Kimbolton church, Herefordshire, with Hutchinson graves in the foreground, the same design as Walter Hutchinson’s grave 150 miles away below (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 1).
Walter Hutchinson was baptised in 1852, at Kimbolton near Leominster in Herefordshire (see an image of the church on the right). Interestingly he was baptised by his father Thomas, who was the incumbent there. The 1861 census shows his parents, four sisters and a brother at Grantsfield, a sort of hamlet it seems, quite near to Kimbolton church, but Walter was missing from the family home on that occasion (when he would have been 8 or 9 years of age) – it’s not known where he was. The family were still there four decades later on the 1901 census, and appear to have had quite an impact on the village during Thomas Hutchinson’s very long incumbency there, which was for 62 years according to his gravestone in the churchyard and a brass plaque under one of the windows inside the church. Some information for visitors in the church points out that several of the stained glass windows are in memory of Hutchinson family members (although there is not one for Walter), and that one of the church bells is inscribed in memory of his parents. It also points out the interesting fact that in 1802 his father’s aunt Mary Hutchinson had married the famous poet William Wordsworth, so Walter Hutchinson was the great nephew of William Wordsworth! Moreover, information from elsewhere about the Grantsfield Hutchinsons points out that Walter’s mother Emma was a notable entomologist, and apparently there’s even a type of comma butterfly named after her called hutchinsoni. There’s a significant Hutchinson section in the churchyard as well, which includes the graves of both of Walter’s parents (see foreground of the image above) – it’s fascinating that all of the Hutchinson gravestones are the same design, including Walter’s 150 miles south (see last image below).
By the time of the 1871 census Walter Hutchinson was living in the household of William Williams, a ‘General Practitioner’ of Merton in Surrey. Presumably he was there in training, since he qualified a few years later in 1875, from King’s College in London, his only qualification being MRCS. Walter Hutchinson was from the generation of medics who qualified after 1858 but before 1886, when it was possible to enter general practice with the MRCS qualification alone (see The history of medical treatments, training, qualifications and regulation for details). There are no records of him at the Society of Apothecaries in London, whose LSA qualification had been compulsory from 1815 to 1858.
Interestingly, Walter Hutchinson started his career as a ship’s surgeon. His first entry in the Medical Directory (1876) simply gives his home address of Grantsfield, as does his Medical Register entry for several years, until after his move to Newmarket. However, his Medcial Directory entry for 1877 states that he worked for P&O, and is in the section for ‘Medical Officers of the Army and Navy, Indian Medical Service, and mercantile marine’ – the mercantile marine (merchant navy) obviously being why he was in that section. Later entries, after his arrival in Newmarket, include ‘late Surg. U.S. Mail Line, and P. and O. Co.’s Serv.’ So it seems perhaps he worked initially for the U.S. Mail Line, then P&O, before coming to Newmarket.
He’s first mentioned at Newmarket in 1879. It appears he was in a partnership with John Rowland Wright from the start, who had recently taken on the practice of Richard Faircloth. This practice had been run by Richard Faircloth with his assistant Charles Wing for many years. In 1877/8 Charles Wing moved back to his native Bury St Edmunds, John Rowland Wright joined Richard Faircloth in a handover partnership, then Richard Faircloth retired to London. Obviously John Wright took on Walter Hutchinson to help with the workload in what was essentially a two man practice. Walter Hutchinson can be seen living in the household of John Wright on the 1881 census, which was Richard Faircloth’s old residence.
Walter Hutchinson on the 1881 census, in the household of John Wright, in Richard Faircloth’s old House, which was next door to Willoughby House on Newmarket High Street (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 2).
One of John Wright’s roles was medical officer to the Newmarket Union poor law District 2, which covered the parishes of Brinkley, Borough Green, Westley Waterless, Dullingham, Stetchworth and Snailwell. Walter Hutchinson remained in partnership with John Wright up to and including 1882 at least, so likely would have helped him in that role. However, in 1884 John Wright stopped mentioning their partnership in his Medical Directory entry, and the same year Walter Hutchinson offered himself to the Newmarket Union as an alternative to John Wright for this District 2 role, and was successful in obtaining the post. So it seems they diverged perhaps in 1883, a momentous event in the medical history of Newmarket, since it represents the divergence of practices that would evolve much later into today’s Orchard House Surgery (via John Wright) and Oakfield Surgery (via Walter Hutchinson) – see the Orchard House and Oakfield practice chains for details.
The following year Walter Hutchinson married the daughter of the Vicar of Gazeley, Rosa Mary Tearle. There were lots of church ministers at the wedding aside from the father of the bride, including Walter Hutchinson’s father who performed the ceremony, assisted by Rosa’s uncle, who was also a church minister. Walter and Rosa Hutchinson went on to have two sons, Walter baptised in 1885 (just over 10 months after their marriage, baptised in the same church as the marriage, by his maternal grandfather the Rev F. Tearle), and Thomas baptised in 1890 at Newmarket All Saints. The 1891 census shows Walter Hutchinson with Rosa and Thomas in Newmarket, and interestingly Walter junior staying with his paternal grandparents back in Grantsfield. Somewhat surprisingly the Hutchinsons were living in Richard Faircloth’s old house on that census, rather than John Wright who more logically might have been expected there.
Walter Hutchinson on the 1891 census, in the same house as on the 1881 census above, his ex-boss John Wright by this stage practising from elsewhere in Newmarket (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 3).
