Mentmore House

Mentmore House is on Newmarket High Street, in between the Crown and Waggon & Horses (for many years The Lancer Indian restaurant, then takeaway, and shop next door/underneath). It’s one of several buildings in the town to have been used as a surgery by more than one practice at different points in history (the others being Cardigan Lodge, Kingston House, Rous Villa, and possibly Brackley House and Cheveley House).

In the early 19th century the building was home to the Pecks, part of the very long practice chain that runs Braham – Sandivers – Mudd – Pecks – Day – Grays – Alton House Surgery – The Rookery Medical Centre. In the late 19th century it was home to the Meads and then their apparent successor Ernest Crompton in the early 20th century. A few unaccounted for years in the mid 19th century are interesting, and possibly when it was named (see below).

Mentmore House on Newmarket High Street (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 1).

Mentmore House on Newmarket High Street (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 1).

Mentmore House was built some time between 1787 and 1821, since it does not appear on Chapman’s 1787 map of Newmarket (there being a large gap in between the Waggon & Horses and Crown where it should be), but it can be seen on the 1821 enclosure map of St Mary’s parish. The building’s architecture looks about right for the turn of the 18th/19th centuries.

The 1821 enclosure map shows the building belonging to someone called George Haxall, although he also owned two other properties round the corner as well, so might not actually have lived there. In 1850 Robert James Peck was described as having lived there for ‘many years’. He was certainly living there on the 1841 census, and an 1839 trade directory describes his practice as being on the High Street. Also the Peck Children were all baptised at St Mary’s church, suggesting their residence was in St Mary’s parish, which is the right side of the High Street for Mentmore House, Floyd Minter Peck being the first baptised, in 1820. However, when Robert Peck married Sarah Minter in 1819 he was described as of All Saints’ parish, so could not have been living in Mentmore House then, but perhaps they moved there soon afterwards. So it’s quite likely that the Pecks occupied Mentmore House from 1819/20, but definitely from 1841. If so, initially they must have leased it from George Haxall. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate any old deeds for Mentmore House.

There is an especially interesting incident involving the Pecks from 1843, when Floyd Peck attended an emergency incident at the Crown, which obviously is next door to Mentmore House. Subsequent events suggest that the patient’s usual doctor was Richard Faircloth, whose practice was up the other end of the High Street. Likely Floyd Peck had been called out on the night in question since he was living next door; perhaps he was even in the Crown at the time (?) – the report in the Newspaper said that he attended the patient ‘immediately’ – see the references below.

Robert Peck died unexpectedly at the age of 59 in 1848. His 1836 will gave his son Floyd first refusal on purchasing the house, an offer which strangely Floyd didn’t take up, despite the fact that he continued to practise in Newmarket for a further decade, apparently from leased premises up the other end of the High Street (see the page on Cardigan Lodge for details, and the page on Floyd Minter Peck for a discussion on his delayed emigration plans). So the Pecks sold Mentmore House in 1850, when it was put up for auction ‘without reserve’. Who bought it remains a mystery, but there are two main contenders.

One possibility is Frederick Page. It’s known that he lived up the other end of the High Street at the time of the 1841 census. Some time between 1856 and 1857 George Borwick Mead joined Frederick Page in partnership, although this lasted only until 1858 when Frederick Page moved on (see the page on Frederick Page for details). George Mead lived in Mentmore House, first mentioned there in 1859, but likely he’d lived there from his arrival. He was newly married in 1856 and had his first child in 1857; did the Meads perhaps live with the Pages at Mentmore House and then continue the practice there after Frederick Page’s departure, buying the house at that point? Was this even a form of handover partnership like that from Floyd Minter Peck to William Henry Day, of which there are other examples in the medical history of Newmarket? This theory seems quite plausible, and maintains the continuity of the building as a medical surgery, except for one vital clue that suggests perhaps a more likely possibility…

The first record of the building being called Mentmore House is George Borwick Mead’s Medical Register entry of 1859. Why was it named after this village in Buckinghamshire and when? There is no evidence that the Meads, Pecks (or Pages) had any connection with that place. Interestingly though, the famous Rothschilds family, who bought Palace House in 1857, had very strong connections with Mentmore in Buckinghamshire. Did they buy Mentmore House in 1850, making it their Newmarket base and naming it, then sell it in 1856/7 to George Mead when they bought Palace House? This circumstantial evidence seems very strong indeed, but no firm evidence has yet emerged to support it. (It’s also interesting in this regard that George Borwick Mead appears to have had some connection to the Rothschilds (see the 1869 and 1871 references below).

The other possibility is that the house didn’t sell for some reason in 1850, and that Sarah Peck continued living there until 1856/7, or that perhaps it even sat empty – there are reasons to believe that the Pecks had relocated to Folkestone by as early as April 1850, but they might have retained it as a Newmarket base? It’s also possible that the house was named earlier or that George Borwick Mead named it for reasons as yet unknown – he did seem rather attached to the name Mentmore, taking it with him to both houses he later occupied in Cambridge (see below).

Anyway, whoever lived in the house after the Pecks leaving, the last four decades of the 19th century saw Mentmore House as the home and surgery of the Meads, father then son (of particular note is the fact that the son George Owen Mead, known as Owen, apart from when he spent some time away at medical school then on military service around and before 1880, otherwise lived his whole life in Mentmore House from his birth in 1857 to his death in 1900). The family can be followed there on the 1861, 71, 81 and 91 censuses (see the page on Owen for an image of the 1881 and 1891 census returns for Mentmore House). Interestingly from a medical point of view, local discussions in 1869 and 1874 regarding the need or otherwise for a cottage hospital in town appear to reveal that sometimes the Meads admitted sick patients to the house, using the manservant’s room like a mini-hospital (unless this referred to the manservant living elsewhere and the practice using his house for that purpose, which seems unlikely).

