Notes for George BODINGTON MD George Bodington studied at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. Practiced near Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. Was known as an acute observer and a thoughtful and fluent speaker. He served on Sutton Coldfield Corporation (council) for 40 years; was appointed for life. Warden of Sutton Coldfield, 1852-1854. 1840: published a revolutionary essay on the treatment and cure of pulmonary consumption in which he roundly condemned the current therapy and advocated instead fresh air in abundance, gentle exercise in the open, an adequate and varied diet and a minimum of medicaments. Violently attacked by reviewers he became discouraged about tuberculosis and devoted the remainder of his professional life to the care of the mentally ill. "... in this book Dr. Bodington anticipated by many years the modern view of the treatment of phthisis [tuberculosis or TB]" - See Lancet, March 11 1882. Bodington Red Cross Hospital in Wentworth Falls, New South Wales, was later named after Dr. Bodington. Dr. George Bodington was an established General Practitioner in Erdington (Parish of Aston) Warwickshire UK [now part of the City of Birmingham], when he returned to Sutton Coldfield (adjoining parish) to devote himself to the care of the mentally sick. In 1836 he became proprietor of the Diffold House Asylum in Maney, Sutton Coldfield. According to the 1851 census there were 11 Lunatic Patients at the Diffold Asylum with a staff of 6 including his wife Ann and daughter Mary. Some of the area of the Diffold Asylum was later the site of Sutton Coldfield Odeon cinema. The Asylum moved to White House, Maney, Sutton Coldfield; 1881: living at Maney Hill where two daughters ran a girls boarding school; 9 pupils of which five were nieces. He died in 1882 in his 83rd year in Sutton Coldfield. [351]
Extensive research into Dr Bodington's life has been carried out by Andrew McFarlane, and his paper is published by Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group in Volume 11 of its Proceedings. The content has been at least somewhat independently validated, since the Wellcome Trust decided to place a copy, after scrutiny, in their Medical Library. Copies may be purchased, £5 [2013 price] plus postage. [378]
In a letter to his son George, also a doctor, dated on 24th December 1866, he wrote "I often think when I am dead and buried perhaps the Profession will be more disposed to do me some justice than whilst I live." - a prediction that was amply fulfilled nearly forty years afterwards, by a long letter in the Times for February 11th 1905, from a member of the Profession in which his name is coupled with that of Harvey, Jenner, and Lister as among the greatest benefactors of his age; and by an appreciative account of him published in the same year in the Birmingham Medical Review. [392]
Sources 350. | Document, Ann Johnston, 2 December 2007 |
351. | Document, Deborah Bodington, RI USA, March 2008 |
374. | Document, Andrew McFarlane, 20 May 2013 |
378. | Email, Andrew McFarlane, 5 October 2013 |
392. | Book, William H Draper MA, 1912, Sir Nathan Bodington - A Memoir, MacMillan & Co Ltd, London, Archive web page |
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