When Wilkin Irving died on 9 April 1859 he was described as having a naturally timid and nervous character ‘A safe cautious judge of medical practice, who rarely made a mistake. His opinion often sought by rich and poor’. [1]
The vouchers of Greystoke contain bills for treatment given by Wilkin and his brother William John. The vouchers span the years 1818 to 1834.[2] In addition, there are also bills at a later date signed by their cousin William John Irving (1808-1870). He was the son of Christopher Irving, William and Wilkin’s father’s brother.
Examples of recurring items appear on the brothers’ bills, including Anodyne drops 1s, diuretic drops 1s 6d, a blister and ointment 2s 6d [3] an alkaline mixture 2s 6d, enuretic solution 1s 3d, and camomile flowers 6d. [4] The procedures they undertook were varied but charges for attending women in labour occur frequently. [5 ][6] The extraction of a tooth from someone called Monkhouse [7] 18 November 1827 and the extraction of urine from someone named Berli[e]n are infrequent events. [8] The Irvings also supplied medicines to the Workhouse in Penrith.[9]
William was baptised on 11 January 1789 and Wilkin on 21 June 1791 in the parish of Caldbeck, as was their brother Joseph (1790-1844). They had a sister Jane (b.1793) who may have died in infancy. Their father William and his wife Mary [Mally] Dobson had no further children. Mary died on 11 February 1795 in child birth aged 27.
Barbara Dowson (1755-1812) married the widowed William at Greystoke on 27 June 1801. [10]
Their father William had established himself as a surgeon in Hesket Newmarket. Wilkin Irving was educated at Appleby, Westmorland, and gained his surgical degree in Edinburgh before returning to Hesket Newmarket to practice in 1814, first with his father, then the following year with brother William John. [11]
William Irving the elder died at Hesket Newmarket on 2 September 1820. His extensive will shows he owned various parcels of land and property in the surrounding area. While he occupied some, he leased others, from which he earned an income. His will names some of those he leased the land to such as Betty Alcock, a farmer, and Hannah Peet, a shopkeeper. [12] Hannah Peet was also a witness to his will.
The three sons are named as beneficiaries in his will. Joseph and William John inherited property and land; Joseph the livestock and household furniture; Wilkin consolidated bank shares valued at £500. Medical and surgical books were left to William John and Wilkin. Wilkin inherited his father’s surgical instruments. Small bequests were made to nephews and nieces, as well as to Christine and Sarah, daughters of fellow surgeon William Blamire of Thackwood Nook, Dalston. Five pounds was left to the parish poor. [13]
While Joseph remained in Hesket Newmarket the brothers continued to practice in the surrounding area. Wilkin at some point moved to Hutton John. William John died suddenly on 23 July 1827 aged 38, [14] leaving a wife Ann Studholme (1789- 1884) who he had married at Sebergham in 1812, and three children: Mary Ann (1814-1898), Catherine (1821-1898), and William John 1823-1905). Ann and her children lived with her brother John, a farmer, at Bell Bridge, Sebergham, before they all moved to Buckabank House, Dalston.
According to newspaper accounts, Wilkin continued to work but his nervous disposition and pressure of work began to take its toll. He gradually withdrew from work refusing to undertake surgical procedures. He moved to Bennet Head near Watermillock overlooking the lake at Ullswater, where he died aged 68. The Carlisle Journal reporting that he had ‘a hereditary malady which he well knew would ultimately prove fatal to him’. [15]
A memorial to the brothers step-mother Barbara Dowson and her brother Rev’d Thomas Head Dowson was placed in Greystoke Church. [16] The surrounding Churchyard has one to Wilkin irving, his brother Joseph, and their father.
Sources
[1] Cumberland and Westmorland Advertiser and Penrith Literary Chronicle, 19 April 1859, p. 4, col.,d
[2] Cumbria Archives, PR5/67-K, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin and William Irving, (cousin) 4 June 1834
[3] Cumbria Archives, PR5/54-26, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, william John Irving 4 April 1820
[4] Cumbria Archives, PR5/54/12, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving 5 August 1828
[5] Cumbria Archives, PR5/53/37A, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving 9 November 1830
[6] Cumbria Archives, PR5/53/10, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving 5 June 1833
[7] Cumbria Archives, PR5/54/12, [line 32] Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving. 5 August 1828
[8] Cumbria Archives PR5/53/5, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin Irving, 12 May 1829
[9] Cumbria Archives, PR5/53/37A, Greystoke Overseers’ Voucher, Wilkin irving 9 November 1830
[10] Carlisle Journal, 4 July 1801, p. 3, col. c
[11] Cumbria Archives, DCC/1/47, Deeds mostly of various properties in Skelton….1714-1832
[12] England and Wales Quaker BMD Register, 1578 -1837, Cumberland and Northumberland Burials 1814-1835 [accessed at www.ancestry.co.uk 2 October 2020] p. 67 of 272
[13] The National Archives, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB11/1636/67, Will of William Irving Surgeon Caldbeck, Cumberland, 8 November 1820
[14] Cumberland Parquet and Whitehaven Ware’s Advertiser, 31 July 1827
[15] Carlisle Journal, 22 April 1859, p. 5, col. e
[16] Kuper, M. E. (1888), ‘Sebergham Parish Registers’, Transactions of Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and archaeological Society, 9 (series 1), pp. 32-96, p. 73 [accessed 2 October 2020]