In 1885 George Borwick Mead’s wife Elizabeth (née Owen – Owen’s mother) died, and was buried back with her Owen relatives in Mepal, Cambridgeshire. By the time of the 1991 census it seems that the family practice at Mentmore House was largely being run by Owen, living with his two sisters, their father listing a London address from 1890 and various medical defence roles there, although still part of the Newmarket practice and regarded as head of the household at Mentmore House. However, in 1896 their father re-married in London and the medical partnership between father and son was dissolved. Of particular note however is that in 1893 George Mead senior signed the 1892 certificate of incorporation for the Medical Protection Society at Mentmore House, which is now a huge international organisation – see the page on George Bor(th)wick Mead for details and an image.

George and his new wife Frances moved to Cambridge, first recorded there in 1898, interestingly as mentioned above in a house called Mentmore, in De Freville Avenue, Chesterton, Cambridge, then from 1899 to another house called Mentmore in Glisson Road, Cambridge (it’s unclear whether they lived at number 44 or 48, or perhaps one then the other, with both being called Mentmore! – most likely it was just number 48, 44 being recorded in error in the Medical Register and initially in the Medical Directory). There is no evidence that any of these Cambridge properties retain that name Mentmore today, but likewise, there is nothing on Mentmore House in Newmarket today to indicate that the building is called Mentmore House.

Mentmore House on the left of the Crown Inn at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 2).

Mentmore House on the left of the Crown Inn at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 2).

After his father’s departure Owen continued the Newmarket practice, but sadly died suddenly of a brain abscess at the age of 43 in 1900, at Mentmore House. His coffin set off from Mentmore House and he was buried in the row of Owens near his mother at Mepal. George Mead senior died in Cambridge the following year.

However, Mentmore House continued as a medical practice for a few more years. The Meads were succeeded there by Ernest Crompton, who had been working in Canada before coming to Newmarket (see the pages on Ernest Crompton and the Page – Meads – Crompton practice chain for details). He can be seen in Mentmore House on the 1901 census, but interestingly he didn’t own the house according to a 1902 advertisement regarding its sale. It’s not known who owned the house in 1902, but likely it was the Meads still (evidence from 1886 proves that they did own it). It’s not known how long Ernest Crompton continued to practice from Mentmore House as its tenant after the sale, but by 1904 he was working from Kingston House (where plans had been submitted for a surgery in 1902) and in 1905 plans were submitted regarding shop fronts for Mentmore House. Thus Mentmore House’s time as a surgery came to an end.

Since then Mentmore House has been used by various shops, much of the time it seems divided in two, as it is now (at the time this page was originally published in 2019 the Lancer Restaurant on the left and upstairs, the Beauty Box on the right). Initially at least, much of the house would have been inhabited too, for example on the 1911 census by the Drackett-Case family of fishmongers.

 

Image sources and acknowledgements:-

Image 1: From Peter Norman’s Collection (cropped – red annotations mine); image reproduced with kind permission of Peter Norman. [Note: we have not been able to access the back of this old postcard to ascertain the original publisher, but using the image here seems likely acceptable, especially given the card’s age. Please make contact using the details via the footer below if you know more, for example if further acknowledgements etc. are required.]

Image 2: From a Roger Newman’s collection (cropped); image reproduced with kind permission of Roger Newman.

Note: see comments regarding images and copyright © etc. on the Usage &c. page as well. 

Relevant references in chronological order

1787: Mentmore House is not on Chapman’s 1787 map of Newmarket, there being a gap where it would be, in between the ‘Waggon & H.’ and ‘Crown’. Reference: SRO(B)435, ‘Plan of the Town of Newmarket, surveyed by I. Chapman London: Printed for W Faden. Geogr. to the King Charing Cross March 31 1787’, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).

1819, 3rd July: Robert James Peck, of All Saints’ parish Newmarket, married Sarah Minter of Ss Mary and Eanswythe parish, Folkestone. Reference: Online image of Folkestone Ss Mary and Eanswythe marriage register held at the Canterbury Cathedral Archives, findmypast.co.uk. (accessed 24th July 2017).

1820, 26th August:Ffloyd Minter’ Peck son of Robert James and Sarah baptised, St Mary’s church, Newmarket. Reference J552/9, microfilm of Newmarket St Mary’s parish register, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: see the family Bible source below regarding his actual date of birth and other family details.]

1821: George Haxall in possession of property number 206 in the High Street on the Newmarket St Mary’s 1821 enclosure map (he also possessed two other properties round the corner). Reference: FL610/1/6, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).

1836, 19th October: The will of ‘Robert James Peck of Newmarket in the County of Suffolk Surgeon’ (probate 30th December 1848). Reference: The National Archives, Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB 11/2085/122. [Note: He mentions that if ffloyd should ‘succeed to the half of the business of a Surgeon and Apothecary in which I am now engaged’ (the other half would have been Andrew Ross at the point of writing this will) he should pay Sarah Peck his widow £50 per year out of the profits of the business. He also mentions that ffloyd be given first refusal on the sale of his home i.e. his Newmarket residence.]