John Wright had moved to Rous Villa some time during that decade (yes, the predecessor of Orchard House Surgery was in Rous Villa, several decades before the predecessors of Oakfield Surgery later used that building – see the page on Rous Villa for more details). It’s not known exactly at what point John Wright moved there. The logical assumption would be that it was about 1883, but other records indicate that he was still living on the High Street until 1888 at least (see the page on John Rowland Wright for details), so either Hutchinson or Wright must have practised from elsewhere on the High Street for several years after their divergence (obviously most likely John Wright). Whatever circumstances might have led to this divergence, it’s of note that Walter Hutchinson was at John Wright’s funeral in 1893, when he died at the relatively young age of 47.
Sadly, like his former partner, Walter Hutchinson also died relatively young, at the age of 52 in 1905. The intervening time saw him working with at least two assistants, Sidney Wood in the mid-1890s, who later practised in Bottisham, and William Wykes, who was with him for several years and is shown living in his household on the 1901 census (Wykes’ last year before moving on). By that time Walter Hutchinson and family had moved to Cardigan Lodge, further west on the same south side of the High Street (see the page on Cardigan Lodge for details). He moved there some time before 1899.
Walter Hutchinson’s grave in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, inset bottom right a close-up showing how its design is identical to that of the Hutchinson graves 150 miles north in Kimbolton, Herefordshire (see image above) and inset bottom left a close-up of the main text, which mentions Newmarket, and interestingly his qualification MRCS, the ‘E’ standing for England (see below or click image for source and acknowledgements etc., ref. Image 4).
In 1903 Walter Hutchinson was succeeded by Sidney Winslow Woollett. They were in a brief handover partnership together that year. It seems his health had ‘broken down’ rather precipitously, due to tuberculosis. In late 1903 he wrote to the Newmarket Union from a sanatorium in Bournemouth resigning his post. They granted him an enhanced pension in 1904, but he died in early 1905 at Budleigh Salterton in Devon where he’s buried (see image on the right). Rosa his widow wrote to the Newmarket Union from there in 1905 (mentioning their sons in her letter), but by the time of the 1911 census she was living in St Alban’s with just her son Thomas, by that stage aged 20 and a gardening student – it appears Walter junior had died some time between 1905 and 1911 (so in his late teens), since the census records her having only one living child.
Regarding Walter Hutchinson’s medical activities, a fair number of accounts have survived in the records. One of the most interesting is the earliest, regarding a case of intestinal obstruction from May 1879, which he published in The Lancet medical Journal in 1880. In it he describes a number of interesting medical interventions from the time (see details in the references below), but including ‘a mixture containing ammonia and bark’ which ‘was soon discontinued, as he seemed much better not taking it, and nature having done so much for him, I thought I could not leave him in better hands.’ As during more recent careers in general practice, sometimes doing nothing is the wisest course of action, so called ‘masterly inactivity’, resisting the urge to ‘do something’ and make matters worse that are otherwise set to resolve spontaneously. He published another fascinating case in the The Lancet a decade later, regarding inversion of the uterus during childbirth. Interestingly, with that case he ran to fetch help from his ‘friend’ Clement Gray, revealing the friendliness and co-operation between practices also displayed in Clement Gray’s own extraordinary obstetric case a few years earlier, in which Walter Hutchinson and others assisted (he acted as the anaesthetist with some ether spray – click here for the details on that case). Aside from the extraordinary event, this inverted uterus case is interesting also in that Walter Hutchinson describes visiting what was essentially someone in normal labour several times during the course of a day before the emergency occurrence at the end. Their use of ice inserted into the uterus to stop the bleeding is interesting too (again see the references below).
The other medical reports that have survived regarding Walter Hutchinson relate largely to suicides, violence and accidents, the sort of things that tend to get reported in the press (see a selection detailed in the references below). They include treating things like head injuries, wounds, fractures and dislocations, including using the Rous Memorial Hospital on occasions. Unfortunately the actual medical interventions are rarely described. However, a suicide report from 1885 is interesting in that regard, revealing that he had been seeing the patient for some time with various issues, including feeling ‘very low-spirited and depressed’, for which he had recommended some time off, which her employer had granted. A report of an accident in 1890 included the incidental remark that he had attended the patient 6 weeks earlier for ‘ulcer in the stomach’. Both of these cases demonstrate a degree of continuity of care in times when patients were not officially registered with one practice/doctor or another. Regarding titles, as was normal for the time he was referred to as ‘doctor’ on some occasions but also Mr on others, sometimes in the same breath (as in August 1879 below), and was described as both a ‘surgeon’ and ‘general practitioner’ – see The history of medical treatments, training, qualifications and regulation for more discussion on this.
The Newmarket Union role included acting as public vaccinator for his district. The minutes from November 1885 give some interesting insights into how vaccination was organised at the time – twice per year. Also a newspaper report from April 1889 provides some details regarding how vaccination was performed (using ‘lymph’ from the arm of a patient vaccinated earlier – so called ‘arm to arm’ vaccination). This method was banned in 1898 (see the page on Newmarket and smallpox for more details), but less than 10 years earlier this 1889 report was about some parents being prosecuted for refusing to allow their child to be used for lymph in that way.
Aside from his general and Newmarket Union roles, Walter Hutchinson also did some work for Insurance companies, first mentioned in his 1890 Medical Directory entry (see 1900 below) but he might well have performed some such roles for longer. Sometimes Directory entries lag behind reality, as with his Rous Memorial Hospital role first mentioned in 1900, but he was involved there from its opening in 1880 – it was the local cottage hospital used by all of the local medics it seems.
