Introduction

A man of all people, Dr E. V. Mainwaring featured often in early Victorian Bournemouth’s press clippings as a physician and community member. Until his early death, E. V. Mainwaring had made a broad contribution to Bournemouth’s social and cultural development by having a foot in two camps: society doctor for wealthy vacationers, promoter of projects aimed at enhancing the lives of working people. Furthermore, he may have repeated services he had already performed at Birmingham. Thus, he provides an example of how a physician might take a broader social role beyond his professional area.

Dr E. V. Mainwaring’s profile

Personal

A Londoner, Dr E. V. Mainwaring seems to have Scottish qualifications. Early in his career he worked for the East India Company. Other family members also may have served in India, for example a Bombay chaplain appointed in 1823. Mainwaring married Elizabeth Tomson, born in Sundon, Bedfordshire, her father a significant tenant of the local land proprietor. Mainwaring’s wife, however, appears about 15 years older than him. The couple appeared in the 1841 Census, listed in Birmingham, one year after their marriage in Bromsgrove. A severe case of pneumonia killed him in 1855, yet he may have had a feeling of mortality early, for his will had the date 1847. The signatories belonged to other professionals in the settlement: Edward Bayley (cleric), William Belling (chemist), William Rebbeck (estate agent). His wife, the sole executor, had no time to complete the task, because she died just over a week later.

Professional

The London and Provincial Medical Directory (1850) recorded Dr E. V. Mainwaring as MCRS (1827, perhaps a misprint for 1837) and MD (Glasgow, 1842). Nevertheless, not long in Bournemouth, Mainwaring wrote to the press defending himself against malicious rumours questioning his professional competence. Perhaps this caused his support for the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association which sponsored a bill concerning the regulation of the medical profession (1853). A medical college received contributions from him, while life assurance companies signed him as an advisor. As a result of his Indian time he may have become interested in cholera, rife in the east but also raising concerns in the west. For instance at Bournemouth worries arose about its defective drainage, leading to letters sent to the press. Mainwaring appears to have committed his thoughts on the subject to a paper received by The Lancet (1848).

An active member of the whole community

A man of all people: the affluent

A list of Dr E. V. Mainwaring’s house contents, for auction after his early death, suggests a man of some affluence and sophistication: valuable furniture, pictures, china and books. Several ‘local gentlemen’ attended his funeral. Mainwaring felt comfortable with over a hundred ball guests including principal residents and visiting gentry. He and Captain Popham, R. N., who sat at Christchurch Petty Sessions, both originated and stewarded the ball, which became an annual New Year’s feature. The published list contained several members of the Tregonwell family. The reformed masonic lodge Hengist, transferred from Christchurch, attracted him, elected as master to take over from Samuel Bayly, who had had a long association there predating its move to Bournemouth. He appears as a committed member, for the press noted his visiting Wareham’s lodge, accompanied by William Rebbeck. Fund-raising for the Sanatorium would have brought him into contact with privileged local people.

A man of all people: the rest of us

He appeared to have a similar level of comfort lecturing at a Mechanics’ Institute, an early educational initiative intended to benefit working men. At a visit to Fordingbridge’s institute he gave a talk about animal mechanics, which he illustrated with well-received drawings. Mainwaring seems to have had an interest in such education, because he attended the celebrations marking the first anniversary of Poole’s Institute. In another social or cultural circle – religious education – he featured amongst those attending the ceremony to lay the cornerstone for Moordown’s new church school. Two surviving examples show his willingness to help extreme cases whatever the patient’s social position. For example, he took on a young man of unbalanced mind, returned from Indian service: perhaps a hopeless case, since before long suicide resulted. Witnessing an accident where a woman suffered a serious leg-fracture, Mainwaring lost no time in providing medical assistance.

Overall

A marketing-man?

These instances, therefore, illustrate how Dr E. V. Mainwaring attempted to play a role in different types of social clusters, covering religious and lay matters, high class people and working people, a charitable group which gathered together many of the settlement’s commercial people, not least builders. Nevertheless, cynics might view this wide involvement in society of all types as marketing promotion to gain as wide exposure as possible for his medical work. For example, chemists might advertise, but legitimate physicians did not. Bona-fide doctors needed word-of-mouth to promote their services. Mainwaring, however, appears to have had an affluent background. The Prerogative Court of Canterbury approved his will, often a mark of a wealthy individual. Furthermore his wife came from a well-to-do family, her brother leaving an estate greater than £20,000. On balance, therefore, the cynical conclusion would appear misplaced: vocation and community not marketing motivated Mainwaring.

Memorial

The Lancet, in its obituary, displayed certainty about his professional reputation. ‘In deportment, kindness of heart, and unflinching professional and moral integrity, he could not have been surpassed by any of his surviving brethren.’ In other words, this perhaps drew a line under early rumours about his practising without qualifications, denied with vehemence in his letter to the press. On the other hand, this perhaps lay far in the past, eclipsed by his activities throughout the community. ‘The deceased gentleman was well known in the neighbouring towns, and the establishment of a Consumption Hospital in this place in very great measure to be attributable to him.’ The Birmingham Journal described him as the Sanatorium’s ‘originator and anxious promoter’. If the Sanatorium constituted a physical memorial to one of its main fundraisers, Dr E. V. Mainwaring appears to have secured a memorial of equal strength amongst the minds of local communities.

Takeaway

In conclusion, therefore, Dr E. V. Mainwaring provides an example of a man of all people, capable of bridging the social divide between affluent and working people in early Victorian Bournemouth.

This earlier post also mentions Dr Mainwaring.

References

For references and discussion, contact here.