1839:Peck Robert James, High st’ listed under ‘Surgeons & Apothecaries’ in ‘Newmarket and Neighbourhood’ Cambridgeshire. Reference: Pigot and Co.’s royal national and commercial directory and topography of the counties of Bedford, Cambridge, Essex, Herts, Huntingdon, Kent, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey and Sussex… . London & Manchester: J. Pigot & Co.; 1839, pg 65. [Note: Bullen Mark Edmund (sic), High st, Faircloth Richard, High St, Fyson Robert, High St, and Page Frederick, High St are listed separately.]

1841, 6th June: Robert Peck aged 50, surgeon, together with his wife Sarah, four of his children and three servants. St Mary’s parish, Newmarket. Reference: The National Archives, 1841 census. [Note: the households either side were of Francis Bloss, Publican, and John Martin, Publican, helping to identify their location as Mentmore House, in between The Crown and the Waggon and Horses pubs respectively. John Martin was still in the Waggon and Horses on the 1861 census, which is named on that census, as is Mentmore House (by that time occupied by George Mead) and The Crown. The 1851 census for Newmarket St Mary’s is missing.], [Note also, Ffloyd was not in the household, being recorded as a 21 year old ‘surgeon’ in London, with two others defining themselves as students of medicine – see the page on Floyd Minter Peck for more details and an image.]

1841, 6th June: Frederick Page aged 30 [sic he was 34], surgeon, together with his wife Ann, their daughter Ellen aged 3, son Frederick aged 1, Henry Donnett an ‘assistant surgeon’ aged 25 and three servants. St Mary’s parish, Newmarket. Reference: The National Archives, 1841 census. [Note: by comparing the sequence of occupants and buildings on the various census records, it appears that Frederick Page lived where Cheffins estate agents is at the time of writing (November 2017), probably in a property later called Berteaux House on the 1891 census (thanks to newmarketshops.info – see below – for working out his location and sending me a spreadsheet in 2014).], [Note also, the 1851 census for Newmarket St Mary’s is missing, but there is a possibility that Frederick Page had moved to Mentmore House by then. However, more likely he remained in Berteaux House until he left Newmarket.]

1843, May: ‘NEWMARKET.- Sudden Death.- An inquest was held at the Star Inn, Newmarket, on Tuesday last, before Mr. Phillips, one of the coroners for the county, on view of the body of Thomas Stebbing, gardener, 61 years of age. The deceased had been spending the previous evening at the Crown, and on descending the stairs from the club room, he was observed whilst apparently in the act of stooping forward for his hat, suddenly to drop on one side and fall backwards to the bottom of the stairs. He was immediately bled by Mr. F. Peck, and was con-veyed home, where he died about noon the next day, being attended in the meantime by Mr. Faircloth, sur-geon, who stated to the jury, that the deceased died of apoplexy, and they returned a verdict accordingly. Stebbing’s [sic] was one of the bearers to the grave of Mr. Hase, whose inquest we noticed last week, and likewise one of the jurymen.’ Reference: The Cambridge Independent Press. Saturday May 13 1843: 2. [Note: for interesting background on the rationale behind Floyd’s blood-letting see the page on William Henry Day, especially the 1881 textbook reference.]

1848, 2nd November: In the obituary section of The Medical Directory, ‘Nov. 2. – At Newmarket, after a short illness, ROBT. J. PECK, aged 59. He practised his profession for upwards of thirty years in the town where he died.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1849, pg 528.

1850, 27th March: Notice regarding the auction on 8th and 9th April of the late Robert James Peck’s household furniture (including 250 volumes of books) and ‘freehold family residence situate in the High Street, Newmarket’, described as a ‘spacious dwelling-house’ and ‘for many years in the occupation of the said Robert James Peck. £1000 may remain on mortgage. Possession may be had immediately after the sale’. The sale was also ‘Without reservation’. Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Wednesday Mar 27 1850: 3. [Note: the fact that ‘Possession may be had immediately after the sale’ suggests that the Pecks had already moved out. It’s known that they relocated to Folkestone and that their daughter Emily married John Hammond from Ashley Hall near Newmarket at Folkestone on 11th April 1850, which rather suggests that the Pecks had already relocated to Folkestone by that point: Under marriages, ‘HAMMOND-PECK.-April 11, at Folkestone, by the Rev. R. Baldock, rector of Kingsnorth, John Hammond, Esq., of Ashley Hall, Cambridgeshire, to Emily, fifth daughter of the late Robert James Peck, Esq., of Newmarket, Suffolk.’ Reference: Kentish Gazette. Tuesday Apr 23 1850: 3. However, it’s not yet been possible to locate the family on the 1851 census, which is surprising, and since the 1851 census of Newmarket St Mary’s is missing it raises the possibility that they were in Mentmore House, at least on the day of the census. If it didn’t sell and they still owned it they might even have used it as a Newmarket base for a while?]

1851, 30th/31st March: Floyd M Peck aged 30, described as a general practitioner and deputy coroner for Cambridgeshire, with qualifications listed also. The household also contained his wife, two daughters, sister Martha aged 19, a visitor, three domestic servants, and Thomas John Kennett aged 22, who was originally from Dover in Kent and described as a pupil and student of medicine. All Saints’ parish, Newmarket. Reference: The National Archives, 1851 census. [Note: the census here seems to be out of sequence – see page on Cardigan Lodge], [Note also, the 1851 census for St Mary’s parish is missing, unfortunately.]

1856:MEAD, GEORGE BORWICK, Chatteris, Isle of Ely, Cambridgesh.- M.R.C.S.Eng.; Lic. Midw. And L.S.A. 1854.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1856.

1856, 7th May: George Borwick Mead, bachelor, surgeon of Chatteris, son of Joseph a chemist, married Elizabeth Owen, spinster of this parish, daughter of Thomas a farmer. Reference: An indexed transcription of the parish registers of Mepal. Cambridgeshire Family History Society; 2010, (Cambridgeshire County Record Office [called Cambridgeshire Archives], Cambridge – subsequently relocated to Ely).