Regarding contemporaries, when Walter Hutchinson arrived in Newmarket the town was served by the four practices that had dominated the first half of the 19th century, at that stage run by the Grays (Frederick and his son Clement), George Borwick Mead (joined by his son George Owen Mead apparently shortly after Walter Hutchinshon’s arrival in town), Robert Fyson (John Wright’s old boss), joined by his nephew Ernest Fyson shortly before Walter’s arrival, and John Wright, who had taken on Richard Faircloth’s practice and who Walter Hutchinson had joined, as explained above. By the time of his death in 1905 he had seen the Grays’ practice continued by Clement and a series assistants following Frederick’s death (this was before the grandsons came on board, starting with Gilbert several years after Walter Hutchinson’s death). He’d seen the Meads apparently succeeded by Ernest Crompton, who moved that practice from Mentmore House to Kingston House (a building later occupied by Walter Hutchinson’s successors interestingly). He’d seen Ernest Fyson continue the Fyson practice after his uncle Robert’s retirement, from a new location the other side of the clock tower. Finally, he’d seen his own practice diverge, the death of his ex-partner John Wright, and John Hansby Maund succeed to that practice, later moving it from Rous Villa to Brackley House in Walter Hutchinson’s time.
Image 1: Photograph taken in 2019, by the author of talkingdust.net.
Image 2: The 1881 census, reference RG11/1675 (cropped – red annotations mine); image ©, reproduced with kind permission of The National Archives.
Image 3: The 1891 census, reference RG12/1294 (cropped); image ©, reproduced with kind permission of The National Archives.
Image 4: Photographs taken in 2019 (edited and annotated in 2019), by the author of talkingdust.net.
Note: see comments regarding images and copyright © etc. on the Usage &c. page as well.
1852, 15th August: Walter son of Emma Sarah and Thomas Hutchinson ‘Incumbent of Kimbolton’ baptised, by ‘Thos Hutchinson Incumbent’. Reference: MX174, microfilm of Kimbolton register of baptisms, (Herefordshire County Record Office, Hereford).
1861, 7/8th April: I have not yet been able to find Walter Hutchinson on the 1861 census. His family can be seen in Gransfield [sic] Hous? [might say House or Ham in view of the 1891 census – see below], Kimbolton, just outside Leominster in Herefordshire, i.e. his father Thomas defined as ‘Curate of Kimbolton’, aged 45, mother Emma, aged 41, and siblings Mary aged 10, Emma 6, Sarah 5, John 3, and Dorothy 2. Presumably he was visiting elsewhere on the day of the census. Reference: The National Archives, 1861 census.
1871, 2nd/3rd April: Walter Hutchinson, aged 19, born in Graitsfield [sic], Leominster, defined as ‘Son of vicar’, but in the household of William Williams and family, who’s defined as a ‘General Practitioner’ living in Merton, Surrey. Reference: The National Archives, 1871 census.
1876: ‘HUTCHINSON, WALTER, Grantsfield, Leo-minster, Herefordsh.– M.R.C.S. Eng. 1875; (King’s Coll.)’. Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1876. [Note: this was his first appearance in the Medical Directory.], [Note also, 1876 was his first entry in the Medical Register as well, which reveals his date of registration to have been 12th July 1875.]
1877: ‘HUTCHINSON, WALTER, Surg. P. aad [sic] O. Co.’s Serv.– M.R.C.S. Eng. 1875; (King’s Coll.). Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1877. [Note: this is in the separate ‘Medical Officers of the Army and Navy, Indian Medical Service, and mercantile marine’ section.], [Note also, his entry remained essentially the same until 1881, when he’s first mentioned in Newmarket – see below, but note the 1879 Newspaper account placing him in Newmarket – the earliest record.], [Note also, in the Medical Register he listed his address as Grantsfield, Leominster, from his first appearance 1876 until 1881, when he updated it to Newmarket, obviously belatedly given the other references.]
1878: ‘WRIGHT, JOHN ROWLAND, Newmarket. Cambs (Faircloth and Wright) – M.R.C.S. Eng. 1871; (St. Mary’s); late House Surg. Male Lock Hosp. Lond.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1878. [Note: see the page on John Rowland Wright for an image], [Note also, this was the first mention of Faircloth and Wright. His 1879 Medical Directory entry continued to mention ‘Faircloth and Wright’, even though Richard Faircloth had moved to London (see the pages on John Rowland Wright and Richard Faircloth for more details), presumably to emphasise the continuity of the business. In 1880 his entry was the same, but marked with a *, indicating that it had not been updated, then in 1881 it was updated to ‘Wright and Hutchinson’ – see below, and the page on John Rowland Wright for an image.]
1879, 4th August: ‘the doctor (Mr. Hutchinson)’ also described as ‘Mr. Walter Hutchinson, surgeon, of Newmarket All Saints [sic]’ was called about 8.40pm on a Monday evening to see someone who had been attacked and killed in Newmarket. He did a post mortem, as was normal for generalist medics of this period. Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Aug 12 1879: 8. [Note: Walter Hutchinson does not appear in the 1879 Post Office Directory for Newmarket. Reference: The Post Office Directory of Cambridgeshire… . London: E. R. Kelly; 1879, pgs 87-91 Newmarket section, so likely he arrived in Newmarket some time during 1879 considering this, the Medical Directory entries above, and also the comments in the January 1880 reference below.]
