I agree with attendance. The ink is faded for the first "A", but if you spell it out, isn't the "at" just the ending "ce" of attendance? Either way, you can get the gist of it!
The closest mention I can find for E. Tomlinson, surgeon in the old newspapers is in 1842, where he was the house-surgeon for the Royal Infirmary, presumably Manchester, as it was a Manchester newspaper.