1857: George Borwick Owen Mead’s birth registered in Newmarket during the 1st quarter of 1857. Reference: Online image of the General Register Office England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, ancestry.co.uk (accessed 19th December 2017). [Note: The only baptism I’ve been able to find for the Mead children is 1862, 9th March: Georgina Bessie Jane, daughter of physician George Borwick and Elizabeth Mead of St Mary’s parish Newmarket baptised. Reference: J552/10, microfilm of Newmarket St Mary’s parish register, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). I haven’t been able to find the baptisms of the other children, in Newmarket or any other obvious place, such as Mepal or Ramsey, in the Church of England or non-conformist registers that I could find. Other registrations were for Georgina Bessie Jane Mead 1Q 1861, Jane Georgette Mead 4Q 1864 and Percy G Mead 3Q 1866. There is no record of a Newmarket Georgina Mead in 1870/1 or Georgette in 1874/5 – see the 1891 census on the page regarding the Meads, so there probably were no such people, these being the 1861 and 64 sisters giving the wrong ages! Reference: Online images of the General Register Office England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes, ancestry.co.uk (accessed 19th December 2017).], [Note also, this use of Borwick as Owen’s second name occurs only here, in the Medical Directory as simply the initial B, and likewise on the 1881 census.]

1857:MEAD, GEORGE BORWICK, New-market, Cambs. (Page and Mead) – M.R.C.S.Eng.; L.M., and L.S.A. 1854; Surg. Rutland Club; late Asst.-Surg. Spalding Infirm. Author “Chloric Æther, its properties, Chemical Com-position, and Uses,” 1854.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1857. [Note: see the page on George Borwick Mead for an image.]

1857:PAGE, FREDERICK, Newmarket, Cambs. (Page and Mead) – M.R.C.S. 1837; F.R.C.S. 1856; L.S.A. 1834.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1857. [Note: see the page on Frederick Page for an image.]

1858, 1st May: ‘NOTICE is hereby Given, that the PARTNER-SHIP heretofore subsisting between us, the undersigned FREDERICK PAGE and GEORGE BORWICK MEAD, in the profession, practice, and business of a Surgeon, Apothecary, and Accoucheur, at Newmarket, in the counties of Suffolk and Cambridge, and elsewhere under the style or firm of “Page and Mead,” was DISSOLVED, by mutual, consent, on the first day of May instant. / Witness our hands this 29th day of May, in the year 1858. / FREDERICK PAGE. / GEORGE B. MEAD.’ Reference: The Cambridge Independent Press. Saturday Jun 5 1858: 2. [Note: a similar notice appeared a few days earlier in the Bury and Norwich Post. Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Jun 1 1858: 3.], [Note also, an ‘accoucheur’ is another name for a male medic who assists with childbirth, sometimes also referred to historically as a ‘man midwife’ – see the page on William Sandiver 2 for an example of this, and The history of medical treatments, training, qualifiactions and regulation.]

1859:PAGE, FREDERICK, Cambridge – M.D. St. And. 1858; F.R.C.S. Eng. 1855; M.R.C.S. 1837; L.S.A. 1834. Surg. Rutland Club; Mem. Brit. Med. Assoc. Contrib. to Lancet and Med. Times.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1859. [Note: after Cambridge Frederick Page settled near Portsmouth – see the page of Frederick Page for details.]

1860:MEAD, GEORGE BORWICK, Ment-more House, Newmarket, St Mary’s, Suffolk – M.D., Ph.D., and M.A. Giessen, 1859; M.R.C.S. Eng.; L.M., and L.S.A. 1854; Surg. Rutland Clubs; Med. Off. Cheveley Dist. Newmarket Union; late Asst.-Surg. Spalding Infirm. Author “Chloric Æther, its Properties, Chemical Com-position, and Uses,” 1854.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1857. [Note: this is the first mention of Mentmore House in his Medical Directory entries, but see the Medical Register comment for 1859 below, where he’s recorded in ‘Mentmere house’.]

1861, 7/8th April: George B Mead aged 29, with qualifications listed, born in Ramsey, Hunts, together with his wife Elizabeth, son George O Mead aged 4, daughter Georgina J Mead aged 3 months (both born in Newmarket) and three servants, living at Mentmore House, High St, Newmarket St Mary’s parish. Reference: The National Archives, 1861 census.

1868:Mead George Borwick, M.D., Mentmore house, High street’. Reference: Morris & Cos Directory of Suffolk with Gt. Yarmouth: 1868, pg 345&351. [Note: Faircloth Richard, surgeon, High street, Fyson Robert, surgeon, High street, Gray Frederick C., M.D., High street are also listed], [Note also, the reference for this is incomplete, since the front pages were missing from the copy I have seen, it having be rebound with the title shown and dated in old ink on the first surviving page – copy in the Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds.]

