Henry M Gould (1804-1865)

Post date: Sep 17, 2012 4:28:24 PM

Henry Murton Gould appears, in his capacity as Wateringbury's surgeon, frequently in the newspapers of the mid-19th century and this note pulls together some of what is known about him.

Steven McDougall in his ebook People of Wateringbury, 1650-1841, notes that Gould came to Wateringbury and was appointed doctor as village doctor at a vestry meeting in April 1834 to succeed John Hosmer (jnr) who had died. His role was to attend poor persons up to 5 miles of the parish "with surgical and medication" for a sum of £45 p.a.; additional work could be directed by the overseer; and he could take private fee paying patients as well.

He participated as a member of the village community joining the school committee in 1846 and was at the meeting in 1846 which investigated the headmistress (and cleared her) on unspecified charges levied against her by William Boorman. He then does not seem to have been attending school committees again until 1852. In 1852 he subscribed 3 guineas to the school which puts him in the second tier of village society alongside both brewers, Leney and Jude, but after 8 people subscribing £5 or guineas.

In the 1851 census he is shown as living in The Street (now Tonbridge Road) but from the positioning it may possibly have been in Winwick House just up Red Hill. He is 47 years of age (born approx 1804) and living with his wife Ann , 4 years his senior and their daughter, also Ann, aged 11 years. He had been born in Bath and his wife in Cuxton. They had 3 younger unmarried female visitors staying at the time of the census; and 2 female (a "house servant" and a cook) and one male servant (a groom) lived with them.

The stories below illustrate the life of a village surgeon in the mid-nineteenth century. The incidents show that he attended many of the surrounding villages. Follow the hyper-links for more information on each incident.

In 1841 his own pregnant nursery maid (his daughter Ann was then aged 1) was found drowned on the Mereworth Castle estate and Gould in his medical capacity gave evidence as to the state of her body.

In 1844 during the building of the railway a brawl had moved from the King's Head to Teston where a man was killed (manslaughter) and Gould had attended.

In 1847 an accident in the quarries on the Nettlestead Estate necessitated his attendance at the Kentish Hoy pub on Bow Road (then in Nettlestead parish) .

In 1853 he was attending an accident at Wateringbury Place.

In 1859, on a happier note, he and his daughter,who was a bridesmaid, were invited to a fashionable wedding with the reception at the bride's Wateringbury house, The Orpines.

In February 1860 he evidently underestimated the seriousness of the condition of Lord North after he fell ill after shooting on the Roydon Hall estate and who had been staying in Wateringbury.

In March 1860 he was performing an amputation on a 12 year child seriously injured in an industrial accident at Tutsham Oil Mill in West Farleigh.

In 1863 he attended the police constable who was stabbed during a brawl at The King's Head.

He is listed by the Sussex Advertiser (1st August 1865) as an "officer" (one of 8) for the 1865 Wateringbury Regatta.

His death in Wateringbury at the age of 61 is recorded on 21st November 1865 in the Maidstone Telegraph of 2nd December 1865.

The Wateringbury churchyard inventory records a vault inscribed as follows:

Sacred to the memory of Annette Louisa, wife of T. E. Gould, Esqr, Paymaster and Purser, R.N. Born in Nova Scotia 5th May 1820, died 18th April 1848, aged 27 years.

Also, Ann, wife of Henry Murton Gould, Esqr, surgeon of this place, who died 4th August 1857, aged 55 years.

Also, the above named Henry Murton Gould, who died November 21st, 1865, aged 61 years.

It is not known where in the churchyard this vault is located.