Dr. Henry
Salter - Margery Allingham`s
semi-biographical novel |
|
Although never a Goldhanger resident, Dr. Salter was the local
General Practice doctor(GP) between 1864 and 1932 who lived and worked in
Tolleshunt Darcy, so was the GP for Goldhanger and the surrounding area for 68 years.
All his working life he maintained a detailed diary of his many exploits and
interests which was published in 1933 in a heavily abridged form just after his
death.
His 400 page
published biography with extensive extracts from his diary contains many
references to Goldhanger and the immediate area, and has a wealth of local
historical information in it. He was involved in organising and funding the Spitzbergen expeditions from
Goldhanger, his biography has a complete chapter within the Reminiscences section about his involvement
but does not record that he ever went there. As the local Medical Officer of
Health his diary also gives an insight into the health problems in village
during his tenure and this was used extensively to create Public
Health in the past.
Dr Salter is said to have entertained Prince
Nicholas, later to be Tsar Nicholas II of Russia had lunch at The Chequers in
the late 1800s. Dr Salter was known to be fluent in the Russian language,
travelled often to Russia to judge dog shows as president of the Kennel Club,
and met members of the Russian royal family on many occasions. It is thought
the Prince joined Dr Salter for a duck shoot on Osea Island and Tollesbury
Marshes at the request of Queen Victoria. A previous visitor`s book at The Chequers had the Prince`s signature in it.
Here is a cutting from the East Anglian
Daily Times in 1999...
One of Dr Salter’s roles during the Great War was as
captain of the local volunteer force and during a visit to the Chequers Inn had
a confrontation with some flying Officers from the Goldhanger Flight Station.
Here is an article recalling the incident written by Stephen Nunn and
entitled "When
Goldhanger played Host to Knights of the Air" published in 1990.
He was born in 1841 in Devon and died in 1932 in
Darcy at the age of 91 whilst still working as the local doctor. Both he and
his wife clearly came from a wealthy families, he well educated and went to
Kings College, London to read medicine. However he lost an eye in an accident
at around the time he graduated which inhibited him from taking up an
appointment as a surgeon at Kings College hospital, and this probably resulted
in him taking up the practice at Tolleshunt Darcy. He wore a glass eye for the
rest of his life.
All his life he was an extremely active person who
developed many interests and wrote about them in his diaries. Although he
married, he had no children and outlived his wife by many years. He employed
many servants.
Dr Salter established a world-wide reputation
covering many aspects of his life:
Medicine A surgeon, dentist, Fellow of the Obstetrical
Society. He is said to have delivered 7000 babies into the world during his
career. His name appears in many versions of the published ʼNavy Listʼ
as Admiralty surgeon for the area of Tollesbury Tolleshunt DArcy, Salcot and Goldhanger.
Dr. Slater`s house in Darcy showing the original
porch that he had built to provide shelter for his patients while waiting to
consult him at home. |
Horticulturist between
1888 and 1931 he won 1,400 prizes for his horticultural specimens. He was a Rose Judge for, and a Fellow
of, the Royal Horticultural Society. For his blood-red Alstroemeria he was
awarded their highest honour, the Award of Merit. He also helped to introduce
the DArcy Spice Apples and is said to have brought the first Spice apple tree
to the village from abroad, from which many grafts were taken to create the
Darcy Spice.
postcard view of his garden
and greenhouse in the 1930s
Wildfowler A first class shot despite
losing his right eye after an accident in 1862 at Derby. He is said to have
shot 62,504 beasts and birds, between 1865 and 1925. He leased Old Hall Marshes
in Tollesbury as a private shoot. Some of his ʼtrophiesʼ were once to
be seen at the Chelmsford Museum, in the Dr. Salter Room. His ʼGame Bookʼ
of sporting records is held in the Essex Records Office, listing: number and
type of game shot, date, location, by whom, individual bag, total bag, does
used and memoranda.
Dog Breeder During his lifetime Dr. Salter bred over 2,600 dogs from 44 different
breeds, the majority of which were sporting or gun dogs and he exported them
all over the world. He was a well-known Judge at dog shows and in 1925 was
appointed President of Crufts.
He travelled to Russia ten times as Vice President,
President and Chairman of the Kennel Club, and came to know the Russian royal
family well. This also gave him the opportunity to shoot big game there. Dr
Salter appointed the Grand Duke Nicholas as a member of the Kennel Club, and
this probably accounts for the story that Prince Nicholas II (later to be Czar)
stayed or dined at The Chequers in Goldhanger, but
this does not seem to be mentioned in the published diaries.
Magistrate On 3rd July 1888 he took the
Oath as a J.P. at Shire Hall, Chelmsford. On 19th July 1888 he took his first
sitting.
Special Constable He was chief superindendent
of the Essex Special Constabulary. His special constable`s armband is held at
the Essex Police Museum. He sponsored a competition and prize for special
constables called ʼThe Salter Cupʼ for excellence in police duty and
first aid which is competed for. He was involved in an incident with rowdy WW1
flying Officers in The Chequers at Goldhanger
when he tried to quell their high spirits...