1869, 12th March: Meeting reported in the press which included discussions regarding ‘the desirability of Cottage Hospitals… first recommended for consideration by Dr. Gray, who maintained, and still contends, that such local institutions are much needed… Believing that the experience and opinion of the medical men of the town and neighbourhood would be of great service in the discussion… they were invited to be present at the meeting, and their decision in the matter… was altogether, with the exception of Dr. Gray, opposed to it.’ Dr Mead appears to have been the main speaker against the idea. His remarks are reported at length, but include the comment, ‘He Dr Mead had been appealed to by Baron Rothschild, and questioned about the safety of coming and remaining in the town of Newmarket on account of any existing diseases, and his reply to the Baron had been that there was no danger, and that he might inform his friends that they were safer in Newmarket than in London, on account of the purity of the atmosphere, and it was a notorious fact that Newmarket was one of the healthiest places in the world… As a proof that cases of emergency were properly dealt with under the present system, he (Dr. Mead) adverted to too instances of a recent date – cases in which he was desirous of having the patients near him. In the first, a very serious one, he requested his man-servant to allow him to use his bedroom, where the patient had every attention paid to him – having two or three visits daily from him and Mr. Gamble, as well as from a medical gentle-man staying with him. The patient died notwithstanding. The other case was one of a serious accident, in which, after performing the operation with Mr. Gamble, there was danger of haemorrhage, and this patient was also placed in that room, and frequently attended by himself and Mr. Gamble until he was able to return to his home…’ Reference: The Bury Free Press. Saturday Mar 20 1869: 7. [Note: see the page on George Bor(th)wick Mead for the full context of this and more detail otherwise too.], [Note also, see 1871 below for further mention of the Rothschilds and 1874 for similar use of the servant’s room.]

1871, 2nd/3rd April: George B Mead aged 39, with qualifications listed, born in Ramsey, Hunts, together with his wife Elizabeth, born in Mepal, Cambs, sons ‘Owen’ and Percy Mead aged 14 and 4 respectively, and daughters ‘Georgie’ and Jane Mead aged 10 and 6 respectively (all born in Newmarket) and two servants, living at Mentmore House, High St, Newmarket St Mary’s parish. Reference: The National Archives, 1871 census.

1871, 18th July:Doctor Mead Medical Officer of the Workhouse reported that the Baroness de Rothschild had requested him to expend a sum not exceeding £20 in promoting the comfort of deserving inmates of the Union Workhouse and requested the Board to sanction and suggest what means the intentions of the Baroness can best be carried into effect [sic] when after some discussion permission was granted to a dinner of roast Beef and plum pudding being provided for all the inmates of the Workhouse excepting the adult able bodied Paupers.’ Reference: 611/27, Newmarket Union Minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: see 1869 above for further mention of the Rothschilds.], [Note also, however, there was another example in 1864 of ‘Baroness Rothschild’ giving money to Richard Faircloth when he was medical officer to the workhouse, on that occasion ‘for distribution amongst the aged and the boys and girls in the workhouse’ (6th May 1864 – 611/23).]

1874, February/March: ‘NEWMARKET. PROPOSED ESABLISHMENT OF A COTTAGE HOSPITAL. Dr Mead mentioned using his man-servant’s room again in urgent cases (see 1869 above). Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Mar 3 1874: 8. [Note: see the page of George Bor(th)wick Mead for the full context of this and more detail otherwise too.]

1880:MEAD, GEO. B. OWEN, Mentmore House, New-market, Suffolk – L.R.C.P. Edin. and L.M. 1879; M.R.C.S. Eng. 1879; (St. Barthol.); Brackenbury Schol. 1877; Surg. Nat. Aid. Soc. Russo-Turkish War 1877-78.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1880. [Note: this was his first entry in the Medical Directory.], [Note also, his LRCP is listed as from London (apparently mistakenly), not Edinburgh, from 1881 to 1884, then reverts back to Edinburgh from 1885 onwards. A similar problem occurs in The Medical Register – see the page on George Owen Mead for details.], [Note also, see 1857 above regarding the ‘B’.]

1880, 17th February: Under ‘NEWMARKET.’ / ‘HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS the Sultan of Turkey has been pleased to grant the order of the Medjidie to Dr. George Owen Mead, of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, and Mentmore House, Newmarket, for distin-guished services in the field. Dr. Owen Mead is a surgeon of the National Aid Society, and served with the staff of Suleiman Pasha, Mehemet Ali, and Baker Pasha, in the Russo-Turkish War during the campaign in Bulgaria 1877-8, and was present at several hotly con-tested engagements, being frequently engaged in dressing the wounded under fire. Dr. Owen Mead obtained the Brackenbury Surgical Scholarship in 1877 at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and the Turkish War Medal, and is now en route from the Cape and Natal with troops from the late seat of war.’ Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Feb 17 1880: 8.

1881, 3rd/4th April: George B Mead aged 49, ‘Physician + Surgeon’, together with his wife Elizabeth O Mead aged 48, son George B. O. Mead aged 24 ‘Physician &c’, daughters Georgina and Jane aged 19 and 16 respectively, and three servants, living at Mentmore House, High St, Newmarket St Mary’s parish. Reference: The National Archives, 1881 census. [Note: see the page on George Owen Mead for an image.], [Note also, see 1857 above regarding the ‘B’.]

1885, 11th December: Elizabeth Mead of Newmarket buried at Mepal, aged 52. Reference: An indexed transcription of the parish registers of Mepal. Cambridgeshire Family History Society; 2010, (Cambridgeshire County Record Office [called Cambridgeshire Archives], Cambridge – subsequently relocated to Ely).

1886, 6th March: A rates dispute reported in the press in which it’s revealed that George Borwick Mead bought Mentmore House for £1000. It doesn’t specify when, but long enough ago for him to say that since buying it he had ‘expended about £100 in repairs and slight additions thereto; that nearly all his expenditure thereon has simply been to main-tain the fabric in a reasonable state of repair, and maintain the said house in a habitable condition’. Reference: The Bury Free Press. Saturday Mar 6 1886: 5.

