Medical Continuity in the Parish of Woodbury
In 1722 Gilbert Langdon, the son of the Vicar of Woodbury, was apprenticed for seven years to a cheirosurgeon of Bovey Tracey for the sum of £21. He settled in Woodbury, having married the cousin of a distinguished doctor in Exeter, William Holwell who was born in Woodbury. Gilbert practiced medicine in the parish until his death in 1791.
Jacob Butter, the grandson of Dr Gilbert Langdon and the son of Jacob Butter who had married Catherine Langdon and farmed Grindle (now known as Greendale), was described as an apothecary of Woodbury when he was called before the magistrates for an assault in 1785. It seems likely that Jacob was apprenticed to Gilbert Langdon and took over the practice when Gilbert became too old. In 1794 Jacob was described as a cheirosurgeon when he gave evidence at the inquest of Gilbert Langdon’s son Edward, who had been killed falling from his horse at his father’s farm at Grindle. Jacob lived in and held his surgery in Higher Venmore farm – there is still a door in the house with ‘surgery’ written on it. Jacob died in 1838 and was succeeded by his son Jacobus, who had been practicing medicine in Lympstone. Jacobus moved into Higher Venmore, but sadly his stay there was brief as eight years later, at the age of 53, he died of dropsy.
Dr Jacob Butter had another son, John, born in Woodbury in 1791, the uncle and great-uncle of the doctors Edwin and William Ashford (see below). John was educated at Exeter Grammar School and studied for the medical profession at the Devon & Exeter Hospital. He obtained his MD at Edinburgh University, becoming a member of the Royal Society in 1822. He was appointed surgeon of the South Devon Militia, and later settled at Plymouth, where he concentrated on diseases of the eye. Along with Dr. Edward Moore, he was the originator of the Plymouth Eye Dispensary. He lost one eye through ophthalmic rheumatism, contracted by exposure while examining recruits for the war in the Crimea, and in 1856 became totally blind. John Butter was the author of Ophthalmic Diseases (1821), Dockyard Diseases, or Irritative Fever (1825), and other medical and chirurgical memoirs. He died in 1877.
After the death of Jacobus Butter, Robert Brent, a Wiltshire man, moved to Woodbury in order to take over his medical practice. Higher Venmore Farm had been left in the will of Jacobus to his sister, Catherine, who had married James Ashford, so Brent was obliged to find other premises. He bought Sydney Cottage (Bixley Haven) from the family of the previous vicar of Woodbury, and altered it to present a residence suitable for an up and coming young doctor who had just come down from working in a hospital in London. Brent, being a non-conformist, was not able to attend university, so his medical training was as an apprentice to a doctor in Westbury in Wiltshire – Brent’s home was in a village quite close to where his father ran a mill.
Meanwhile living in Venmore Farm was William Ashford and his family. William was the son of James Ashford who farmed Cooks Farm at Venmore. This wonderful old photograph, dating to about 1885, shows a gentleman farmer with his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Lee of Sparkhays Farm, and their family.
The three boys standing from the left are Brice Wakeford Lee, James Edwin and John Butter. Brice named after his mother’s cousin, Brice Wakeford Lee of Ebford Barton, became a bank manager and remained a bachelor all his life. He played rugby for various first class clubs as well as for Devon. James Edwin worked on the farm with his father before emigrating to Canada where he lived with his wife in Wentworth, Ontario and ran a farm. John Butter, named after his grandmother’s family, went to the West Indies where he became an overseer on a sugar plantation. His stay there was short-lived as he was attacked by the workmen on the plantation receiving a head injury, which decided him to return to England. As with all the men of the family he had been a very useful cricketer, including playing for Devon. The rest of his life was spent living a bachelor gentleman’s existence with the family, who had moved into Exeter at the turn of the century. He regularly went to the Royal Clarence for coffee in the mornings and died suddenly sitting in an armchair there.
Not much is known about the daughters of the family. Emily Elizabeth, standing at the back in the photo married the vicar of Woolfardisworthy in 1887 and died 20 years later. Anna Catherine seated on the left never married and lived a comfortable life with a private income.
Jacob Butter, the grandson of Dr Gilbert Langdon and the son of Jacob Butter who had married Catherine Langdon and farmed Grindle (now known as Greendale), was described as an apothecary of Woodbury when he was called before the magistrates for an assault in 1785. It seems likely that Jacob was apprenticed to Gilbert Langdon and took over the practice when Gilbert became too old. In 1794 Jacob was described as a cheirosurgeon when he gave evidence at the inquest of Gilbert Langdon’s son Edward, who had been killed falling from his horse at his father’s farm at Grindle. Jacob lived in and held his surgery in Higher Venmore farm – there is still a door in the house with ‘surgery’ written on it. Jacob died in 1838 and was succeeded by his son Jacobus, who had been practicing medicine in Lympstone. Jacobus moved into Higher Venmore, but sadly his stay there was brief as eight years later, at the age of 53, he died of dropsy.
