He was, however, held in considerable esteem in Bath for his scholarship, his professional character, and his botanical work.

There is no doubt that Velley played a prominent part in the intellectual life of Bath, according to his obituary notice in the Bath Chronicle of the 12th June, 1806. Velley was killed in a coaching accident on June 6th, 1806, at Reading. An account of the tragedy is given in the Bath Chronicle as follows:—

" On Friday night between nine and ten o'clock a double-bodied stage coach stopt at the Castle Inn, Castle Street, Reading; while the coachman was gone in to refresh himself the horses set off without him. Lieutenant-Colonel Velley, late of the Oxfordshire Militia, and long resident in this city, alarmed at his situation, jumped out and fell with the back part of his head so violently on the ground as to occasion a concussion of the brain; he languished in a state of insensibility until. Sunday evening, when he expired."

Velley was buried in the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Reading,

Velley's chief botanical work seems to have been on the Marine Algae, which he collected mainly from the South coast, Essex, and the Isle of Wight, and his publications deal with this group of plants, the chief work being Coloured Figures of Marine Plants found on the Southern coast of England, published at Bath in 1795

After Velley's death, his widow left Bath, where they had resided so long, to take up residence in Weymouth. Before leaving Bath, she wished to sell Velley's Herbarium, and through the agency of Dr Knapp, who was a friend of Velley's, it was offered to the Linnean Society for a hundred and fifty guineas in 1809.

The Linnean Society, however, did not avail itself of this offer of Velley's Herbarium for a hundred and fifty guineas, and later, in 1810, the Herbarium was acquired for the same sum by the Liverpool Botanic Gardens Committee, through the generosity and activity of Sir William Roscoe.

1818 there were two day schools in the parish, with some 50 pupils. In the following years one of them seems to have ceased and another to have started, so that in 1833 there were still two schools with 44 pupils. As late as 1846-7 the only schools were kept by dames. The rector, however, exercised some supervision over one of these and also gave financial help to some of the others.The number of these schools had evidently increased with the growth of the population and in 1851 a National School was at last built. It was on the road about half way between Toot Hill and Little End. The Department of Education gave £117 and the National Society £20 towards the cost. The lord of the manor gave the site and £200, and other subscriptions were collected. The rector and churchwardens were appointed trustees of the school. They and three of the subscribers constituted the board of management. In 1857, when some additions and alterations took place, a further grant of £9 was received from the Department of Education. In 1870 there were stated to be places for 117 children.
The accommodation at the school was not fully used for many years. In 1858-9 there were 30 boys and 37 girls in attendance; there was apparently much truancy. In 1871 there were still only about 65 pupils. In 1858-9 there were a mistress and two pupil-teachers and in 1863 there were a master and a mistress. The school received parliamentary grants for the training of pupil-teachers, the employment of certificated teachers, and the purchase of equipment. In 1858-9 the grant was £164, but an inspector found the standard of education to be low. In 1871 it was estimated that 140 school places were needed to secure universal elementary education in the parish, and that the National School could provide 118 of these. The Education Department proposed to unite the parish with North Weald Bassett (q.v.) in a single administrative district, apparently to facilitate the attendance of some Stanford Rivers children at a new school to be built in North Weald. There was much opposition from North Weald to these proposals and the amalgamation did not take place. The school at Stanford Rivers was enlarged in the following years. The average attendance increased from 69 in 1872 to 93 in 1880 and 144 in 1902, and the annual grants rose from £34 14s. in 1872 to £74 13s. in 1880 and £146 18s. in 1902.
By the Education Act of 1902 the school passed under the administration of the Essex Education Committee, Ongar District. Its average attendance fell to 74 in 1929. In 1936 it was reorganized for mixed juniors and infants, the seniors being transferred to the new school at Chipping Ongar (q.v.). In May 1952 there were 2 teachers and 53 pupils. In May 1950 the school was granted aided status.
The school is an L-shaped one-story building of red brick with a tiled roof. The teacher's house attached to it has two stories.

With the demise of the High Street in 2024 it is good to look back and see some of the shops and businesses that existed in 1848 for the residents of Ongar.