1879, 18th December: ‘Mr. Hutchinson, surgeon, of Newmarket’ reported to have attended a patient who’d been injured riding a tricycle hit by a horse and cart at Dullingham. Reference: The Cambridge Independent Press. Saturday Feb 28 1880: 5.
1880, 3rd January: Walter Hutchinson, M.R.C.S., Newmarket, published a paper in the Lancet entitled, ‘Rare case of intestinal obstruction of thirty-nine days’ duration; recovery.’ He stated that the case was ‘a short time ago’, but also mentions 11th May, so it was likely May 1879. Interestingly it states, ‘My partner, Mr. J. R. Wright, saw the lad.’ The initial treatment for right iliac fossa pain with diarrhoea and vomiting was ‘a mixture containing one drachm of chloro-dyne, a sixth part to be taken every two or three hours, and a pill of calomel and opium (one grain to a quarter)’ and ‘hot formentations to be applied over the seat of the pain.’ Later treatment largely involved enemas of various forms, including ‘soap-and-water’. Something called Dover’s powder was also employed, which he thought was helpful, but ‘a mixture containing ammonia and bark… was soon discontinued, as he seemed much better not taking it, and nature having done so much for him, I thought I could not leave him in better hands.’ Reference: The Lancet 1880;115(2940):11-12.
1880, 21st September: Under the headings ‘NEWMARKET. / THE ROUS MEMORIAL.’ ‘This useful institution may be said to have been fairly started there, being now three patients in the Hospital… Messrs. Wright and Hutchinson are house surgeons for this month.’ Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Sept 21 1880: 8. [Note: see the page on the Rous Memorial Hospital for an image and more details from this reference and the hospital in general.]
1881: ‘HUTCHINSON, WALTER, Newmarket, Cambs.– M.R.C.S. Eng. 1875; (King’s Coll.). Mem. Brit. Med. Assoc.; late Surg. U.S. Mail Line, and P. and O. Co.’s Serv. Contrib. “Rare Case of In-testinal Obstruction of 39 days’ duration – Re-covery,” Lancet, 1880. Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1881.
1881: ‘WRIGHT, JOHN ROWLAND, Newmarket. Cambs (Wright and Hutchinson) – M.R.C.S. Eng. 1871; (St. Mary’s); late House Surg. Male Lock Hosp. Lond.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1881. [Note: see the page on John Rowland Wright for an image.], [Note also, he mentions Wright and Hutchinson up to and including 1883 (although his 1883 entry is marked as not having been updated), after which Hutchinson was not mentioned in John Wright’s entry – see the page on John Wright for more details.]
1881, 3rd/4th April: Walter Hutchinson, aged 28, ‘M.R.C.S. + General Practitioner’, born in Leominster, in the household of John R. Wright, aged 35, ‘Surgeon + general practitioner M.R.C.S.’ and family, living in the High Street, Newmarket All Saints’ parish. Reference: The National Archives, 1881 census. [Note: see image above.], [Note also, by comparing sequential census details, it can be seen that this was Richard Faircloth’s old house (see the page on the next door Grosvenor House) – see also the page on Richard Faircloth for a later image of this building.]
1882, 1st April: Following a fight in Dullingham, someone reported that on walking back to Newmarket he was ‘picked up by a cart and taken to Dr. Wright’s. I saw Dr. Hutchinson (his partner) two or three times a week during 16 weeks’ for his injuries. These included cuts to the nose and head which healed quickly, and a knee injury with effusion, which is what ‘kept him under treatment’. Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Oct 24 1882: 6.
1883: ‘Hutchinson Walter, surgeon, High street’ listed in Kelly’s Directory under Newmarket. Reference: Kelly’s Directory of Cambridgeshire. London: Kelly and Co.; 1883, pg 100 (Newmarket section 97-101). [Note: ‘Fyson Robert’ (oddly not Ernest – but perhaps considered within?), ‘Gray Clement Frederick’, ‘Gray Frederick Clement’, ‘Mead George Borwick’, ‘Mead George Owen’, and ‘Wright John Rowland, surgeon & medical officer & public vaccinator No.2 district, High street’ are listed separately.]
1883, 8th July: Clement Gray performed a cæsarean section operation in a patient’s house at Newmarket, with Walter Hutchinson in assistance. Reference: Gray C. Case of cæsarean section in a dwarf: recovery of the mother. The British Medical Journal 1883;2(1189):727. [Note: Frederick Gray (Dr Gray), Robert Fyson, and Ernest Last Fyson were also present.], [Note also, click here for a full account of this incident, in which Walter Hutchinson provided the anaesthetic], [Note also, see 1889 below as well for friendly co-operation between Clement Gray and Walter Hutchinson.]
1883, 13th August: Someone ‘was driving a water cart, and fell off breaking his leg and dislocating his shoulder. He was removed to the Rous Memorial Hospital, Newmarket, and attended by Mr. Hutchinson, surgeon, Newmarket, and is progressing favourable [sic].’ Reference: The Bury Free Press. Saturday Aug 18 1883: 8. [Note: although he did not mention the Rous Memorial Hospital until 1900 in his Medical Directory entry, he appears to have been involved there earlier from this account and the 1880 reference above. Also he gave evidence during an inquest at the hospital in 1882 regarding a patient he had taken there following a head injury from a stable yard accident who ‘lived only about three minutes after his arrival’. Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Nov 14 1882: 8, and see April 1885 below as well, and the page on the Rous Memorial Hospital more generally.]