Dr Jacob Butter had another son, John, born in Woodbury in 1791, the uncle and great-uncle of the doctors Edwin and William Ashford (see below). John was educated at Exeter Grammar School and studied for the medical profession at the Devon & Exeter Hospital. He obtained his MD at Edinburgh University, becoming a member of the Royal Society in 1822. He was appointed surgeon of the South Devon Militia, and later settled at Plymouth, where he concentrated on diseases of the eye. Along with Dr. Edward Moore, he was the originator of the Plymouth Eye Dispensary. He lost one eye through ophthalmic rheumatism, contracted by exposure while examining recruits for the war in the Crimea, and in 1856 became totally blind. John Butter was the author of Ophthalmic Diseases (1821), Dockyard Diseases, or Irritative Fever (1825), and other medical and chirurgical memoirs. He died in 1877.
After the death of Jacobus Butter, Robert Brent, a Wiltshire man, moved to Woodbury in order to take over his medical practice. Higher Venmore Farm had been left in the will of Jacobus to his sister, Catherine, who had married James Ashford, so Brent was obliged to find other premises. He bought Sydney Cottage (Bixley Haven) from the family of the previous vicar of Woodbury, and altered it to present a residence suitable for an up and coming young doctor who had just come down from working in a hospital in London. Brent, being a non-conformist, was not able to attend university, so his medical training was as an apprentice to a doctor in Westbury in Wiltshire – Brent’s home was in a village quite close to where his father ran a mill.
Meanwhile living in Venmore Farm was William Ashford and his family. William was the son of James Ashford who farmed Cooks Farm at Venmore. This wonderful old photograph, dating to about 1885, shows a gentleman farmer with his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Lee of Sparkhays Farm, and their family.
The three boys standing from the left are Brice Wakeford Lee, James Edwin and John Butter. Brice named after his mother’s cousin, Brice Wakeford Lee of Ebford Barton, became a bank manager and remained a bachelor all his life. He played rugby for various first class clubs as well as for Devon. James Edwin worked on the farm with his father before emigrating to Canada where he lived with his wife in Wentworth, Ontario and ran a farm. John Butter, named after his grandmother’s family, went to the West Indies where he became an overseer on a sugar plantation. His stay there was short-lived as he was attacked by the workmen on the plantation receiving a head injury, which decided him to return to England. As with all the men of the family he had been a very useful cricketer, including playing for Devon. The rest of his life was spent living a bachelor gentleman’s existence with the family, who had moved into Exeter at the turn of the century. He regularly went to the Royal Clarence for coffee in the mornings and died suddenly sitting in an armchair there.
Not much is known about the daughters of the family. Emily Elizabeth, standing at the back in the photo married the vicar of Woolfardisworthy in 1887 and died 20 years later. Anna Catherine seated on the left never married and lived a comfortable life with a private income.
The third sister, Julia Mary Ashford, married at the age of 50 a widower from Bristol and settled there until her husband’s death, when she returned to Exeter.
The youngest son in the picture is the one who continued the history of medicine within the family. His uncle Edwin, his father’s brother, was a retired doctor living in Bath, and of course his great-grandfather Jacob Butter at an earlier period was part of the medical tradition in Woodbury. William was trained at St Thomas’s in London. In 1900 he went to South Africa and served as a civilian doctor during the Boer War. He met there a Red Cross nurse, called Elise Mary Irwin whom he married in 1901, and returned with her to England where he settled in Riversmeet Terrace (at the top of Bridge Hill) in Topsham. He was a very popular doctor in the town, as can be seen from the road which is named after him. During the First World War his house was opened as a VAD Hospital with William as the Medical Director and his wife as the Matron. Like his brothers William excelled at sport and played cricket for Devon and four times represented England at rugby. William and Elise had one son, Christopher, the father of Sheila Harding.
I would like to thank Sheila Harding who has given the family photograph and that of the VAD Hospital and staff in Topsham to the History Society Archives, and also contributed such a lot of information about her very interesting family – I have written briefly about just one part of it.
The youngest son in the picture is the one who continued the history of medicine within the family. His uncle Edwin, his father’s brother, was a retired doctor living in Bath, and of course his great-grandfather Jacob Butter at an earlier period was part of the medical tradition in Woodbury. William was trained at St Thomas’s in London. In 1900 he went to South Africa and served as a civilian doctor during the Boer War. He met there a Red Cross nurse, called Elise Mary Irwin whom he married in 1901, and returned with her to England where he settled in Riversmeet Terrace (at the top of Bridge Hill) in Topsham. He was a very popular doctor in the town, as can be seen from the road which is named after him. During the First World War his house was opened as a VAD Hospital with William as the Medical Director and his wife as the Matron. Like his brothers William excelled at sport and played cricket for Devon and four times represented England at rugby. William and Elise had one son, Christopher, the father of Sheila Harding.
I would like to thank Sheila Harding who has given the family photograph and that of the VAD Hospital and staff in Topsham to the History Society Archives, and also contributed such a lot of information about her very interesting family – I have written briefly about just one part of it.