Bakers - Mary Cowee
Henry Starkee
Arthur Webster
Boot and Shoe Makers - Jeremiah Bridge
John Brown
Edwin Derham
George Griffin
William Hancock
Mary Mitchell
Thomas Wood
William Wood
Butchers - Stephen Clements
John Cooper
Thomas Cowell
Thomas Gidley
Elizabeth Perry
Corn Dealers - Johnston H. A. (& Maltster)
James J. Loud
James Webster
Drapers - George Pollard
Thomas Sandle
William Waterhouse
Grocers &c. - Charles Brown
Thomas Dobbs
Philip Haines
Mary Nottage
Edward Sammes (& Broker)
John Upton
Hair Dressers - James Drake
Thomas Kemp
Samuel H. Leah
Ironmongers - James Penson
John Wright
Saddlers - William Parker
Jonathan Sillcock
Tailors - Edward Darby
Thomas Cowee
William Pavitt
Jeremiah Playl
Watchmakers - Bonner Griffin
John Turner

In addition there is a Savings Bank (open every Saturday) and the Ongar and Epping Building Society meets on the first Saturday of the month. In addition there was a police station open 24/7.

The Vestry (def.) – a room attached to the chancel of a church.

It was originally the room where parish meetings were held. Membership of the vestry comprised the Rector, churchwardens, and leading parishioners, who were either co-opted (under a ‘close’ or ‘select’ vestry system) or elected (‘open’ vestry). In the C16th and C17th the vestry assumed many of the functions of the manor court by appointing the constable(s) as well as taking on new responsibilities for the poor by appointing overseers. In addition, the vestry was responsible for the maintenance of the highways in the parish.

The vestry lost these responsibilities during the C19th and in 1894 the civil functions of parishes were transferred to parish councils and parish meetings.

The administration of poor relief during most of the 17th century was entrusted to the churchwardens and constables. Records of the overseers handling money appear first in 1670. During the 18th century the duties of the overseers became increasingly heavy as the cost of poor relief rose. Between 1724 and 1754 the average cost was about £130 a year. In 1754-64 it was over £180, in 1764-74 it was £260, in 1774-84 it was £360, in 1784-94 it was £440, and in 1794-1804 it rose to £840. The parish spent ten times as much in 1800-1 as in 1726-7. The poor rate levied between 1801 and 1817 was rarely below £1,000 in any year.

The two overseers acted independently and rendered separate accounts. When the balance of both accounts had been struck at the Easter vestry the surplus in the hands of the outgoing officers was shared between their successors. Each overseer apparently acted for a different 'end' of the parish, either Toot Hill or Hare Street (Little End).

The poor in the 18th century formed two classes. About two dozen received regular weekly doles, and the rest, varying in number with the season and the price of food, received casual aid. The recipients of the regular doles were enjoined by the orders of 1724 and 1732 to wear badges.

The decision to be build a workhouse was taken at a meeting of the Vestry on 27th April 1769 –
Be it remembered, - At a public meeting of the inhabitants of the said Parish for the purpose hereafter mentioned, assembled upon due notice thereof given, it is now, to wit, on this 27th day of this instant, April in the year 1769 agreed and determined that a Workhouse shall be forthwith built for the employment and maintenance of the poor of the said Parish, and that it shall be erected upon that land near to the church which belongs to the Parish and is in the occupation of Mr. Matthew Playle of the said Parish, which said land is commonly called Press Garden.
Then it is agreed and determined that a Committee shall be chosen to take upon then the management of the said building and to agree with some builders or builder touching the same. And that the persons to be constituted to be of that committee shall be-
Mr John Archer
Mr John Plumb
Mr Matthew Webb
Mr Samuel Playle, and
Mr Stephen Jones.

To the above agreement of the inhabitants of the said Parish do hereby set their hands, the day and year above written.
Nathaniel Lancaster - Rector
Samuel Playle and Matthew Webb, churchwardens
Thomas Watkinson - Overseer of the Poor
And 21 others.

The cost of the workhouse was £300, and it was agreed to borrow the money in order for the work to be undertaken. The money was borrowed from James Grove, Miller of Shonks Mill, Navestock.

Until the building of the workhouse the expedients of the previous century seem to have been adopted for the relief of the poor. Medical attention was perhaps new. In 1741 an account for medicine of £4 8s. was passed, and in 1746 there was payment of £4 4s., for medical services. Paupers' rents, and from 1764 the cost of their firing, were often paid and in many cases the money went to prominent vestrymen.

Ann agreement made on the 17th April in the year 1775 between the Parishioners of Stanford Rivers and Mr. Jn. Boodle of Chipping Ongar: that is to say that the said Mr. Jn. Boodle is to look after the Poor of the said Parish at Eight guineas a year as a Serjain and a Pottacary.