1890:MEAD, GEO. BORWICK, Mentmore House, Newmarket, Suffolk, and 13, Royal-avenue, Sloane-sq. Lond. S.W…’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1890. [Note: he starts listing a London address in 1890, in addition to his Newmarket address. In 1891 it’s 5 Winchester Rd, S. Hampstead. Lond. N.W., in 1892 it’s back to the Sloane Square address as here, until 1895 when it becomes 32 Bedford Place W.C., then 1 Oakley Street S.W. in 1896. In 1897 the address is the same, but strangely his middle name is changed to Borthwick (which spelling remains until his last posthumous entry in 1902 – see below). In 1898 he appears to drop both his London and Newmarket address, recording ‘Mentmore, Chester-ton, Cambridge’, which changes to Mentmore, 44 Glisson Rd., Cambridge in 1899, then the number changes to 48 in 1901 (with the house still called Mentmore).]

1891, 5th/6th April: George Owen Mead, aged 34, Georgina Mead aged 20 and Georgette J Mead aged 16 (oddly, if this is Georgina and Jane, their ages seem 10 years out – but see comments 1857 above), and three servants, shown in Mentmore House, High St, Newmarket St Mary’s parish, and described as ‘Son, Daughter and Daughter’, with no head of household recorded, implying that George Borwick Mead was still regarded as the head of this four ‘Georges’ household. Reference: The National Archives, 1891 census. [Note: see the page on George Owen Mead for an image.], [Note also, his father is listed living in Royal Avenue, Chelsea, London, as George B Mead aged 59, ‘General Medical Practitioner’, widower, born in Ramsay [sic] Hunts.], [Note also, neither George B or George O Mead are listed on the 1901 census, which was taken on 31st March / 1st April, after their deaths. Ernest Crompton, their apparent successor, was in Mentmore House as ‘Physician + Surgeon’ on the 1901 census  – see below, and the page on Ernest Crompton for an image.]

1892, March: George Borwick Mead, Physician, Mentmore, Newmarket, Suffolk, witness to seven signatures on the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association of the London & Counties Medical Protection Society, Limited, dated 28th March 1892. The associated duplicate Certificate of Incorporation is dated 31st March 1892, certified received by George Borthwick Mead, Mentmore, Newmarket, 23rd October 1893. Reference: Online images of the original documents, Companies House. https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00036142/filing-history?page=10 (accessed 5th December 2017). [Note: see the page on George Borwick Mead for an image.], [Note also, this 1893 example is the earliest found to date with the new Borthwick spelling.], [Note also, this reference is included here in view of the significance of the MPS, which is now a hugely important global organisation – it’s fascinating that Mentmore House, Newmarket, features on its foundational documents! See the page on George Bor(th)wick Mead for more details.]

1896:Mead George Borthwick M.A., L.R.C.P.Lond. surgeon, Mentmore house, High street’ and ‘Mead George Owen L.R.C.P. Edin. surgeon & medical officer of health to the urban district council & coroner for Newmarket division of West Suffolk, Mentmore house, High street’ in the commercial section of Kelly’s Directory for Newmarket, Cambridgeshire. Reference: Kelly’s Directory of Cambridgeshire… . London: Kelly & Co., Limited; 1896, pgs 137-145 (Newmarket section). [Note: Ernest Last Fyson, Clement Frederick Gray, James Percy Grieves, Walter Hutchinson and John Hansby Maund are listed separately.]

1896, 3rd June: Marriage licence between George Borthwick Mead, widower, of St Mary’s parish, Newmarket, and Frances Mildred Johnson, spinster aged 19, of St Mary Abbots parish, Kensington, with the consent of her father Frederick Appleyard Johnson. Reference: Online image of the Surrey Marriage Bonds and Allegations records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, ancestry.co.uk (accessed 24th November 2017). [Note: the 1891 and 1881 censuses reveal that his young wife was a gentleman farmer’s daughter from Wicken near Soham (near Newmarket) originally. Reference: The National Archives, 1881 and 1891 censuses. – see 1901 census below also.]

1896, 25th September 1896: ‘NOTICE is hereby given that the Partnership which has for some time past been carried on by George Borwick Mead and George Owen Mead under the firm of Mead and Son at Newmarket in the County of Suffolk in the business of Surgeons and Apothecaries was this day dissolved by mutual consent.– As witness our hands this 25th day of September 1896. / GEORGE BORWICK MEAD. / GEO. OWEN MEAD.’ Reference: The London Gazette. Oct 16 1896; Issue 26786: 5690.

1899:Crompton, Dr. E., City Coroner, 8 Gordon st.’ in Victoria city directory section. Reference: Williams RT. The Williams’ Official British Columbia Directory. Victoria: The Williams’ B. C. Directory Company, Limited Liability; 1899, pg 369.

1900, 12th March: The death of George Owen Mead at his residence, Mentmore House, High Street, Newmarket. References: East Anglian Daily Times. Tuesday Mar 13 1900: 7., The Bury Free Press. Saturday Mar 17 1900: 7., The Newmarket Journal. Saturday Mar 17 1900: 5.

1900, 13th March: A newspaper reported that George Owen Mead had died from an ‘abscess on the brain, at his residence, Mentmore House, Newmarket, early on Monday morning, after a very brief illness. Prof. Victor Horsley, of London, and Dr. Wherry, of Cam-bridge, visited him on Sunday morning, with a view of performing an operation, but found that it was too late to operate. The deceased gentle-man received every attention from his brother practitioners in Newmarket.’ Reference: East Anglian Daily Times. Tuesday Mar 13 1900: 7. [Note: this was the first such report – the day after he died. There were many more to follow, filling in further details – see some more below that specifically mention Mentmore House, and more on the page dedicated to George Owen Mead specifically.]

