ING’S KCollege LONDON I'olW Library fiUtfAO ^ HU fWH (W KCOMO MW. k3. M54"* ^ 200910983 4 KING'S COLLEGE LONDON Printed by Henry Richardson, STEAM PRINTING WORKS, 4, Church Street, Greenwich. l?lecor6s of differ ^osptfcxf and ^lo^af £\ent Jispensan?. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/b21303472 Rev. Colin Milne, D.D., F.R.S., Principal Founder of the Kent Dispensary. From a Pointing by Russell, R.A., engraved by Hull (for Dr. Thornton, 1804^. « RECORDS OF THE CQUler hospital AND Ko^al Kent X> ispensar^. BY JOHN POLAND, F.R.C.S. WITH NINE ILLUSTRATIONS AND ONE MAP. BY SUBSCRIPTION. The Proceeds of the Sale of this Work will be for the Benefit of the Institution. GREENWICH : H. RICHARDSON, Printer and Publisher, 4, Church Street. 1893 . fot. yLiS.t’C f A ^ . MOV? IcfcSi . i ^ < iM" DEDICATED BY SPECIAL PERMISSION The Right Honourable WILLIAM HENEAGE LEGGE, Sixth EARL OF DARTMOUTH, President OF The Miller Hospital 6° Royal Kent Dispensary. Contents. PAGE. Preface ... ... ... ... ••• ••• xni. PART I. Kent Dispensary 1783— 1837 ... ... 1 PART II. Royal Kent Dispensary, 1837 — 1881 ••• 62 PART III. Miller Hospital, 1881 — 1893 ... ... 164 Presidents ... ... ... ... ... 226 Treasurers ... ... ... ... 227 Honorary Secretaries and Secretaries ... 227 Honorary Medical Officers ... ... 228 Sermons 237 Legacies 248 Miscellaneous Donations ... ... ... 250 Index of Names ... ... ... ... 289 Index of Subjects 301 List of Subscribers to this Volume ... 316 3llu0tratkms PAGE. Portrait of Principal Founder, Ur. Colin Milne Frontispiece Engraving of Inkstand ... ... ... ... 8 Dinner Ticket from Copper Plate ... ... 32 Exterior (Front) of Royal Kent Dispensary Building ... ... ... ... ... 62 Illustration of Fete Champetre ... ... ... 118 Portrait of Dr. Canon Miller ... ... 152 Illustration of Interior of Ward in Miller Hospital ... ... ... ... ... 190 Exterior of Miller Hospital from Garden, with Group of Nurses, Staff, &c 282 Small View of Buildings 324 Reduced Map of Public Appeal, 1893 ... 276 / L .. > V, . preface. DMIRATION must always be felt for the Poet Physician, Sir Samuel Garth, who, as far as this country is concerned, may be regarded as the first founder of Dispensaries. For, as is probably well known, Dr. Garth energetically promoted the erection of a dispensary or apartment in the College of Physicians for the relief of the poor by giving them advice gratis and dispensing medicines to them at low rates. This work of charity exposed him to a great complaint on the part of the Apothecaries and others but he turned his opponents into ridicule in ; his poem “The Dispensary” (first published in 1699; tenth edition in 1 further his 84 1 ), and advocated scheme in “ The necessity and usefulness of the Dispensaries,” London, 1702. Among the multifarious writings of that worthy Physician and Philanthropist, Dr. Lettsom, will be found his “ Hints respecting General Dispensaries for extending Medical Relief to the Poor at their own Habitations,” published in 1772, which are still worthy of perusal by all who have the true interests of these institutions at heart. Mr. A. Highmore in his excellent work “ Pietas Londinensis,” published in 1810, says, “That when Dispensaries were first instituted there was wanting some charitable institution between the hospital and the poorhouse for the former afforded relief ; only to the sick who would become its temporary inhabitants and whose diseases required confinement XIV. PREFACE. and attendance and the latter was designed to give ; comfort and protection to the aged who are destitute of domestic accommodation. Under this impression it was natural for a humane and generous people to suggest and contrive an intermediate arrangement that should embrace the requisites to which neither of these would apply, where the poor and industrious mechanic and his family might receive medical advice in all cases where confinement was not necessary, or where, if it was, the patient had sufficient accommodation at home such cases, in the number of which those of ; midwifery form no inconsiderable part, are happily by far the most numerous of the diseases incidental to the human frame.” It is a matter of no small credit to the inhabitants of London that these charitable Institutions which originated in the Metropolis should have now extended to most of the great cities of the world. The Miller Hospital and Royal Kent Dispensary is an institution of which the friends and subscribers have ever been justly proud. But little apology is needed for the publication of its “ Records,” for not only very few medical charities have had their records published, but historically, as well as socially, such a work must have some interest to the inhabitants of the south-east division of London. We might go a step further and assert that no account of the surrounding districts for the past hundred years would