1883, October: On 2nd October it was minuted ‘that Mr. John R. Wright, Public Vaccinator in the second District had not attended the Vaccination station at Brinkley at the times entered in his contract with the Guardians during the month of September’ and on 9th October ‘the Clerk read a letter from him explaining that the child to whom he trusted for lymph in the first instance had failed and upon the second occasion he was prevented from attending by urgent private business.’ Reference: 611/32, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: it’s interesting that he was relying of a child for his supply of ‘lymph’ – see the page on Newmarket and smallpox, and March 1889 below.], [Note also, this is presumably what they were referring to when they gave the contract to Walter Hutchinson in 1884 – see below.]
1884, 11th March: ‘This being the day fixed for the appointment of a Medical Officer for the second District of the Union the Clerk read a letter from Mr John R. Wright the present officer offering himself for re-election Also a letter from Mr Walter Hutchinson of Newmarket Surgeon applying for the appointment in the event of the Guardians being desirous of a change.’ Someone then brought up ‘instances of neglect of duty’ presumably referring to October 1883 above, so Walter Hutchinson was elected to the role, including that of vaccinator. Reference: 611/32, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: there are no further mentions of John Wright in the Newmarket Union minutes aside from some routine payments in arrears, the last of which was minuted on 22nd April 1884.], [Note also, Walter Hutchinson was re-appointed to the role the following year (and subsequent years), ‘there being no Medical Practitioner resident in either of the Parishes comprised in that district and Mr Hutchinson having fulfilled the duties of the office for the last year to the entire satisfaction of the Board’. The parishes referred to were Brinkley, Borough Green, Westley Waterless, Dullingham, Stetchworth and Snailwell.]
1885, 22nd January: Marriage at Gazeley of Walter Hutchinson, aged 33, bachelor, surgeon, of Newmarket, son of Thomas Hutchinson, clerk in holy orders, to Rosa Mary Tearle, aged 22, spinster, of Gazeley, daughter of Frederick Tearle, clerk in holy orders. Reference: Microfiche of Gazeley parish register (fiche 12), (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1885, 27th January: Marriage reported in the local press, ‘The pretty village of Gazeley was in a state of great excitement on Thursday last, the occasion being the marriage of Miss Rosa Mary Tearle, second daughter of the Rev. F. Tearle, vicar of Gazeley, and rural dean, to Mr. Walter Hutchinson, surgeon of Newmarket… The cere-mony was performed by the Rev. T. Hutchinson, vicar of Kimbolton, Herefordshire (father of the bridegroom), assisted by the Rev. E. Tearle, rector of Stockton, Norfolk (uncle of the bride), and Rev. E. Littlewood, vicar of All Saints, Newmarket…’ Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Jan 27 1885: 5.
1885, 28th April: Following the suicide of a cook who drowned in a well ‘Walter Hutchinson, surgeon, Newmarket, said: I knew the deceased, and had attended her professionally. About ten weeks ago [the] deceased was suffering from con-gestion of the liver, from which she recovered in a week or ten days. She then complained of her head feeling what she described as “creepy.” [sic] I attended her on and off for a month, and then, by my advice, her mistress sent her home for a change, as she seemed very low-spirited and depressed.’ Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Apr 28 1885: 5. [Note: the body was taken to ‘the hospital’ which was presumably the Rous Memorial Hospital, where the inquest took place.]
1885, 17th November: ‘The Clerk reported that the School Board for Dullingham had given permission for the free use of their Board school as a station for Public Vaccination whenever it was not required for scholastic purposes when subject to the sanction of the Local Government Board it was resolved that the times and place for public vaccination at Dullingham be altered from second and third Fridays in March and September at two o’clock p.m [sic] at the Vestry Room Dullingham to second and third Saturdays in March and September at 12.15 p.m. at the Board School Dullingham and that the times in Stetchworth for Public Vaccination be altered from the 2nd and third Fridays in March and September at 12.30 p.m [sic] to second and third Saturdays in March and September at Eleven o’clock a.m. and the contract with Mr Walter Hutchinson Public vaccinator of that District was indorsed accordingly.’ Reference: 611/32, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: this gives interesting insight into how vaccination was organised at this time – see the page on smallpox as well.]
1885, 13th December: Walter Guy Hutchinson baptised, son of Rosa Mary and Walter, surgeon, Gazeley. Reference: Microfiche of Gazeley parish register (fiche 7), (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: he was baptised by his grandfather F Tearle, the vicar of Gazeley – see 27th January 1885 above.]
1889, 23rd April: A vaccination case was reported in the press, in which someone was prosecuted by the Newmarket Union Board of Guardians because Walter Hutchinson had vaccinated a child on 21st March ‘and on the 28th the child was brought up for inspection by the defendant’s mother-in-law, who refused to allow him to take lymph from the child’s arm to vaccinate children brought up for that purpose.’ The case was brought because they ‘wanted the public to understand that the surgeon had a right to take lymph from the arm of the child when brought to a public vaccinator.’ Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Apr 23 1889: 6. [Note: given October 1883 above, it’s perhaps not surprising that Walter Hutchinson reported this to the Board, and as above see Newmarket and smallpox regarding lymph.]
