There are a handful medics who’ve left only faint traces in the historical record of Newmarket, and who don’t seem to have been associated with any of the main practices in town, so they are gathered together on this page. For some it might be that their time in Newmarket was only very short. If new information comes to light they might either be moved to a page of their own or added to another page where they are found to fit in.
Sir Busick Harwood was born in Newmarket and baptised at All Saints’ church on 15th December 1750. However, he served an apprenticeship in Rutland, so never left any trace in the medical historical records of Newmarket. Nevertheless, his origins in the town are of interest, because later he went on to further studies at Cambridge University, and even became Professor of Anatomy there from 1785-1814, and from 1800-1814 he was also Downing Professor of Medicine!
Elijah Robinson is first mentioned as a Newmarket surgeon in 1762, alongside the much better documented William Sandiver 1 and Thomas Searancke 2, all three together with various other non-medical inhabitants of the town declaring Newmarket free from smallpox (see the page on Newmarket and smallpox for an image of that document). However, an Elijah Robinson is mentioned having a daughter in 1749, which was possibly the same man. Another daughter is mentioned in 1764. So far only two further documents relating to Elijah Robinson the surgeon have come to light. He was witness to a marriage settlement in 1770 (see the 1904 reference below) and entered into a bond in 1773. So it seems likely that he practised in Newmarket for at least a decade in the 1760s / early 70s, and quite possibly 3 decades or more, leaving no further traces of his existence.
The Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, ‘physic’ (i.e. medical) section in the 1791 Universal British Directory – note the typo ‘w’ for ‘iv’ in Sandiver (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 1).
Richard Woodthorpe is mentioned as a surgeon at Newmarket in the Universal British Directory of 1791, alongside William Sandiver 2, Thomas Searancke 2 and John Edwards (see image on the right). He appears to have served an apprenticeship at Ipswich several decades earlier. He died at Newmarket in 1802, but was described then as ‘formerly surgeon in Elliott’s Light Horse, but lately Army Surgeon in the Island of Jersey’. So he appears to have been an army surgeon with Newmarket connections, perhaps not actually practising much in Newmarket, if at all.
William Cooke is mentioned only once as a Newmarket medic, providing medical services to the parish poor of Burwell in 1797 (referred to as ‘Wm Cooke surgeon of Newmarket’ – see image below). These services included ‘physic [i.e. medicine], surgery & laborious or difficult cases of midwifery’ (see The history of medical treatments, training, qualifications and regulation for more on the broad repertoire of these ‘surgeons’ of old). It appears he married someone from Burwell and had a family in Newmarket last mentioned in 1806. A son born in Newmarket, also called William, later practised in Kent. This son’s Society of Apothecaries qualification records show that he was apprenticed to his father in 1822, when they were living in Great Baddow, Essex.
Part of William Cooke surgeon of Newmarket’s 1797 agreement to supply the poor of Burwell with attendance and medicines in cases of physic, surgery and labourious or difficult cases of midwifery (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 2).
James Devereux Hustler appears to have been baptised at Rattlesden, Suffolk, in 1781. He married at Bury St Edmund’s in 1812, but at that time was working in Clare. However, by 1813 he was advertising for an apprentice in Newmarket, going on to have several children baptised at All Saints’ church between 1814 and 1820. There’s no mention of the Hustlers in Newmarket after that time, and it’s of note that he’s not mentioned in the 1823 Pigot’s Directory alongside the other Newmarket medics. He died over two decades later in London, aged 66.
