Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (I980) vol 62

William Home Clift: the first Assistant Conservator of the Hunterian Museum

Frances Austin PhD Bernard Jones PhD Department of English Language, University of Liverpool Key words: HISTORY OF MEDICINE; ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND; HUNTERIAN MUSEUM; WILLIAM HOME CLIFT William Home Clift was born in May I803. era. Because he lived all his life at home in From childhood he was destined to succeed Lincoln's Inn Fields these letters, written to his father, William Clift senior (1775-1849), members of the family and friends, were as Conservator of the Hunterian Museum and called for only when he was on holiday or as early as I809 Clift wrote from Hastings, when one or more of the recipients were where he was dissecting a shark: away. The earliest known were composed in 'I wanted William to help me twenty times since the February of 1813 when his parents went I have been here only that his apron and sleeves to stay with Clift's old patroness at Priory, are not made.' Bodmin. It was there that Nancy Gilbert had This may have been written partly in fun, seen Clift draw pictures in the ashes of the but at the age of I 6 William was seriously kitchen hearth for the amusement of the at work in the Museum and his father, on servants. This led her to recommend him to the way to Paris, sent his instructions: John Hunter's wife, with whom she had been 'Desire William to try his best in cleaninig and at school. Already in I8I3 the young William setting up the Oran Outang as well as he possibly displayed a gift for word-spinning that was can. a regular feature of his later letters. He In January I823, at the age of I9, William wrote: was appointed 'by acclamation' the first 'and wen I come from school if the dinner is not Assistant Conservator to his father, a post he on table directly i come I go to school again but held for the rest of his short life. Clift had I have no reason to complain for I have always once thought of sending him to Charterhouse. found it ready wen I come.' Everard Home, the boy's godfather, dis- He rescued a small dog from drowning and couraged the idea and Clift may have felt the cat had kittened. His sister Caroline that a public school followed possibly by (I8oI-73) illustrated one of the letters with years at one of the universities would inevi- a sketch of the 'encreasing family', a custom tably have drawn his son away from the followed by William in some of his later Museum. These facts-the young man's in- letters. She also contributed a postscript: 'William and me sends our best superfine love to dustry, his talent for drawing (besides his you and Papa. Only 2S per yard.' official drawings, which formed a part of his The informal relationships which existed duties, he sketched many members of the between parents and children are immediately family and its circle and Fellows of the Royal evident from these early letters. So far, others College of Surgeons-usually in 'left-facing' of William's early letters remain undiscovered, profile), and his early death in a coaching and we only know that he next addressed accident were all that was known of William his father, who was staying with the Aber- Home Clift when Miss Jessie Dobson pub- nethys at Littlehampton, in I822. By this lished her biography of his father in 1954 time the ability to make something otut of nothing was fully developed, and he began: Letters that have come to light sub- 'Having nothing to tell you, I have written you a sequently reveal him as an attractive per- letter. Nothing has Occurred, happened or come sonality in the Regency and late Georgian to pass, since your departure from London.' 300 Frances Austin and Bernard Jones He continued for a further three sides and air caused them to 'eat away like so many filled all available margins. The following Sussex Farmers'. They visited the usual tourist year he himself went to Littlehampton, where attractions-the Pavilion and the Marine the Abernethys were again staying. Although Library-and watched the ferries leave from less meticulous about spelling, punctuation, the old Chain Pier (Brighton was the main and general sentence structure (he was not port for cross-channel travellers at the time), writing for print) than his self-educated father, and William's infectious energy led Mr Dick he had cultivated a style that reflected his to have the skeleton of his little girl's pet whimsical and energetic personality. His ac- jackass dug up so that he could use the skull count of the start of the drive to the south as a model for a horse he was sculpting. coast in I823 is an excellent example of the William also gave his host lessons in natural playful jauntiness of his writing: history and anatomy. His activities were not 'when I got to Bedford Row, Mr Abernethy was all sedentary. Charles Dick, the son of the all-ready seated in the gig waiting for me in the mews, quick was the word, and off we set, and house, drove William and Caroline to Devil's were just over Blk Friarspont as St Pauls struck 4.' Dyke. There Charles waited whilst Caroline This is Dickensian before Dickens. In the same 'made a descent towards the devil' and William mood a week later he goes on: wrote that he himself 'I hope Caroline will forgive my giving her such 'took a run down the Dyke and completely round a squeeze in my letter (2), but as she knows my . . .and then ascended the Hill (a very steep one) brotherly Affection for her, I know I need say and returned to where I started-having