From 1770 payments for wool and spindles indicate that the inmates were engaged in spinning. From 1771 this work brought income; the weekly sums recorded were usually greatest in the winter.

1776 – 28 Aug – ‘received of Mr. Clapton for Workhouse Yarn £15.18.6d’, and 6 Nov. ‘received of Mr. Clapton for Workhouse Yarn £17.4.6d.’

This income later declined. Another source of income was the hiring of paupers' labour.
At this Vestry held on the 8th April 1774, Mr John Plum hath agreed with the Parishioners here assembled to take into his service James Dawkins, a Parish boy from and of the Workhouse to serve him to Michs next ensuring in consideration whereof the Parish have agreed to find and provide unto the said James Dawkins sufficient cloathing and all wearing apparel for and during his service and also to pay and allow weekly and every week unto the said John Plum the sum of one shilling for and towards his maintenance, untill the said service is expired.

At this Vestry held on the 8th April 1774, Mr Matthew Webb hath agreed with the Parishioners here assembled to take into his service Samuel Crawley, a Parish boy from and of the Workhouse to serve him to Michs next ensuring in consideration whereof the Parish have agreed to find and provide unto the said Samuel Crawley sufficient cloathing and all wearing apparel for and during his service and also to pay and allow weekly and every week unto the said Matthew Webb the sum of one shilling for and towards his maintenance, untill the said service is expired.

At a meeting of the Vestry on April 17th 1775 -
Ann agreement made between the Parishioners of Stanford Rivers and William Blackwell and his wife that is to say that the said William Blackwell and his wife has promised to take care of our Workhouse at £13.13s a year. If either party do disagree for to give six months’ notice.

In 1788 the following list shows the poor of the parish who were receiving money each week from the Vestry.
Dame Turner 2s
Martin 1s
Patient 1s
Boultwood 2s
Finch 4s
Conn 1s
Smith 1s
Godsafe 1s
Fowler 1s
Bakers Children 2s
Garrets child 1s 6d
Evans 4s
Stiles 1s
Brewer 1s
Wood 1s
Green 2s
Crosier 1s
Wood junior 4s
Dodson 1s
Kings child 1s 6d
Woolmores daughter 1s 6d
Henry Day 1s 6d
John King 1s
Taffy 1s 6d
Dame White 1s

In 1790 Mr Stanes is shown as the Governor of the Workhouse.
In 1808 the Vestry sent one ‘Rippingale Collar aged 14 years or thereabouts, a poor child of the Parish, Apprentice to Richard Graves of the Parish of Harlow, Cordwainer until he reaches the age of 21.’ A sum of £10 was paid to Graves by the Overseers with a further sum of £10 paid in May 1808. This then removed any further responsibility for the boy falling on the parish. Graves had to ensure for his money:
“and shall and will during all the term aforesaid, find, provide, and allow unto the said Apprentice meet, competent, and sufficient Meat, Drink, Apparel, Lodging, Washing, and other things necessary and fit for an Apprentice.”

From 1810 until 1815 regular statements of account between the governor of the workhouse and the parishioners were recorded. The overseers made monthly or fortnightly cash payments and supplied flour to the governor. He kept the paupers at an agreed rate for each person, and received extra for fuel, potatoes, and 'hair cutting, shaving, mops, brooms, thread, worsted, tape, oil &c.' In 1809 there were 12 beds in the workhouse and in 1830 there were 13.
In 1814 John Kay is shown as the Governor of the Workhouse. The minutes of the Vestry show that the accounts from Easter 1814 to Easter 1815 show that
‘to maintenance of 16 Paupers up to March 26th at 3s.9d each = £150.’

At a Vestry held on 20th December 1814, pursuant to notice for the purpose of considering of a Grant of Land in the front of the Workhouse from the Lord of the Manor to the Parish.
Resolved that the said Grant shall be accepted with our best thanks to George Petre Esq., the Lord of the Manor for his attention to the wishes and accommodation of the Parish.
That the said Land shall be enclosed by drawing a line in a curve from the corner of the Workhouse Garden to the south west corner of Mr. Wilson’s Mead according to the stakes put down this day.
That the best application of the said Land will be
to add to the Garden of the Workhouse.
to provide Gardens for the two Parish Houses.
it is proposed to erect a stable and shed thereon for the accommodation of the Parishioners on Sundays. This building not to be erected at the expense of the Parish but of Individuals subscribing; on condition that they and their successors in their farms have a preference in the use of the said Stable and Shed.