During World War 1 there was a ʼflight stationʼ,
at the edge of the village on the Maldon Road and the pilots of the tiny
bi-planes regularly frequented The Chequers. In March 1918, 20 aircraft of
74-Squadron landed at Goldhanger on route to the front at Ypres. The Flight
commander was Captain Mick Mannock. Despite being blind in one eye he officially
shot down 73 enemy planes, unofficially he shot down nearer 100.
Mannock wrote in his diary of the farewell drink at
the Chequers before departing for Ypres. The landlord made the pilots extremely
welcome, but not so welcoming was the village ʼarm of the lawʼ, who
objected to the singing. Mannock offered him the choice o a drink or be thrown
out. The ʼarm of the lawʼ, said to be none other than Dr Henry Salter captain of the local
volunteer force, chose the drink and joined in the merriments. Mannock was
later shot down and was awarded the VC posthumously.
Sportsman Prize Fighter who Fought as
Jack O`Reilly on a bill in Ireland for Hogini`s Circus. Cricketer, Fisherman,
Horse Owner and a fervent race goer. He was a life-long friend of Sir Claude
Champion de Crespigny who lived at Gt. Totham and had very similar sporting and
shooting interests.
Dr Salter at home with his
trophies
Freemason On 26th August 1864 he was
initiated into the world of Freemasonry at Howard Lodge, in Arundel Town Hall.
He was a member of several lodges in the Maldon area, and was a founder member
of Easterford Lodge in Kelvedon. Nationally he went on to become Deputy
Provincial Grand Master D.P.G.M. and Grand Deacon of England, said to be the ʼhighest
Degree possible in the Craft with the exception of Royaltyʼ.
After his death
all his Masonic Regalia and Masonic books were presented to the Easterford
Lodge for safe keeping. There is a museum entitled ʼThe Salter Memorial Roomʼ
attached to the Masonic Hall at Kelvedon, which amongst other items holds Dr.
Salter`s amputation kit. In July each year the Lodge holds a Strawberry Meeting
in memory of Dr. Salter when the tables are adorned with sweet peas.
Librarian He was an passionate collector
of books and his library is said to have contained thousands of books. After
his death his Masonic books were presented to the Easterford Lodge, and other
important parts parts of his collection are held in the Plume library in
Maldon. Books with his name in them continue to appear in book shops all over
Essex and Ernest Mansfield's two
books found at an auction in Colchester that have personal photos on the inside
covers most probably originate from his collection.
Transportation In his early days as a GP he
eagerly drove himself on his medical rounds with a horse and carriage,
sometimes using four different horse in one day. Later in life he became very
enthusiastic about early automobiles, and had a reputation for owning the
latest models.
Dr Salter`s 4½ HP Benz
automobile which he owned in 1902
this tinted version of an
early photo of his actual car was sold at auction in the 1980s
Extracts from the obituary of Dr Salter published in the Essex Chronicle just after his death...
...He attended to, and increased, his practice to
large dimensions and at the same time he became expert in horticulture, an
authority on dogs and coursing, horses, a notable shot, and a hunter of bear
and the elk in the wastes of Russia. He also devoted infinite pains and care to
public duties. He qualified as a Justice of the Peace for Essex in 1888, and
sitting regularly on the Witham Bench, became its chairman. He was also a
Deputy Lieutenant for Essex and for 23 years from the formation of me County
Council he sat as a representative of Tollesbury, being likewise on the Essex
Standing Joint Committee, the Essex Education Committee, and so on, besides
being chair- man of the Wild Birds Protection Committee and chairman of the
local school managers and president of nearly every movement for good in his
own neighbourhood. He wrote articles for the medical papers and at one time was
a member of the Council of the British Medical Association, a referee to many
insurance companies and an Admiralty surgeon.
With the late Mr A.C. Wilkin and the Hon. C.H.
Strutt, he was one of the pioneers of the old-age pension movement, and in
collaboration with the late Earl of Warwick, did much in the pioneer work for
the treatment of consumption with the Essex Royal Association, formed as a
memorial to the late King Edward VII.
In Masonry Dr Salter attained great prominence. He
had reached the 32nd degree in the craft, the 33rd degree being reserved for
crowned heads. Dr Salter was born in Masonry and belonged to the order when he
came to Essex. His grand- father was a Deputy Grand Master when the Duke of
Cumberland was Grand Master of England and another relative. Col. Sir John
Salter, Lord Mayor of London, was Deputy-Grand Master of England for five years
in the 18th century. On the occasion of his 90th birthday, the Masons of the
Province presented him with a beautiful illuminated address in book form,
signed by the Masters and Wardens of all the lodges, and the brethren of the
Easterford Lodge, Kelvedon, of which he had been treasurer for 36 years, gave
him a boat- shaped silver rose bowl with an affectionate address.