made a nothing whatsombdever on that pint. I hope she trip of 3 miles.' is quite well, and continues to practice in my Horse-riding was also among his more ener- absence, for young folks are apt to neglect their getic pursuits and he hired a mount for the studies, when the proper stimulus is removed, vacation. hem, hem.' This is typical of the pseudo-paternal air he In I824 William had ventured farther west, adopted towards his sister. firstly accompanying his mother to visit her Most of William's holidays, or furloughs as family at Mells, near Frome, where she had he called them, were visits to family friends. been born and brought up. There he revelled an in the countryside and the little village: His father's name and position were 'open 'But Mells! ! ! if any Body wanted to find a truly sesame' to many leading scientists as well as romantic and primitive country hamlet, they must to people little recorded in the pages of history; go to Mells-I never was so pleased with any place and many of the families had children of the in my life.' same generation as William and Caroline. In His mother returned to London and William I827 brother and sister spent some weeks at went on to Bath, Langport, Aller, Glastonbury, Brighton with the Dick family, and the sea and Wells. Then he went back to Bath and

FIG. I Present-day Mells. (Photo: AJHR). William Home Clift: the first Assistant Conservator of the Hunterian Museum 301I the south and west. In I 826, however, he visited Scotland. The first letter again begins in his usual playful, self-mocking, and self- conscious style: 'Honoured Parents/Now for it.' He rushes through the ride from London to Edinburgh. in a sentence of some 8oo words, finishing with, "this then, all this would I have told you, had I had but Space to do it in-but as that is im- possible-you must rest content in the belief that William the Son of William, the Father's Joy- and the Mother's darling is as safe and happy as they can wish him and more delighted than he himself can believe-d . . . n this pen-I can't get on ', a superb instance of occupatio by any literary standards, and again the easy relationship be- tween parents and son is evident. He gives a graphic account of Edinburgh, and some remarks on the likeness of the city porters to those of Paris and Calais suggest that he had been to France. There is no other evidence in the letters of such a visit or visits. As usual, his father's name opened the door to all the medical museums, the university, and the in- firmary. It also enabled him to acquire com- FIG. 2 Mells, the church tower. (Photo: panions for the journey from Edinburgh to AJHR). Glasgow. These were William and Allan, sons of Dr on to Bristol, which he found an unpleasant Thomson, who later became well-known contrast to Mells: surgeons themselves. Again, his energy out- 'It consists of scarcely any thing but Glass houses, stripped that of his friends. On the way to Cora Iron Mills, Lead Works, and factories of all kinds, Lynn, one of the Falls of Clyde, he climbed up smoke, mud, &c. &c. &c. &c.' to Wallace's cave. The Thomsons waited at From Bristol he called at Cheltenham and the bottom of the cliff: Oxford on his way back to the Museum. 'both tried to get to the Cave but could not Most of William's expeditions took him to succeed in entering it, owing to its steepness.'

FIG. 3 Bristol from the Avon (from a drawing by Thomas H Shepherd.) (Re- produced by permission from 5 X0-t_ Bath and Bristol . . . a Series of views first published by Jones and Co., London, in .... 1829 and republished in facsimile by Frank Graham, Newcastle upon Tyne, in 969.) 302 Frances Austin and Bernard Jones His guide, he wrote, said, Years later, as the wife of Owen, Caroline 'vaara few gaied til sic a daungerous height.' wrote on the letter: Later, he accidentally stumbled in the River 'Written immediately after my father's departure!' Mouse and recorded: In letters to his sister and her friends William 'I felt quite insplred after this-and felt I had gave free rein to his wit and facetiousness. In been christend anew; I fancied myself W. Wallace September i828 Caroline took a holiday with -and if I had but been in the cave, I think I could have fought any body.' Harriet Shepherd at Hastings, and he feigned He was less impressed with Glasgow than with alarm at not hearing from them in mock- to which he was invited to heroics: Edinburgh, return 'Various and incessant have been the suggestions by Dr Monro who, said William, offered by fear, love, affection, and anxiety as to 'from report has some very pretty daughters-so the most probable reason of this unlooked for that I suppose I must call again if possible.' delay.' This is not an isolated mention of 'the He retails the dangers of travel: ladies' in his letters. In one ambiguously 'the probability of a free wheel bcing loosened worded letter he confided to his father that he during your hazardous and perilous superterrine had spent a night out 'with a girl', but in- Journey towards Hastings-which might have pro- in the of his in duced a sudden and irristible capsisition by an terpretation light writing obliquity of concussion, and at the same time general becomes less and less certain. How.- discomposing if not altogether anhielating the ever, he frequently wrote uninhibitedly of the equilibrium of your corporeal establishment, and young ladies of the families with which he probably implicating some Slight abberation of stayed: mental Stability.' 