1889, 27th April: Walter Hutchinson, M.R.C.S., Newmarket, published a paper in the Lancet entitled, ‘Another case of complete inversion of the uterus’ (another referring to a case published by someone else). It records that he was called to see someone in the early stages of labour one morning (apparently a normal labour – so interesting he was called). He ‘saw her at intervals during the day, and the child was born at 7.30 P.M.’ (so again interesting that he was in the habit of frequenting an apparently normal labour like this and was present at the birth in the evening). In the event it was a good thing, since she suffered inversion of the uterus and profuse haemorrhage. Interestingly, he used ‘ergot and brandy’ and ‘a few whiffs of chloroform’ then ‘ran to my surgery, which was near at hand, and having obtained the assistance of my friend Mr. Gray, we returned with all haste’ (this would have been Clement Gray, Frederick Gray having died in early 1888 in a poor state of health). They managed to reduce the uterus and interestingly inserted ice to stop the bleeding, accompanied by ‘a small quantity of brandy down the patient’s throat’ (which raises the interesting question as to whether Clement Gray used brandy etc. for medicinal purposes, since he was very keen on abstinence, yet brandy and port etc. were commonly used for medicinal purposes at this time (see the page on Clement Gray regarding his abstinence work). Reference: The Lancet 1889;133(3426):836.
1890, 18th November: ‘Walter Hutchinson, surgeon, residing at Newmarket.’ attended someone who had been struck by a ‘one-horse dray [cart]’ and died shortly afterwards: ‘They got [the] deceased on to the bed and sent for the doctor, but she died in about a quarter of an hour’, although Walter Hutchinson got there in time to see the patient breathe ‘about a dozen times in his presence’, so he got there quite fast. It’s of interest and note that during the subsequent inquest Walter Hutchinson reported that he had attended the patient 6 weeks earlier for ‘ulcer in the stomach’. Reference: The Bury and Norwich Post. Tuesday Nov 25 1890: 8.
1890, 23rd November: Thomas Hutchinson baptised, son of Rosa Mary and Walter, surgeon, Newmarket All Saints’. Reference: Microfiche of Newmarket All Saints’ parish register (fiche 13), (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1891, 5th/6th April: Walter Hutchinson, aged 38, ‘General Medical Practitioner’, born in Leominster, with his wife Rosa M, aged 29, born in Kettering, son Thomas, aged 5 months, and three servants, living in between Grosvenor House and Willoughby House, High Street, Newmarket. Reference: The National Archives, 1891 census. [Note: see image above.], [Note also, this building was Richard Faircloth’s old residence as can be seen by examining sequential census returns (see the page on the next door Grosvenor House), i.e. the same house that Walter Hutchinson was in on the 1881 census, but then it was the household of John Rowland Wright, who on this census was living in Rous Villa – see the page on John Rowland Wright for details], [Note also, in the household of Thomas Hutchinson, aged 75, ‘Clerk in Holy orders’, in Grantsfield Hamlet, Kimbolton (see 1861 census above), was Walter Hutchinson, grandson, aged 5, born in Newmarket.]
1892: ‘Hutchinson Walter, surgeon, medical officer & public vac-cinator, No.2 district, High street’ listed in Kelly’s Directory. Reference: Kelly’s directory of Cambridgeshire… London: Kelly & Co.; 1892, pg 131 (126-133 Newmarket section). [Note: Fyson Ernest Last, Fyson Robert, Gray Clement Frederick, Mead George Borwick, Mead George Owen and Wright John Rowland are listed separately.]
1893, 6th March: ‘Funeral of Dr. Wright / … on Monday last…’ The account mentions that Dr. Ernest Last Fyson, Dr. Clement F. Gray, Dr. George O. Mead and Dr. W. H. Hutchinson were at the graveside. Reference: The Newmarket Journal. Saturday Mar 11 1893: 9. [Note: this is the only reference to Dr Hutchinson having a middle initial H, so is likely an error.], [Note also, see the page on John Rowland Wright for more details from this reference and Dr Wright in general.]
1893, 26th September: Medical Officers of the Newmarket Union appoint substitutes: ‘Dr. C. F. Gray appoints his assistant Dr. S. E Atkins’ ‘Dr. W. Hutchinson appoints Dr. Gray’. Reference: 2706/1, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: this suggests that Walter Hutchinson did not have an assistant at this stage – see 1895 below.]
1895, 16th July: ‘A letter, dated the 1st inst., from Dr. W. Hutchinson Medical Officer and Public Vaccinator for the 2nd district of the Union was read appointing Dr. Sidney Wood his deputy as medical officer and substitute as Public Vaccinator in his unavoidable absence.’ Reference: 2706/1, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: Sidney Wood joined the Medical Register in 1894. He first appeared in the Medical Directory in 1896, in Newmarket (see below), but from 1897 he was in Bottisham, where he remained for many years. In fact he was appointed to District 5 of the Newmarket Union from 25th March 1896, recorded in the 7th April minutes, where he was described as ‘Dr. Sidney Wood of Bottisham’. This was on the resignation of ‘Dr. Charles Lucas of Burwell’ from that post minuted on 24th March. (District 5 at this time covered Bottisham and the Swaffhams). Reference: 611/36, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).]
1896: ‘WOOD, SIDNEY, Newmarket, Cambs – L.R.C.P. Edin., L.R.C.S. Edin. and L.M., L.F.P.S. Glasg. 1894; (Univ., Minto House and Surg. Hall, Edin.); Prizem. In Clin. Surg.; Honours Certifs. in Pub. Health and Med.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1896. [Note: this was his first entry in the Medical Directory, then from 1897 he was in Bottisham – see comments in the reference above. However, his first appearance in the Medical Register was is 1895 ‘Newmarket, Cambs’, which records that he was registered on 2nd November 1894.]