Present at the Vestry
E. Dowdswell Rector.
Henry Mott
Thomas Mansfield
Jonathan Stokes
William Noakes
Robert Shorborn
John Pavitt
George Hummerstone
Edward Rayner
John Kirby
William Drew
Edward Luck
William Phillips
Timothy Phillips.

By order of Vestry
John Osborne, Vestry Clerk

In St Mary’s church, Theydon Bois are the graves of two remarkable people, both of whom had an impact on Victorian lives.

Frances Mary Buss (1827 – 1894)

Buss was born on 16th August 1827 and grew up in Mornington Crescent in Camden, North London. Her father was a reasonably successful artist and engraver, but his unpredictable earnings forced the rest of the family to find work. Frances Mary earned money teaching from the age of 14 and would go on to help her mother set up a private prep school in Kentish Town in 1845. The Buss's school was renamed the North London Collegiate School and moved to larger premises in Camden Street on 4 April, 1850. Buss was its first Principal and remained so for the rest of her life. Under her headship, the school became a model for girls' education. By 1865 the school had 200 day girls, with a few boarders, but was still run as a private, family concern, with her father Robert William Buss and her brother Septimus Buss teaching Art and Scripture respectively.

In July 1870 Frances Buss handed over the school to trustees, and in the following year she founded the Camden School for Girls with the aim of offering more affordable education for girls. She was the first ever headmistress.

She became the founding president of the Association of Head Mistresses in 1874, a position she held until 1894, and was also involved in establishing the Teachers' Guild in 1883 and the Cambridge Training College (later Hughes Hall) for training teachers in 1885.

In 1869 she became the first woman Fellow of the College of Preceptors, helping to establish the College's professorship of the science and art of education in 1872. Her election to a Fellowship of the College in 1873 was the only public recognition she ever received. She was also a member of the Council of the Teachers' Training and Registration Society.

Buss was also a suffragist, participating in the Kensington Society, a woman's discussion society, and the London Suffrage Committee.
She died on the 24th December 1894 and is buried at Theydon Bois.

James Theodore Bent (1852 – 1897)

James Theodore Bent was born on the 30th March 1852 in Liverpool. Traveller and antiquary. He was an English explorer, archaeologist and author. He was the son of James Bent of Baildon House, near Bradford, Yorkshire, where he was born. He was educated at Repton School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1875. In 1877 he married Mabel, daughter of R. W. Hall-Dare of Newtownbarry, Co. Wexford, and she became his companion in all his travels.

He went abroad every year and became thoroughly acquainted with Italy and Greece. In 1879 he published a book on the republic of San Marino, entitled A Freak of Freedom, and was made a citizen of San Marino. From this period Bent devoted himself particularly to archaeological research. The years 1885-1888 were given up to investigations in Asia Minor, his discoveries and conclusions being communicated to the Journal of Hellenic Studies and other magazines and reviews. In 1889 he undertook excavations in the Bahrein Islands of the Persian Gulf, and found evidence that they had been a primitive home of the Phoenician race. After an expedition in 1890 to Cilicia Trachea, where he obtained a valuable collection of inscriptions,

Bent spent a year in South Africa, with the object, by investigation of some of the ruins in Mashonaland, of throwing light on the vexed question of their origin and on the early history of East Africa. He now visited at considerable risk the almost unknown Hadramut country (1893–1894), and during this and later journeys in southern Arabia he studied the ancient history of the country, its physical features and actual condition. On the Dhofar coast in 1894-1895 he visited ruins which he identified with the Abyssapolis of the frankincense merchants. In 1895 1896 he examined part of the African coast of the Red Sea, finding there the ruins of a very ancient gold-mine and traces of what he considered Sabean influence.

Martyn's article in Journal 59 (March 2016) reminded me of the conversations that I had many years ago with local residents who still remembered the construction of Chipping Ongar airfield at Willingale in the autumn and winter of 1942.