'The Abernethy's have a famous joke against me, In biblical style he admonishes: they say Fanny Evans is flirting it away with me 'Let thy Parasol be as a guard to thy Complexion, -because they saw us the other evening galloping and thy Pelisse frustrate the attacks of the un- along together in fine style.' friendly winds . . . at the same time attend to Of a 'bachelor party'-which clearly did not the price of Fish-as that will be an important exclude lady friends-held when the rest of object gained.' the family was away from home in I828, he The purpose of the letter in fact is to inform told his parents: Caroline that she has left behind a reticule, 'It would have done your hearts good-to have and the facetious solemnity of the expression seen me presiding at the head of my own Table suggests to the reader a picture of William (pro Tempore)-with the Miss Chalons on one familiarly sifting through the contents with side-the Miss Roches on the other.' some relish: Further on he explains that: 'from a casual examination which I made, I pre- 'we were early people-for my friends all left sume the blue powder is to be taken internally, me . . . before five in the moming.' and the gallipot of Jamilorum to keep the hair Letters from Lincoln's Inn Fields to differ- in buckle, during your rambles on the Beach. As ent members of the family vary slightly in to the use of the denticulated impliments I do to for not feel quite certain, perhaps weapons of destruc- character. Those his father, instance, tion and Utility Comb-ined.' frequently detail College business and are rela- When William's mother joined the two young tively short. Even so, the serious tone is not ladies he sent them all an account of the always maintained. In i829 he begins one of launching of the Clyde frigate, and once again them: showed his predilection: 'The very natural anxiety we all feel (after so long 'there were the greatest number of pretty Girls ancl an absence) to hear how you are at present . . Eligant women I ever saw at one time-and really has induced me, after so long a Silence on my when I think of all the little feet, the prettily part, to write a few lines.' turned ankles, and the Spring Gart , I cant go on He continues to record the lives of the family for blushing-the heat of my blushes has quite and Museum colleagues in the supposedly burned the paper-already-only Sec.' intervening years. Richard Owen is now 'a There is indeed a burn mark on the paper, fine old Man', who presumably from one of William's cigars, al- 'has retired from the more arduous Duties of his though one cannot tell whether accident or profession to a retired little Spot under the obscured the Museum-where he continues to amuse his de- design offending word. clining age with the occupations of his former The same bantering tone infuses a letter days.' written to Caroline in I832, only a few months William Home Clift: the first Assistant Conservator of the Hunterian Museum 303 before his fatal accident. She was this time slightly different circumstances, might have staying with Susan Roche in Southampton. He become the literary peer of Hood or John gives his version of their departure from Lon- Hamilton Reynolds, both friends of Keats, don in expected style: who was himself apprenticed to an apothecary. 'What language can convey?-or what words ex- The word-play anticipates that of Dickens. press?-the feeling that filled my body (to say That his life, though short, was full may be nothing of my Soul) when fatal circumstances obliged me (ungallant Knight that I was) to quit gathered from his father's words of acknow- ye tender damsels in the power of the Red rover! ledgement addressed to John Hunter's daugh- Oh how wistfully did my head like the wheels ter, Lady Campbell, at the time of the younger turn round to gaze upon the proudly Secure Vehicle William's death. He would, wrote Clift, whirling on its course until my Eyes were filled 'sadly miss his assistance whose whole heart & with tears-and dust!' mind were perhaps too severely tasked for its It is impossible to convey adequately the continuance.' idiosyncracies of William Home Clift's mind Yet there was no sign of exhaustion in what without reading all of his letters that can be William Home Clift wrote, and the end, when traced. One he begins with a scene from an it came, was accidental and unexpected. His imagined play, in which his family, the re- father never wholly recovered from 'this most cipients of the letter, discuss the nuisance of his afflicting dispensation of Providence'. incessant letter writing. On another occasion he acts as his mother's amanuensis because she The present writers are preparing a two-volume has a bad hand, and enjoys tying himself and edition of the Clift Family Correspondence and, as a preliminary, hope to have The Letters of William his reader in knots: Home Clift ready for publication next year. For 'Mr Owen and I (not I myself-but I's mother) permission to quote from Mss grateful acknow- having had a most pleasant walk to Hampstead ledgment is made to the British Library Board and to the Trustees of the British Museum (Natural The sense of fun and unfailing energy shine History). through all he wrote. The headlong rush never ended. William was always writing 'against time', frequently in the early hours of the Notes i Dobson J. William Clift. London: Heinemann, morning, or even as the postman's bell was I 954: 83. ringing to signal the collection of letters. 2 William Home Clift's only reference to his sister Clearly he was a compulsive writer who, in in the previous letter had been in a marginal note.