Boddington families

Notes for George Fowler BODINGTON MD MRCS FRCS LSA

Name appears on a list of early British settlers in Natal, 1824-1857. Also on voters list in British Columbia, Canada, 1898. Then at Public Hospital for Insane, NWC. Related to William Fowler Carter, 1856-1936, Birmingham barrister and antiquary.

Adm. pens. at CAIUS, Oct. 27, 1847. Son of George, surgeon, of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, (the well-known pioneer in the outdoor treatment of tuberculosis) Born Sept. 14, 1828, at Erdington, Birmingham. School, Queen's College, Birmingham.

Matric. Michs. 1847. Studied medicine. MRCS., 1849. FRCS., 1862.

L.S.A., 1853. MD. (Giessen) 1868. MD. (Durham) 1885. Sometime House Surgeon at Queen's Hospital, Birmingham; then, as Ship's Surgeon, Visited Natal and India. Practised in the black settlements of Pietermaritzburg, where his fees were paid in elephants' tusks. Returned to UK and practised at Kenilworth.

Removed to Middleborough-on-Tees, 1866; Surgeon there to North Riding Infirmary. Took over the management of his father's private asylum, Driffold House, Sutton Coldfield; afterwards removed to Ashwood House, Kingswinford, Staffs., 1867-1884. Took a leading part in establishing the Birmingham Medical Institute; President of the Birmingham and Midland Branch of the British Medical Association. Went to British Columbia. Medical Superintendent of the Provincial Asylum, New Westminster, B.C., 1895-1901; resigned. Died May 8, 1902, in Paris. Buried at Sutton Coldfield Father of Arthur E. (1883). (Venn, II 282; Plarr, Lives of the Fellows.).

I've located a wonderful account of George Fowler Bodington's late-life emigration to British Columbia (1880s-1900), written in fascinating often hilarious, terms by his son, Maurice Brooke Bodington. GFB seems to have been almost larger than life, extrovert and bursting to travel. [378]

George Fowler Bodington was a good chess player and he played in Redcar 1865 and 1866 and participated in several team matches between New Westminster and Vancouver in 1896 and 1897. [381]

In naming his 12 children, George included his wives maiden names among the forenames of every one of them. [383]

Some confusion over his date of birth. Generally accepted to be 22/09/1829, but source 402 gives 14 September 1828. [269]

Notes for Alice BROOKE

In 1851 the 10 year old Alice was living with her widowed father in a large house in Suffolk, England, which included seven household servants and a governess. Author of Importance of Race and its bearing on the Negro Question, 1878, and a number of scientific articles.

Sources