George Graham was a surgeon in Brampton. During his working life he encountered both the poor and the non-poor. His name appears on voucher PR60/21/13/5 which relates predominantly to child deliveries with fees ranging from 15s to £1.5s. As one item on the bill relates to the Workhouse it is assumed that the mothers were poor.[1] The mothers are referred to by the prefix ‘Miss’ and a surname. One is simply referred to as ‘a pauper in Brampton’. Excepting a Miss Robb or Ross and the pauper however, it is possible to determine who some of those concerned are.

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Four have been identified: Robert, illegitimate son of Margaret Dobson 11 March 1814, Forrest Head. Ann, illegitimate daughter of Ann Atkinson, spinster, 5 May 1815, Brampton; George, illegitimate son of Sarah Taylor, weaver, 5 November 1815 Brampton; and Margaret, illegitimate daughter of Margaret Wallace, 12 January 1816, Brampton.

From parish registers, four have been identified: Robert, illegitimate son of Margaret Dobson, 11 March 1814, Forrest Head; Ann, illegitimate daughter of Ann Atkinson, spinster, 5 May 1815, Brampton; George, illegitimate son of Sarah Taylor, weaver, 5 November 1815, Brampton; and Margaret, illegitimate daughter of Margaret Wallace, 12 January 1816, Brampton.[2]

Other vouchers bearing Dr Graham’s name are for medication but it is not clear who they are for. Medicines include, Cream Tartar 4d, Cordial Mixture 3s, Diuretic Mixture 3s, Bronchial Mixture 3s, Opening Powder 6d, and Tonic Powders 5s. Although the precise ingredients are not stipulated, Dr T J Graham’s Modern Domestic Medicine (1837) may give some idea as to the ingredients used.[3]

Dr Graham was born at Bankhead, Canonbie, Dumfriesshire on 15 October 1783 in the Esk Basin. This was once known as the ‘Debatable Land’ between England and Scotland where the Graham, Armstrong, Bell and Elliot families administered the law. George Graham had five siblings: three sisters Sarah (1777-1862), Janet (1778-1841) Margaret or Peggy (1786-1836), and brothers William (1781- 1849) and John (1789- 1838). Sarah married farmer Richard Johnstone (1773-1873) and Janet also married a farmer, John Hope (1779 -1866). [4] George’s parents Peter Graham (1740-1825) and Ann Nichol (1747-1831) left the farm at Bankhead around 1790 and moved the short distance to Cubbyhill near Longtown.[5] George became a Surgeon, John became a silk mercer in London, and William took over the farm.

Dr Graham gained his Surgical Diploma in Edinburgh and began practice initially in Longtown Cumberland aged 23. His name is amongst those balloted for the Militia but he did not serve, a substitute took his place[6]

Working Life
Dr Graham began practice in Brampton in 1811. His name can be found in the 1829 trade directory at Market Place. [7] He was one of three surgeons in Brampton; the others being T. Gilbanks, H. Dobson and W. Fleming. In 1834 he was joined by an assistant William Armstrong (1812-1886), also born in Canonbie. Dr Graham purchased a property in Market Place in the centre of Brampton for £400 in 1836 and began a Doctors’ Partnership with Dr Armstrong in 1839. [8] They can be both found on the 1841 Census at Front Street, Brampton. They were joined in the practice by John Graham(1820-1893) George Graham’s nephew, one of his brother William’s 12 children. John Graham continued in the practice till 1861 when he sold up to leave for London along with his wife.[9] William Armstrong continued to be involved in Brampton affairs, becoming Justice of the Peace for Cumberland and Chairman of the Brampton Poor Relief Fund in 1878. He died at Garden Terrace, Brampton, 5 August 1886.[10]

 

Some of Dr Graham’s work involved the administration of justice. Local newspapers give an insight into what is hoped were the less common events in his working life. In 1836 he ordered the release of a Jwhonnie Steeson (sic) from his punishment in the stocks Market Place, Brampton. The event was recalled by local poet Peter Burn (1831- 1902).[11] In 1841 at the trial of Jane Hogg and her mother Mary Hogg for the murder of Jane’s newborn child, Dr Graham gave evidence. Jane and Mary Hogg were both found guilty but the death sentence was commuted. The Jury asked for leniency for Jane. Lord Chief Justice Denman said of her mother Mary ‘if I were perfectly convinced that she had destroyed the child for the purpose of saving the expense of keeping it … I should have no choice but to leave her to the executioner’. [12] He felt that all the facts were not known. Jane was given a life sentence, Mary was transported on 2 May 1842 to Van Diemen’s Land never to return.[13]

All three doctors were together two years before Dr George Graham’s death at the celebration of the Earl of Carlisle’s birthday at the Howard Arms, Brampton.[14]

Doctor Graham’s death is reported in the Carlisle Patriot, 2 July 1847: ‘At Brampton on the 26th ult George Graham Esq surgeon aged 63 much respected by a wide circle of acquaintances‘. [15] He was buried at Lanercost, two miles from Brampton.[16]

This is a work in progress and subject to change with new research

Sources
[1] Cumbria Archives, PR60/21/13/5, Brampton Overseers’ Vouchers, 22 March 1816
[2] Cumbria Archives, PR60/7, Brampton, St Martin’s Parish. Register of Baptisms, 1813-1835
[3] Thomas J. Graham, Modern Domestic Medicine. A popular treatise illustrating the symptoms, causes and distinction and correct treatment of the diseases incident to the human frame; embracing the modern improvement in medicine (7th edn., 1837), https;// books.google.co.uk, accessed 14 Mar. 2019.
[4] www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, accessed 14 Mar. 2019.
[5] Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society, Canonbie Parish Church Monumental Inscriptions (2006).
6] Cumbria Archives, Q/MIL. Militia Liable Books, 1690-1831, (1806-1812)
[7] W. Parson and W. White. Directory and Gazetteer Cumberland and Westmorland (1829).
[8] Cumbria Archives, DCART/B/2/19/2, Deeds and Probates re: Clarke’s property in Market Street[Place] purchased by George Graham Surgeon of Brampton (B1); Carlisle Patriot, 10 November 1838; Carlisle Journal, 12 April 1843; Carlisle Patriot, 13 August 1856
[9] Carlisle Journal, 11 January 1861
[10] Carlisle Journal, 10 August 1886
[11] Carlisle Journal, 20 January 1893
[12] Carlisle Journal, 7 August 1841
[13] www. convictrecords.com.au, accessed 14 Mar. 2019.
[14] Carlisle Journal 20, September 1845
[15] Carlisle Patriot, 2 July 1847
[16] Cumbria Archives, Carlisle, PR 121/9, Lanercost, St Mary Magdalene Parish Burial Register, 1813-1870