be complete without some reference to the history and progress of this deserving Institution with which they have been so long and intimately connected. Moreover, PREFACE. xv. as years roll by, and the population becomes so dense there is a danger of historical associations being obliterated and forgotten. Among its chief supporters we meet with the names of many eminent persons and of those most honoured and respected in these localities—among the laity as well as in the clerical and medical professions. Amidst the earlier records of the Institution evidences may be traced of the romances of bygone Deptford, Greenwich, and the immediate neighbourhood, which are far more pleasant and agreeable than their modern realities. In point of age the Royal Kent Dispensary stands ninth on the list of Dispensaries now existing in the Metropolis, having been established in 1783. The eight which are older were established between 1770 and 1782. At the time (1822) when Mr. A. Highmore wrote his “ Philantropia Metropolitana,” there were seventeen Dispensaries in and near London for gratuitously supplying the necessitous with medicine and medical aid at their own habitations. This number has been increased at the present time (1892) to 95, including the Provident Dispensaries. “ An Account of the Kent Dispensary, Deptford,” was printed in 1799, a similar one, evidently a reprint, in 1785 (?), and a third, “Account of the Kent Dispensary, Broadway, Deptford,” was published by the authorities of the Institution in 1834. All of these give but little account of the work carried on by the Charity, but are rather dissertations in XVI. PREFACE. general terms on the advantages of Public Dispensaries to the poor. The Committee of the Institution very courteously placed at my disposal all the minute-books and other papers for the purposes of the present volume, and I am very pleased to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks for their kindness. To Mr. David Showell’s collection of Newspaper Cuttings relating to Greenwich, Deptford, and the neighbourhood, in the British Museum to Larkin’s edition of “ History ; Hasted’s of Kent (Hundred of Blackheath),” 1886; and to the Local Press, especially the Kentish Mercury which , has so ably lent its support to the Institution on all occasions, I am indebted for much valuable information. My best thanks are due to the Honorary Secretary, Major-General Roberts, for some valuable papers and suggestions to E. Arundel Carttar, Coroner for ; Mr. the south-eastern division of the County of London, many members of whose family have undertaken important offices for carrying on the beneficent work of the Institution and to other friends and subscribers ; to this volume who have so freely given their advice and help. I have also to thank the Printer and Publisher, Mr. Henry Richardson, for the able manner in which he has carried out all my wishes and lastly, ; my valued friend and brother-in-law, James S. Craigie, M.D., B.Sc., who has kindly assisted me in revising the proof sheets. J- P- 4, St. Thomas’s Street, London Bridge, S.E., December, 1893. Records of f$e differ Jtospifaf AND J*ertf 3>ispettscm;>. PART I. 1783-1837. Kent Dispensary. T\N the 17th of June, 1783, about the middle of the reign of His Majesty King George III, some 1 10 years ago, at a meeting of several of the inhabitants of the Parish of St. Paul’s, Deptford, a discussion took place on the utility of the Dispensaries in London and the very great benefits that would accrue to the many poor of Deptford and the adjacent towns could one be established on the spot. One of those present, Mr. William Goodhew, representing the great probability of success were a movement made for such purpose, it was resolved that steps be at once taken to open a subscription for the funds that would be needed, and the following gentle- — 2 KENT DISPENSARY. men then and there put down their names as subscribers for the sums respectively indicated : S. d. 0 £ Rev. Richard Conyers , D.D., Rector of St. Paul’s, Deptford ... 2 2 0 Mr. Wm. Goodhew ... 10 IO 0 „ Phillip Goodhew ... 10 IO 0 „ Isaac Parry ... 10 IO 0 „ Wm. Waterby Weller ... 10 IO 0 „ Thos. Carttar ... TO IO 0 „ Geo. Mitchell IO IO 0 „ Thos. Sampey ... I I 0 „ Geo. Speering ... I I 0 „ John Horton ... I I 0 „ Thos. Haycraft ... I I 0 „ Richard Dowling ... ... I I 0 ,, Richard Sweet ... I I 0 „ Henry Varvine ... I I 0 „ Samuel Pasmore ... ... I I 0 „ John Willan ... T I 0 „ D. Davis ... 2 2 0 „ Jas. Agutter ... IO IO 0 It was also resolved to invite the Parish of St. Nicholas to join in promoting subscriptions and establishing the Dispensary, and that Parish having with the greatest alacrity come into the proposition, the whole business was from that time conducted by the mutual efforts of both the Parishes. *Dr. Conyers was instituted Rector 25th September, 1775, and died 23rd April, 1786.