1896, 28th July: ‘A letter, dated 25th. Inst from Dr. W. Hutchinson, Medical Officer and Public vaccinator of the second district of the union was read appointing Dr. William Henry Wykes his deputy… in the place of Dr. Sidney Wood…’ Reference: 611/36, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1897: ‘WYKES, WILLIAM HY., High-st. Newmarket – M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. Lond. 1896; (Middlx. Hosp.)’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1897. [Note: this was his first entry in the Medical Directory. It stays essentially the same until he moved on in 1902, except he added ‘Cardigan Lodge’ in 1900 (and 1901), and see the 1900 Kelly’s Directory and 1901 census below also.]
1900: ‘Hutchinson Walter, surgeon, medical officer; public vac-cinator, No.2 district, & medical officer of health to the urban district council, Cardigan lodge’ and ‘Wykes William Henry L.R.C.P. Lond., M.R.C.S. Eng. Surgeon, Cardigan lodge’ listed in the Newmarket Commercial section of Kelly’s Directory. Reference: Kelly’s directory of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk. London: Kelly’s Directories Ltd.; 1900, pgs 168-176 Newmarket section. [Note: Fyson Ernest Last, Gray Clement Frederick, Grieves James Percy, and Maund John Hansby are listed separately (oddly George Owen Mead is mentioned in the Rous Memorial Hospital section but not otherwise).]
1900: ‘HUTCHINSON, WALTER, Cardigan Lodge, Newmarket, Cambs – M.R.C.S. Eng. 1875; (King’s Coll.); Mem. Cambs Med. Soc.; Surg. Rous Memor. Hosp.; Med. Off. and Pub. Vacc. 2nd Dist. New-market Union; Med Ref. Nat. Prov. and other Insur. Cos.; late Surg. U.S. Mail Line, and P. & O. Co. Contrib. “Rare Case of Intestinal Obstruction of 39 days’ duration – Recovery,” Lancet, 1880; “Case of Complete Inversion of the Uterus,” Ibid. 1889.’ Reference: The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1900. [Note: he first mentioned the Newmarket Union role in 1885, as would be expected, the medical society in 1889, insurance roles in 1890, Cardigan Lodge in 1899, and the Rous Memorial Hospital for the first time in this 1900 entry (but see September 1880 above). It remains essentially unchanged until 1905, when it simply states ‘Address uncommunicated’ removing everything except his name and qualification. Interestingly, in 1906 his address reverted to ‘Grantsfield, Leominster’, then in 1907 he appeared belatedly in the obituary section as simply ‘HUTCHINSON, WALTER, M.R.C.S. Eng., of Leo-minster.’]
1901, 31st March / 1st April: Walter Hutchinson, aged 48, ‘surgeon’, born in Leominster, with his wife Rosa M, aged 39, born in Kettering, son Thomas, aged 10, William H. Wykes, aged 31 ‘surgeon’ and ‘worker’, and two servants, living in Newmarket High Street. Reference: The National Archives, 1901 census. [Note: oddly there are no residences shown between this entry and the Grays in Lushington House, but we know that this was Cardigan Lodge from his Medical Directory entries.], [Note also, William Wykes first appeared in Newmarket in 1897 (see 1897 Medical Directory entry above); 1901 was his last Newmarket entry before he moved on, initially to Northampton, later to Leicestershire, followed by Kent.], [Note also, I have not yet found Walter junior on the 1901 census, but he was probably still alive at this stage given his mother’s letter in 1905, but note the 1911 census, by which time he appears to have died. Unlike on the 1891 census, he was not with his grandparents in Grantsfield, although they were still living there, in their 80s.]
1903, 6th October: ‘A letter dated 5th instant was read from Walter Hutchinson in No2 District that he had taken Mr S. W. Woollett M.R.C.S, L.S.A. into partnership and asking that he may be appointed as his deputy for Public Vaccination and as District Medical Officer / It was resolved that the application be granted…’ Reference: 611/39, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1903, 17th November: ‘The following letter was read from Dr Walter Hutchinson resigning his appointment as Medical Officer of the No2 District / Stourfield Park Sanatorium / Bournemouth / 4th Novr 1903 / Dear Sir, / It is with great regret that I write to place my resignation of medical officer of the Second District of the Newmarket Union in the hands of the Guardians my health has so completely broken down that there is no chance of my being able to do any work for many months my partner + successor Dr Woollett has been performing my duties since my illness + I feel sure that if the Guardians appoint him to the post they will find him a very efficient officer. And in conclusion I should like to thank the Guardians for many acts of courtesy + kindness that I have received at their hands / Believe me / Faithfully yours / Walter Hutchinson… whereupon it was resolved… the Newmarket Board of Guardians receive with deep regret the resignation of their medical officer for the No2 District (Dr Hutchinson) caused by his severe illness and beg to convey to him and Mrs Hutchinson their sympathy with the hope that he may have a speedy and complete recovery’. Reference: 611/39, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: this was immediately followed in the minutes by a letter from Sidney Winslow Woollett applying for the post, to which he was appointed immediately after that – see the page on Sidney Winslow Woollett for details.], [Note also, this appears to have been yet another example of a short handover partnership, of which there are many examples in Newmarket – see The practice chains of Newmarket.], [Note also, Sidney Winslow Woollett was described in this minute as ‘of Cardigan Lodge Newmarket’.], [Note also, the fact that he was in a sanatorium would suggest that he was suffering from TB, a fact confirmed by his death certificate, which also notes that he died at Bilbrook Cottage in Budleigh Salterton, so not a sanatorium presumably (it no longer appears to exist in 2019, when I made enquiries at Budleigh Salterton Post Office), but he might well have retired there for the fresh sea air? Reference: Certified copy of an entry of death, given at the General Register Office, 15th June 2015.]
