Doctor BENSON or Quack?

[majm]

Family History researching is perhaps the best addiction to acquire.  My Gran had it.  She made sure I developed it  errr around six decades ago.   That of course was long before cyberspace and it was also long before Public Records were easily accessed by private persons.    You will enjoy family history but do try to find the PRIMARY docs .....spend the pennies wisely on those.                            Cheers  JM

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Hi all,

Guess the thing about researching is that wriggly questions stay with you and you find interesting sites as a result. Whilst this site might be known to others I haven't come across it before and it does seem to put Australian medicine in the early colonial period into some perspective even if it doesn't shed anymore specific light on BJB himself. It can be found at;

http://www.medicalpioneers.com/colonial.htm

Also I'm working on trying to transcribe Thomas Barker's father will. There is a definite reduction of Barker's inheritance to One pound five shillings I think weekly (very hard to read) because his father feels he has given him plenty of money already (and he adds his other sons into this a bit later as they become more well-off) and he feels Barker has not spent the money wisely. The codicil this is contained in ironically is dated 1842 when Barker goes bankrupt for the first time. Poor Barker must have felt pretty low at this time of his life!!!!! 

Cheers barkrels

 

[carna]

Hi Angela,

Great website for understanding early medicine!

If you are having trouble transcribing the will, did you realise there is a board on Rootschat that can help with that.
It is near the beginning of the list, but is restricted by copyright.

Apparently you can post parts of the will for help transcribing, just not all of it.

This might be useful for any parts of the will that you are having trouble with.

Cheers,
Carna

[majm]

He is not mentioned on this website

http://www.medicalpioneers.com/about.htm

Cando

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Hi Carna, and Majm,


Thanks for the hint Karen, but I'm becoming more au fait with the wording in the will every time I look at it and I think I'll be able to transcribe it eventually. It's a challenge and I'm up to it. As with all wills it's meant for the inheritors and executors to understand and it does not shed any light on 'history' that we all don't know already as far as I can see. It's awfully long with four codicils so it will take some time.

As for JM, I did say the site wouldn't shed any light on Barker. I feel it's just good to get a general picture of what is going on in specific time periods of history. I'm a migrant and do not have the advantage of doing Australian history at school so I find I need to read general sites to put myself in the general picture. I just thought others might be in the same boat as me.

Looking back over the posts it is good that so much has been written on Barker Joseph whom I have to admit I've grown rather fond of.  I have some empathy with him in the sense of coming half way around the world to an unknown place and having to 'grow up' here (At least the ship I came on didn't take six months and was sanitary etc).

His medical 'degree' is a conundrum (spelling?) that will probably never be solved but it's always fun to hope that you might stumble on something one day and because we're pensioners I guess we would only spend money on a 'certain' (as we already have with the wills) not a 'hunch' as we can't afford to throw money away. Your comment on 'the facts' has been noted.

Thanks again to everyone who has put posts on this site, it's great to see so much discussion.

Barkrels - cheers



 

[carna]

Dear all,

Thanks for all the posts trying to answer doctor or quack?

Today I visited Henry Kendall Cottage in Gosford, where Barker practiced as a doctor.
(Henry Kendall was a well known Australian poet and was married to Charlotte Rutter, sister to one of Barker's daughter-in-laws.)

There is a historical museum there but nothing about Barker.
There were plenty of local historical books, of which one (Gosford and the Kendal Country, by Charles Swancott) mentions that there are 2x surgeons and 1x doctor in the area in1854, Joseph Benson Barker being the Surgeon at East Gosford. (note the mixed up name)

With all the posts on this board and this also being confirmed in this book by and respected local historian, I am going to believe that Barker was a surgeon.

The search will go on to find the proof of his qualifications but for now this is where I'm at.

I thank all of you for your help and I appreciate all the pieces of the puzzle that you have provided so far. I only hope that some day I can repay the kindness.

Carna
P.S. JM, Thanks for everything, especially for keeping me true. 

[carna]

Hi all,

While visiting Gosford library and searching the local history books, I came across possibly new information . . . . . .

Apparently Barker Joseph Benson was a surgeon and apothecary in England in 1838.
I know regulations for apothecaries changed in 1815 and for surgeons in 1845.
Barker sailed to NZ and Australia in 1841, so may not have registered.

Can anyone tell me where to search to try to prove this?
Is there a list of practising apothecaries from around this time?

Thanks,
Carna

[Billyblue]

So Carna
Have you contacted the Royal College of Surgeons in London?
Or the NSW Medical Board?

They would be the most likely places to provide any proof.
The NSWMB might even show which Uni / College he got his degree from, and you could then contact that establishment for further proof if you needed it.  Though if the NSWMB accepted his piece of paper from 'wherever' then that surely is enough - they were very thorough in those days about inspecting everything!  I know in Queensland in the 1860s they wouldn't even look at registering anyone unless they fronted up to the members of the Board, in person, even if it meant coming down from Townsville or Cooktown, which would be no mean feat in those days, not like now when you can hop on a plane and be in Brisbane in an hour or so.

Dawn M

[majm]

Hi Carna,

Have you contacted the NSW State Records Office to see what was in the minutes book covering 1838 to 1854 that I mentioned at reply #38

Cheers,  JM

PS I have just posted on your other current thread,   
Re: Looking for Barker Joseph BENSON, born Whitby 1815?


http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=513531.new