James Hustler above seems to have been in practice at Newmarket during an interesting window in relation to the other practices in town at that time. He arrived just before Woodward Mudd’s apparent succession to William Sandiver 2’s practice in 1813, at a time when Walter Norton appears to have been in practice alone. Then he seems to have left shortly after Robert James Peck succeeded to Woodward Mudd’s practice, just as Walter Norton’s practice was expanding to become Norton, Taylor and Kendall in the early 1820s. Also, Robert Delanney below, another apparently independent practice, arrived just before James Hustler left. It appears the expansion of Walter Norton’s practice into a triple partnership replaced the independent start-ups Hustler and Delanney, with the other practice in town (Sandiver to Mudd to Peck) remaining relatively stable in size. No evidence has emerged to date that Hustler and Delanney were connected to each other, and the evidence would seems to suggest that they were not part of Walter Norton’s practice either, given the former’s advert for an apprentice and the latter’s independent poor law role (see below).
Thomas Robert Delanney is first mentioned at Newmarket in 1820, attending the poor of St Mary’s parish. He married later that same year and had a daughter baptised at St Mary’s in 1822, but by 1825 he was in King’s Lynn. His absence from the 1823 Pigot’s Directory suggests that he’d left Newmarket by then (see comments in the paragraph above regarding the other practices in town at this time also).
Ralph Byron Gibson was recorded in Cynthia House, Newmarket, for a few years in the early 1920s. He appears perhaps to have been practising as a dentist but medically qualified too, so recorded in the Medical Directory.
Image 1: The Universal British Directory, 1791, (cropped); image reproduced with kind permission of Google Books. [Note: click here for the source.]
Image 2: Burwell parish surgeon’s agreement, reference P18/18/2 (cropped – red annotations mine); image ©, reproduced with kind permission of the Cambridgeshire Archives.
Note: see comments regarding images and copyright © etc. on the Usage &c. page as well.
1749, 22nd April: Mary, daughter of Elijah and Elizabeth Robinson baptised, All Saints’, Newmarket. Reference: Microfiche of Newmarket All Saints’ parish register (fiche 2), (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1750, 15th December: Busick son of John and Mary Harwood baptised, All Saints’, Newmarket. Reference: Microfiche of Newmarket All Saints’ parish register (fiche 2), (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1762, 9th August: ‘E. Robinson’ alongside ‘Tho. Searancke’ and ‘Wm. Sandriver [sic]’, ‘Sur-geons’, and the curate, churchwardens, overseers and other inhabitants listed (including interestingly ‘Marcon Braham’ son of Wotton Braham), ‘We the Minister, Churchwardens, Overseers of the poor, and others, principal Inhabitants of the Town of NEW-MARKET, whose Names are underwritten, having this Day made the strict-est Enquiry relative to the SMALL-POX, do hereby certify, that the said Town is now entirely free from that Distemper.’ Reference: The Ipswich Journal. Saturday Aug 14 1762: 3. [Note: see an image of this on the page about Newmarket and smallpox.]
1764, 25th May: Martha, daughter of Elijah Robinson buried, All Saints’, Newmarket. Reference: J562/69, microfilm transcript, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: the surname Robinson is barely legible on the microfilm of the original register, so I have referenced the transcript J562/69, which was obviously made from the original register when it was in better condition. For the microfilm of the original register see: Reference: Microfiche of Newmarket All Saints’ parish register (fiche 3), (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).]
1767, 13th January: Tax paid regarding Busick Harwood’s apprenticeship to ‘Wm. Forfitt of Uppingham, Rutland, Surgeon &ea [sic].’ Reference: Online image of apprenticeship tax records held at The National Archives, ancestry.co.uk (accessed 1st December 2018).
1769, 20th February: Tax paid regarding Richd Woodthorpe’s apprenticeship to ‘Robt. Ashley Ipswich Surgeon’. Reference: Online image of apprenticeship tax records held at The National Archives, ancestry.co.uk (accessed 1st December 2018).