1900, 17th March: Under the heading ‘Death of Dr. G. Owen Mead’, there was a long report in the Newmarket Journal. It begins, ‘Stricken down in the prime of his life, by a disease which, almost until the last, was unsuspected, Dr. G. Owen Mead, one of the most genial and popular medical men in Newmarket, passed away, at his residence Mentmore House, after a painfully brief illness, at 2 o’clock on Monday morning… The deceased gentlemen was 43 years of age, and was unmarried…’ Reference: The Newmarket Journal. Saturday Mar 17 1900: 5. [Note: see the page on George Owen Mead for more details.]

1900, 24th March: ‘Funeral of Dr. G. O. Mead.’ Reported in the Newmarket Journal as having taken place on Friday 16th March at Mepal, buried ‘near the grave of his mother’. It provides the added detail (cf. reference above) that the mourners had travelled from Newmarket to Ely by train, being picked up by the hearse and carriages there, the hearse with coffin having set off earlier by road from Mentmore House…’ Reference: The Newmarket Journal. Saturday Mar 24 1900: 5. [Note: see the page on George Owen Mead for more detail.]

1901, 15th March: Memorial ‘IN MEMORY OF / GEORGE BORTHWICK MEAD. M.D. / DIED MARCH 15TH 1901, / AGED 68 YEARS. / A TOKEN OF AFFECTION FROM HIS LOVING WIFE.’ Reference: Memorial in Mill Road Cemetery, Cambridge. [Note: see the page on George Bor(th)wick Mead for an image.], [Note also, I found this memorial on Wednesday 22nd November 2017. The metal wording and punctuation was starting to crumble and fall off, but was clearly visible on that day as transcribed here. I have images for anyone interested, which might be deposited in the Cambridgeshire and Suffolk County record offices in due course, along with this whole work.], [Note also, the same day I looked at 44 and 48 Glisson Road (see 1890 Medical Directory entry above) and neither were visibly called ‘Mentmore’ still, or any other name, although some other houses in the street did have names carved into them.]

1901:CROMPTON, Ernest’… ‘Newmarket, Suffolk.’ Reference: The Medical Register. London: General Medical Council; 1901.

1901, 31st March / 1st April: Ernest Crompton born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, aged 39, ‘Physician + Surgeon’, together with his wife Margaret, aged 30, born in Canada, and a housemaid, living at Mentmore House, High St, Newmarket St Mary’s parish. Reference: The National Archives, 1901 census. [Note: see the page on Ernest Crompton for an image.]

1901, 31st March / 1st April: Frances Mildred Mead, born in Wicken, Cambridgeshire, aged 25, widow, living at 48 Glisson Road, Cambridge, with her sister and two servants. Reference: The National Archives, 1901 census. [Note: by the 1911 census Frances was remarried to Archibald George May (who by way of contrast was significantly younger than her) and living in Southall, Middlesex. Reference: The National Archives, 1911 census. They married at St John’s, Southall on 26th November 1910. Reference: Online image of the Southall St John’s marriage register held at The London Metropolitan Archives, ancestry.co.uk (accessed 24th November 2017).]

1902:MEAD, GEO. BORTHWICK, Mentmore, 48, Glisson-rd. Cambridge – Ph.D and M.A. Giessen (res. and exam.), 1859; L.R.C.P. Lond. 1861; M.R.C.S. Eng. and L.M. 1854; L.S.A. 1854; (St.Bart.); Prizes and Hon. Certifs. in Anat., Chem., Bot., Phys., Pract. Chem., Mat. Med., and Midw.; Chairman Med. De-fence Insur. Syndicate; Surg. Rous Memor. Hosp.; Med. Ref. Workm. Compens. Act; Surg. Ambul. de la Presse Paris, Franco-German War (Legion of Honour 1871); late Asst.-Surg. Spalding Infirm. Author of “Chloric Æther: its properties, Chemical Composition, and Uses,” 1854; “History of New-market during the Reign of James I.,” 1864; “The History, Prevention and Treatment of the Rinder-pest, or Russian Cattle Plague, &c.,” 1865; Hygienic Medicine: or, Observations on the use of Baths and Bathing, &c.,” 1866; “Medical Defence,” 1894. Contrib. “Cases Illustrative of the use of Baths in the treatment of Disease,” Brit. Med. Journ. 1866; “Physical Hygiene,” Ibid. 1867; “Case of Fragilitas Ossium,” Ibid. 1868.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1902. [Note: this was his last entry in the Medical Directory, although he had died the year before.]

1902:CROMPTON, ERNEST, Newmarket, Suffolk – M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. Lond. 1899.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1902. [Note: this was his first Newmarket entry in the Medical Directory. It remains essentially the same until 1925, when it changes to his Devon address, see the page on Ernest Crompton for more details.], [Note also, there’s an error in the date of his qualification at this point, stating 1899 – this is corrected back to 1889 in 1903, even though his entry is marked with a *, indicating that he had not returned his 1903 circular, suggesting the Medical Directory perhaps spotted the error?]

1902, 17th June: Plans submitted for J H Aylmer, Kingston House, to convert a stable and wash house in Kingston Passage, adjoining Kingston House, into a Surgery & Waiting room. Reference: EF506/6/1/7/100, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: see the page on Kingston House for more details and an image of the plans.]