1904, 31st May: ‘An application was received from Dr Walter Hutchinson… enclosing a Medical Certificate of permanent disablement and applying for a Superannuation Allowance’. Reference: 611/39, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: they discussed this and it was proposed that ‘an addition of 10 years be made to the aggregate number of years that Dr Hutchinson has actually served… in consideration of the fact that the illness which has permanently incapacitated Dr Hutchinson from following his profession as a medical man has left him in a practically destitute condition…’ This was formally agreed on 12th July by the Board of Guardians and by the Local Government Board in a letter dated 4th August minuted on 9th August (611/39).]
1905, 5th February: Reported in the Hereford press under deaths, ‘HUTCHINSON.– On February 5th, at Budleigh Salterton, Walter Hutchinson, M.R.C.S., late of Newmarket, son of the late Rev. T. Hutchinson, Vicar of Kimbolton, Herefordshire, aged 52 years.’ Reference: The Hereford Journal. Saturday Feb 11 1905: 8. [Note: according to the brass plaque mentioned in the first paragraph above, Thomas Hutchinson had died on 18th July 1903, but Walter’s mother Emma Sarah was still alive at this point, dying on 10th December 1905, so later the same year as Walter.]
1905, 9th February: Walter Hutchinson of Salterton buried, aged 52. Reference: Microfiche of the Parish of St Peter Budleigh Salterton burials register (PR8, fiche 19), (Devon County Record Office, Exeter).
1905: Memorial ‘To The Dear Memory / OF / Walter Hutchinson.M.R.C.S.E / LATE OF NEWMARKET CAMBs. / Died 5th of Febry 1905, / AGED 52 YEARS / – / BEAR YE ONE ANOTHERS BURDENS AND SO FULFIL THE LAW OF CHRIST’ Reference: Memorial in St Peter’s burial ground, Budleigh Salterton, Devon. [Note: see image with insets above.], [Note also, this burial ground is like a little cemetery, where Moor Lane meets Dark Lane in Budleigh Salterton.]
1905, 21st February: Dr Walter Hutchinson’s death on 5th February was noted in the Newmarket Union minutes, and it was resolved to ‘express to Mrs Hutchinson their deep sense of the irreparable loss she has sustained’. Reference: 611/39, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: presumably Rosa Hutchinson had written to inform them – and see below.]
1905, 7th March: ‘The following letter was read from Mrs Hutchinson / Budleigh Salterton / S. Devon / 25th Feb 1905 / Dear Sir, Will you please express my thanks to the Guardians of the Newmarket Union for their kind expressions of sympathy with my sons + myself in our great sorrow + grievous loss / yours very truly / Rose M. Hutchinson’. Reference: 611/39, Newmarket Union minutes, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds).
1911, 2nd/3rd April: Rosa Mary Hutchinson, aged 49, widow, born in Kettering and her son Thomas aged 20, a ‘student gardening’ living in St Alban’s, Hertfordshire. Reference: The National Archives, 1911 census. [Note: this entry reveals that she’d had two children, one of whom was still alive, so Walter must have died, although he was presumably alive in February 1905, when Rosa referred to sons plural above.]
Constructing Scientific Communities. Emma Hutchinson (1820-1906) by Matthew Wale. https://conscicom.org/2018/03/02/emma-hutchinson-1820-1906/ (accessed 27th July 2019).
Information sheet entitled ‘Kimbolton Hamnish’ found inside St James’ church Kimbolton on 25th July 2019 regarding the history of the church, windows and bells etc.
Newmarket Union Minutes 1884-1905. Reference: 611/32-39, (Suffolk County Record Office, Bury St Edmunds). [Note: not all entries regarding Walter Hutchinson in these minutes have been detailed above. Those not recorded are largely about routine payments.]
Shops History Newmarket. http://www.newmarketshops.info/index.html. [Note: 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). Both websites continue to be developed, and in this sense are mutually symbiotic.]
Suffolk Medical Biographies. Profile for Hutchinson, Walter. http://www.suffolkmedicalbiographies.co.uk/Profile.asp?Key=2125 (originally accessed pre October 2013). [Note: at the time of writing (April 2018), this website had only four references relating to Walter Hutchinson.], [Note also, see comments regarding this website on the Francis Greene page.]
The Medical Directory. London: Churchill; 1871-1894. [Note: see above references for full 1876, 77, 81 and 1900 entries (and 1878 & 81 for John Rowland Wright, 1896 for Sidney Wood, and 1897 for William Wykes.], [Note also, 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; 1875ff. [Note: Walter Hutchinson was not in the 1875 Register, his first appearance being in 1876, which recorded his MRCS from 1875, and the fact that he registered on 12th July 1875. In 1876 his address was recorded as Grantsfield, Leominster, which changed to Newmarket (street address unspecified) in 1881, then remained essentially unchanged until 1905, when it reverted to Grantsfield, Leominster (oddly, since he was in Budleigh Salterton and is buried there – perhaps that was a temporary arrangement for health reasons?) – his last entry. John Rowland Wright’s entries simply state that he qualified MRCS in 1871, was registered on 27th March 1872, and lived in Newmarket.]
The Society of Apothecaries, Apothecaries’ Hall, Black Friars Lane, London EC4V 6EJ. [Note: personal correspondence with the archivist revealed that they had no records relating to Walter Hutchinson.]
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.).