1773, 20th November: A bond between ‘Elijah Robinson of Newmarket in the County of Cambridge Surgeon’ and ‘Robert Bones of Newmarket in the County of Suffolk Common Brewer’. Reference: Ac389, at the time of this research in an otherwise uncatalogued box of old documents relating to Newmarket labelled 61E Box 1, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1781, 2nd February: James Devereux son of James and Elizabeth Hustler baptised at Rattlesden, Suffolk. Reference: Microfiche of Rattlesden parish register (fiche 6), (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1791: Woodthorpe Richard, Surgeon, Newmarket, Cambridgeshire [listed under ‘Physic.’]. Reference: The Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce, and Manufacture. London: Printed for the patentees, at the British Directory Office, Ave Maria-Lane; and sold by Champante and Whitrow, Jewery-Street, Aldgate; 1791. [Note: see image above.], [Note also, it’s interesting that neither William Sandiver 2 nor Thomas Searancke 2 were described as an apothecary here, when clearly they were from other references – see the pages on those individuals; so the descriptions given likely represent a summary description chosen by the individual, rather than comparable against each other to show variations in role.]
1797: ‘Memorandum of an agreement made between the Parish Officers of St Mary [sic] Burwell on the one side & Wm Cooke surgeon of Newmarket on the other side… Twelve Guineas per annum / the poor of Burwell are to be supplied with all due and necessary attendance & medicines in all cases of physic, surgery & laborious or difficult cases of midwifery – as may arise or happen during the time of this agreement… cases of small pox being the only ones exempted’. Reference: P18/18/2, Burwell parish surgeon’s agreement, (Cambridgeshire County Record Office [called Cambridgeshire Archives], Cambridge – subsequently relocated to Ely). [Note: see image above], [Note also, this stand alone note also mentions 3 months’ notice from either side and a few other points.], [Note also, a William Cooke of All Saints’ Newmarket married Mary Ann Crowe of Burwell, at Burwell, on 25th June 1795. Reference: An indexed transcription of the parish registers of Burwell. Cambridgeshire Family History Society; 2004, (Cambridgeshire County Record Office [called Cambridgeshire Archives], Cambridge – subsequently relocated to Ely). They had several children baptised at All Saints’ church, Newmarket between 1796 and 1806, and one who was buried in December 1806, then there is no further mention of them. Reference: Microfiche of Newmarket All Saints’ parish register (fiches 4&5), (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).], [Note also, the 1861 census for Tonbridge, Kent, shows a William Cook, aged 63, surgeon, born in Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, and one of the children of William and Mary baptised at Newmarket was a William in 1797, so it seems likely this was the same family. Reference: The National Archives, 1861 census. – see the November 1822 reference below also.]
1802, 22nd October: In the obituary section, ‘On Friday last, at Newmarket, Richard Woodthorpe, Esq. formerly surgeon in Elliott’s Light Horse, but lately Army Surgeon in the Island of Jersey; he was a native of Little Oakley, in Essex.’ Reference: The orthodox churchman’s magazine and review, or, a treasury of divine and useful knowledge; Vol III, July to December 1802 (published London: Wilson and Co.;1803); 318. [Note: this was dated 27th October 1802, Friday last being 22nd October.]
1812, 16th December: Under marriages, ‘On Wednesday last, Mr. James Devereux Hustler, surgeon, of Clare, to Henrietta Anne, youngest daughter of G. Alderson, Gent. of this town.’ Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Wednesday Dec 23 1812: 2. [Note: ‘of this town’ refers to Bury St Edmund’s, where they married.]
1813, 24th November: ‘WANTED a respectable Youth as an APPRENTICE to a Surgeon and Apothecary. Apply to Mr. Hustler, Surgeon, Newmarket.’ Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Wednesday Nov 24 1813: 2.