1902, 4th July: ‘MONDAY NEXT. NEWMARKET, SUFFOLK. Sale of Valuable Freehold Family Residence, Known as “MENTMORE HOUSE,” Of imposing elevation and well situate in the High Street of Newmarket, within easy distance of the Jockey Club Rooms and New Railway Station. The HOUSE contains Four Reception Rooms, Servants’ Hall, good Domestic Offices, and Nine Bedrooms; there is also a Small Garden, Large Yard, and STABLING FOR FOUR HORSES, With Coachhouse, Harness Room, Loft, &c., as now in the occupation of Mr E. Crompton, at an ANNUAL RENTAL OF £150.’ Reference: Cambridge Daily News. Friday Jul 4 1902: 2.

1904:Crompton Ernest M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.Lond. physician & surgeon, Kingston house’ listed in Newmarket. Reference: Kelly’s directory of Cambridgeshire… . London: Kelly’s Directories Ltd.; 1904, pg 189. [Note: Fyson Ernest Last (Cheveley house), Gray Clement Frederick (Lushington house), Maund John Hansby (Brackley house), Molineux Bernard N. (Clifton house – see Clement Frederick Gray), and Woollett Sidney Winslow (Cardigan lodge) are listed separately.]

1905: Planning application to the Newmarket Urban District Council regarding shop fronts in relation to Mentmore House. Reference: EF506/6/1/11/256 (Sept) and EF506/6/1/11/260 (Oct), (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: both of these references contain ground floor plans showing which rooms were shops, one slightly different from the other. The second reference is only a diagram, but the first contains associated paperwork too.]

1911, 2nd/3rd April: The Drackett-Case family of fishmongers living at Mentmore House, including Frederick the head of household and his younger brother Stanley. Reference: The National Archives, 1911 census.

Some other sources consulted include:-

Account of the Peck family’s migration to Australia, by Helen Connell (see the Pecks). http://www.theminters.co.uk/johnspages/newstyle_helenspages_wholedoc.php (accessed 22nd-24th April 2017 and 2nd January 2018).

Shops History Newmarket. http://www.newmarketshops.info/index.html. Specific page on Mentmore House: http://www.newmarketshops.info/No.30-32_High_Street.html. [Note: see this website for much more detail regarding Mentmore House after it was a medical surgery, and interesting old photographs – note especially the change in appearance from a house/surgery to shopfronts in the various dated photographs. The 1905 postcard in particular must have been just before the shopfronts were introduced.], [Note also, newmarketshops.info has been supplied with information regarding the medical history of Newmarket by the author of talkingdust.net since August 2013 (see footnotes on some of the pages, including this one). Both websites continue to be developed, and in this sense are mutually symbiotic.]

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.]

The Medical Register. London: General Medical Council. [Note: the first edition in 1859 records George Borwick Mead’s address as ‘Mentmere [sic.] house, Newmarket, Suffolk’. He’s recorded in Mentmore House, Newmarket, until 1898, when his address changes to Mentmore, De Freville Ave., Cambridge, then the following year to 44 Glisson Rd., Cambridge, which it remains until his last entry in 1901.], [Note also, see George Borwick Mead’s changes of address in The Medical Directory outlined in his 1890 entry above, which largely mirror these changes.], [Note also, George Owen Mead is not in the 1879 register, his date of registration being 20th October 1879 with his LRCP qualification. His first appearance is in the 1880 register, with his address as ‘Mentmore house, Newmarket’.], [Note also, Ernest Crompton’s first appearance is in the 1890 register, with his address as ‘St. Leonard’s villa, Exeter’, which changes to ‘Victoria, British Columbia’ from 1891. This changes to Newmarket in the 1901 register.]

The Peck family Bible (see The Pecks for details). This records that Robert James was born 20th July 1789. He married Sarah Minter at Folkestone on 3rd July 1819. They went on to have 13 children in Newmarket: Ffloyd Minter Peck born 1820, Robert William Peck 1821, Ann Elizabeth Hawes Peck 1822, Mary Anne Peck 1824, Frederic John Peck 1825, Harriott Jane Peck 1826, Sarah Maria Peck 1827, Emily Peck 1828, Charles James Peck 1830, Martha Clay Peck 1831, unnamed female 183? (died a few hours old), James Peck 1833 and Henry Peck 1834 (all the Christenings took place at St Mary’s church, Newmarket). It also records that Robert James Peck died of pneumonia after five days of illness at 8pm on 2nd November 1848. [Note: details taken from a transcript supplied by the Peck family and images of some original pages.]

The Rothschild Archive. Showing the Rothschild’s connection to the village of Mentmore in Buckinghamshire (where they bought land in 1836, followed by acquiring the manor in 1850). https://guide-to-the-archive.rothschildarchive.org/rothschild-family-collection/depts/estates/mentmore-estate-buckinghamshire (accessed 2nd January 2018). [Note: the Rothschilds apparently purchased Palace House, Newmarket, in 1857. Reference: https://www.palacehousenewmarket.co.uk/palace-house/history-of-the-site (accessed 2nd January 2018). Did they perhaps own and name Mentmore House before that, selling it to the Meads about the same time? It’s interesting in that regard to note that George Bor(th)wick Mead obviously had some connection to the Rothschilds (see the 1869 and 1871 references above).]

Note: For published material referenced on this website see the ‘Acknowledgements for resources of published material’ section on the ‘Usage &c.’ page. The sources used for original unpublished documents are noted after each individual reference. Any census records are referenced directly to The National Archives, since images of these are so ubiquitous on microfilm and as digital images that they almost function like published works. Census records are covered by the ‘Open Government Licence’ as should be other such public records (see the ‘Copyright and related issues’ section on the ‘Usage &c.’ page for which references constitute public records, and any other copyright issues more generally such as fair dealing/use etc.).