According to my informants – who were local youngsters at the time - it was built by the Americans using convict labour taken from prisons in the US. The deal was that prisoners would gain their freedom if they worked for the duration of the war. I have always wondered if this pledge was honoured, as some of the work force had been facing death sentences. My informants told me that the prisoners were housed in open-ended Nissen huts under armed guard, with only straw for bedding. This was cleared out once a week and burnt, presumably to destroy infestation. Conditions must have been grim as that winter was particularly wet and the main street in Willingale village was reduced to a sea of mud. According to one lady who had worked in the canteen, the airfield, when complete, provided work for local people, as well as more diverse forms of entertainment (both licit and illicit) with grounded aircrews. Nylon stockings and cigarettes were particularly popular with the local youngsters.

The main access to the airfield for vehicles was off the present A414 at Norton Heath along about a mile and a half of very narrow winding lane. This had clearly caused problems as the lane was effectively straightened by concreting across the inner curve of many of the bends, and anyone travelling on that road today will be aware of the joins between the original lane and its concrete extensions. In the 1970s there was still a wooden signpost at the top of the road pointing left to "Willingale Aerodrome".

The first bombing flight out of the airfield in 1943 was a squadron of Marauders, of which only one returned. Some were shot down, but many failed to navigate their way home successfully, as the aircrews were very green. Maintaining morale must have been a considerable challenge, though losses steadily reduced as the crews gained experience.

The site chosen was level and almost free of public roads or buildings. The main loss was the manor house of Newarks Hall, described as 'early 16th century with a cross wing' by the RCHM. However the perimeter roads came very close to Forest Hall which was requisitioned for air force personnel – doubtless contributing to its demolition soon after the end of the war.

July 1st, 1875

Murder.
Yesterday morning, at the Ongar Petty Sessions, before the Rev. R.B. Tower, Captain Budworth, and other magistrates, Walton Burton and John Williams, farm labourers, were charged with the willful murder of John Butcher, also a farm labourer, of High Ongar.

It appeared that the prisoners and Butcher were labourers employed at Castle Farm, Ongar. On Tuesday, while engaged in the fields, the prisoners and Butcher quarreled, and threatening language was used on both sides. Later on in the evening Butcher was discovered lying insensible in a field. He had received dreadful injuries, and died in the course of a few hours. Mary Ann Monk, a single woman, of High Ongar, said that while drawing water from a spring she heard a voice exclaim "I’ll kill you" She then saw one of the prisoners strike Butcher on the head with something he had in his hand; Butcher fell, and the prisoners then ran off, leaving him on the ground. Charles Winger, labourer, gave similar evidence, adding that when the deceased was on the ground he saw Burton strike at him several times. Dr. Potter stated that he examined the deceased. He found a fracture of the skull, which was the cause of death, and a bad bruise over the left eye. Police constable Terry deposed to having apprehended the prisoners. Williams said, "I was going home, and Butcher attempted to strike me on the head with a glass bottle. I took the bottle from him and struck him down backwards." The Bench committed the prisoners for trial at the next Chelmsford Assizes on the charge of willful murder.

12th September 1910

ATTACK ON A CONSTABLE.- At Ongar on Saturday George Day, of Waterloo Terrace, Bethnal Green, was charged with grievously wounding, and Joseph Hil, of Duckett Street, Stepney, with assaulting, Constable Henry Lindsey. According to the evidence, a party of men from the East-end of London had been ' rounding up " horses in the fields at Stanford Rivers, near Ongar, and when spoken to they attacked the owner and Constable Lindsey. Afterwards they ran off to an inn. When the con- stable entered the house Day was stated to have thrown four tumblers in succession at him, cutting his head, ear, and neck. Notwithstanding his injuries Lindsey secured Hill, who had first struck him, and locked him up in the village smithy. A crowd tried to rescue Hill, but the blacksmith, named Tyrell, kept them off with an old sword. Hill was sentenced to two months' imprisonment and Day was committed for trial at the Essex Assize.

2nd November 1956

Work on electrifying the six-mile section of the Central Line beyond Epping to North Weald, Blake Hall, and Ongar will begin early in 1957. London Transport announced yesterday. It will take between 12 and 18 months to complete and will cost ?100,000. This section of the line is at present operated by a steam shuttle service. After electrification, the shuttle will be run with two-car trains of normal tube type, at the same frequency as the present service. London Transport say that the number of passengers at present using the line beyond Epping would not justify the running of full-length trains through from Central London. If the traffic grows as expected, the question of through trains will be reviewed.

Even by the eighteen the century, illness was not regarded as a circumstance which necessarily required much positive action. There remained the notion that it was imposed by God, and it was largely a matter of waiting until the affliction was removed.