1814, 25th November: Mary, daughter of surgeon James Hustler and Henrietta baptised, St Mary’s church, Newmarket. Reference: J552/9, microfilm of Newmarket St Mary’s parish register, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1819, 29th November: John James, son of surgeon James Devereux Hustler and Henrietta baptised, St Mary’s church, Newmarket. Reference: J552/9, microfilm of Newmarket St Mary’s parish register, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1820, 29th June: ‘Mr Delanney appointed surgeon to attend the poor of this parish’, in Newmarket St Mary’s parish vestry book. Reference: FL610/1/2a, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1820, 7th September: Thomas Robert Delanney bachelor married Mary Marshall spinster, both of St Mary’s parish, St Mary’s church, Newmarket. Reference: J552/9, microfilm of Newmarket St Mary’s parish register, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1820, 21st September: Henrietta Frances, daughter of surgeon James Devereux Hustler and Henrietta baptised, St Mary’s church, Newmarket. Reference: J552/9, microfilm of Newmarket St Mary’s parish register, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1822, 11th October: Thomas Robert, daughter of surgeon Thomas Robert Delanney and Mary baptised, St Mary’s church, Newmarket. Reference: J552/9, microfilm of Newmarket St Mary’s parish register, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1822, 28th November: William Cooke passed the LSA examination, apprenticed to William Cooke (his father), of Great Baddow, Essex, for 7 years (indenture dated 20th January 1812). Reference: Court of Examiners Candidates’ Qualification Entry Book, The Society of Apothecaries Archives, Apothecaries’ Hall, Black Friars Lane, London EC4V 6EJ.
1823: It’s of note that neither Robert Hustler nor Thomas Delanney are listed in the Newmarket ‘surgeons and apothecaries’ section of Pigot’s Directory. Reference: Pigot and Co.’s London & provincial new commercial directory, for 1823-4. London: J. Pigot; 1823, pg 172ff. [Note: Norton, Taylor & Kendall and Robert James Peck are listed.]
1825, 15th April: Mary-Anne, daughter of surgeon Thomas-Robert Delanney and Mary baptised, St Margaret’s church, King’s Lynn, Norfolk. Reference: MF/RO 224/8, microfilm of King’s Lynn St Margaret’s register of baptisms, (Norfolk County Record Office, Norwich).
1846, 13th April: Under deaths, ‘April 13, aged 66, after a very long and severe affliction, Mr. James Devereux Hustler, surgeon, of Park Street, Gros-venor Square, London, eldest son of Mr. James Hustler, late of Newmarket, deceased.’ Reference: The Essex Standard. Friday Apr 24 1846: 3.
1904, 9th August: Someone wrote in to the East Anglian Miscellany column of the East Anglian Daily Times that they had in their ‘possession’ a ‘marriage settlement made between William Rose, of Boxford, surgeon and apothecary, and Sarah Pett… dated July, 1770’ on which ‘Elijah Robinson, of Newmarket, surgeon’ was a trustee. Reference: East Anglian Daily Times. Saturday Dec 10 1904: 3. [Note: the current whereabouts of this document is not known.]
1922: ‘GIBSON, Ralph Byron, Cynthia House, Newmarket (Palmer & Gibson; Tel. Newmarket 269)– M.R.C.S. Eng. 1919, L.D.S. 1920; L.R.C.P. Lond. 1919; D.P.H. Sheffield 1920; (Univ. Sheffield); Mem. B.M.A. & Brit. Dent. Assn.; late Temp. Med. Off. R.N.V.R.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1921. [Note: in 1921 he was near Sheffield; his entry remains essentially the same (except Fell. Soc. Brit. Dent. Surgs. is added in 1924) until 1925, when he’s recorded in Taunton as ‘Hon. Dent. Surg. Childr. Home’; it appears that although medically qualified he was perhaps practising as a dentist in Taunton and likely during his few years in Newmarket as well; Chas. Lucey Palmer is listed in the Dental Surgeons section of the 1922 Medical Directory.]
Williamson R. Sir Busick Harwood: a reappraisal. Medical History 1983;27:423-433.
The Medical Directory. London: Churchill. [Note: this publication has been known by various titles over the years. Initially it just covered London, but from 1847 it had a wider remit, being variously known as the London and Provincial Medical Directory, The Medical Directories, The Medical Directory, etc., essentially the same work with minor variations and developments. It is usually referred to as The Medical Directory (as opposed to The Medical Register), so that is how it’s consistently referred to on talkingdust.net.]
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