Self help was the first resort, and the main care of the sick came from within the family circle. Treatment was based on traditional home-made remedies passed down from mother to daughter. The houses of the wealthy still maintained physic gardens,

Flora Thompson tells us that as late as the 1870s, the village women of Juniper Hill, cultivated corners of their gardens with herbs and made their own therapeutic drinks:

‘peppermint, pennyroyal, horehound, camomile, tansy, balm, and rue for physic. They made a great deal of camomile tea which they drank to ward off colds, to soothe the nerves, and as a general tonic. The horehound was used with honey in a preparation for sore throats, and colds on the chest…and the women had a private use for pennyroyal. As well as garden herbs, still in general use, some of the older women used wild ones, which they gathered in their season and dried. But the knowledge and use of them was dying out.’=

Country law and recipes for cures were part of everyday conversation .
In Dagenham, in 1822, John Prior asked the Overseers for relief’ as his arches (of his feet) were so bad’ and was told by Mr Britain that he had heard that threshing with nettles would cure rheumatism.
Old medical recipes often appeared in parish registers such as the one left by Thomas Gilbey, vicar of St Mildred’s, Tenterden, in Kent (1701-51) as a prophylactic against the plague.

Private receipt books were compiled by the literate, and medicinal
remedies were part of a body of household knowledge which included cures relating to both human and animal diseases. Bassom, an Essex plumber, even wrote them down at the end of his account books for 1807-11.

Documents relating to the Convent of the Holy Sepulchre, at Boreham, include a specific medical book with general
cures, and medicines prescribed at various times for the community.

Household manuals were published such as The General Receipt Book or Oracle of Knowledge (1825) which covered ‘every branch of science’ including practical household advice and medicine, while publications of Wesley’s Primitive Physick (1741) and Buchan’s Domestic Medicine (1769) ran into many editions.

For those who chose to use them, mainly the poor, there were supernatural aids to be invoked. Belief in the curative power of the Medieval Church had survived the break with Rome, and alongside petitionary prayer, debased versions of Catholic prayers were used as charms, and the invocation of the Divine was incorporated into the incantations of ‘cunning’ mean and women. Faith in magical cures lingered on into the nineteenth century (and probably beyond).

In 1856, it was noted that in Lincolnshire:
‘Those who are not in daily intercourse with the peasantry can hardly be made to believe or comprehend the hold that charms, witchcraft, wise men and other like relics of heathendom have upon the people.’
A wide range of innovative patent and proprietary medicines and prescriptions were to be had from the chemists and druggists, and there were few aids to ‘health’ that could not be furnished by quacks selling their wares at fairs and markets, or by public advertisement.
Apart from the rich who could afford the services of a physician from a town, medical care was available from men and women who had learned their skills from their forebears and who practised medicine alongside their usual daily occupations – apothecaries, herbalists, bonesetters, blood-letters, cutters of the (kidney) stone, and the like – and who had had no formal education. Some had no medical training at all. A Presbyterian minister, John Clegg (1679-1755), practised medicine to feed his family, and a farmer. George Winter who, by chance inheritance of his uncle’s medical manuscripts and textbooks, treated the poor free of charge three days a week and bore a remarkable similarity to Mary Russell Mitford’s village ‘doctor’ of the 1820s, Dr Chubb: ‘inventor and compounder of medicines, bleeder, shaver, and physician of man and beast…His skill he had inherited from his aunt Bridget, who was herself the first practitioner of the day, the wise woman of the village, and bequeathed to this her favourite nephew her blessing,

Culpeper’s herbal, a famous salve for chilblains, and a still,’

Women were traditionally the backbone of medical care. They were the ‘wise women’ who were called in to assist in childbirth, illness, and the last stages of life. Although increasing displaced by professional practitioners, many men and women versed in traditional remedies continued to practise, like Elizabeth’s Gaskell’s country-born Alice Wilson, who ‘In addition to her invaluable qualities as a sick nurse… added a considerable knowledge of hedge and field simples much used by the poor.’

A scathing observation by William Farr, the Registrar General, in 1877, suggests that despite the inroads of ‘orthodox ‘medicine, traditional medicine was alive and well, and had many takers: ‘a considerable number of people die without the attention of a qualified medical man…and hundreds and thousands are treated by quacks, ignorant midwives, unqualified attendants, and chemists and druggists.’

The fact that most professional medical men could offer little better hope of a cure than the traditionalists is another story.