Latterly, Dr Salter`s chief pastime has been the
cultivation of a garden which he made, and which was the pride and joy of his
life. De- spite his years, he also added two more hobbies to his heavy list -
he revived the painting of his youth, with special attention to flowers and
dogs, and he started to get his memoirs together.
He visited Russia ten times for big game shooting
and DArcy House contains specimens of bears, wolves, elk and lynx which fell to
his gun. He went over as vice-president of the English Kennel Club, at the
invitation of the Imperial Society of Russia, of which the Czar was head, to
give technical advice on the breeding of pointers, setters and other sporting
dogs, and was liberally feted. The Russian visits ended just before the Great
War.
Dr. Salter`s, Russian brown
bear `Boris`
for many years a well loved
feature in a glass display case in the
Chelmsford Museum
He had champions in English pointers, English and
Irish setters, black and brown retrievers, Sussex and cocker spaniels and
greyhounds. Forty years ago he led the country in English field trials; he won
the Field Trial Derby three times in succession with young dogs he had bred and
twice won the All-age Stake. Actually for five years he had the monopoly of
English field trial blood. His strain of pointers was taken to America and
swept the deck there. For 31 years he was nominated for the Waterloo Cup;
Honeymoon, which he bred, won the cup three times and Trougherd won the plate.
In flowers, Dr Salter specialised in roses and
herbaceous plants; he judged big flower shows in London and village shows in
Essex. He won the Award of Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society for his Mrs
J H Salter alstroemeria, which grows in profusion in his garden. He had a most
tempting offer for this, but he refused to part with it because it was ʼnamed
after a good womanʼ, his wife who predeceased him many years ago.
Perhaps the most trying public duty ever placed upon
him was that of chief of Special Constables along the Essex coast-line from
Maldon to Mersea during the war. His primary duty, apart from maintaining the
public peace, was to arrange for evacuation of the coast-line in the event of
invasion. His problem would then be to get the women, children and old men out
of Tollesbury without interfering with the troops who would have swept through
the country to meet the invaders.
From General Thornton he received a promise that he
could use the Tollesbury Light Railway - which Dr Salter ʼmore than any
other manʼ had brought into being.
On the night the Zeppelin was brought down in flames
at Little Wigborough, Dr Salter was in bed sleeping soundly after a long and
tiresome day`s work. ʼLook, doctor, quick there`s a Zeppelin coming down,ʼ
a voice shouted in the darkness. As Dr Salter looked out of his bedroom window
and saw the tremendous glare, his night bell rang to announce that there had
been a bad accident near the Zeppelin. He went off to find that the young man
who had rushed to the nearest police to give warning of the Zeppelin had
collided on his motor cycle with a motor car (no road vehicles were allowed to
carry lights in those days). Dr Salter attended to the man, saw the Zeppelin`s
crew under arrest and the military lorries take them to Colchester and he had a
charming little snuff box made from a bit of the Zeppelin.
The Bishop of Chelmsford said of him in his funeral
oration: ʼHe enriched all he touched. Health and healing, order and
enrichment he produced in everything he undertook. Nothing but the best would
satisfy him.ʼ
The following extracts are
taken from the biography of Dr Salter written by
J.O.Thompson and published in 1933, just after Dr Salter`s death.
The biography consists largely of extracts from the doctor`s own diaries.
Sadly, most the original diaries were destroyed in a fire at J.O.Thompson`s
house in New London Load, Chelmsford after it was struck by an incendiary bomb
in WW-2. Many of the medical entries were excluded from the published version
by the author on the grounds of confidentiality.
Although the doctor lived and operated his practice
in Tolleshunt Darcy, the diaries contain many references to Goldhanger, for
example he referred to attending the ʼHand-in-Hand Club Festʼ at Goldhanger in 1864,
which was probably his term for the Friendly
Brothers. The
completed biography is lengthy, but makes an extremely good read.
The diary entries give Dr Salter`s version of the
events leading to the creation of the Spitzbergen Exploration Company, in which
he, The Revd. Gardner, Ernest Mansfield and others from Goldhanger were
involved. One chapter of the biography, under the heading of Reminiscences recalls his initial involvement with ʼGold
in Spitzbergenʼ, which is included in the Spitzbergen section of this website.
Entries in his
diary that relate to Goldhanger and other enties of local interest...
After Dr. Salter`s death in 1933 authoress Margery Allingham and her husband Pip
bought and moved into the doctor`s home, DArcy house. Margery had known Dr.
Salter and the house from her. In 1937 Margery wrote one of her detective
novels in the Campion series entitled: ʼDancers In Mourningʼ and it
is well known that it is semi-autobiographical and that the hero of the book,
the formidable Dr. Bouverie is based on Dr. Salter. There are many similarities
between the two doctors within the book...
Both
doctor`s had enthusiasm for gardening and rose growing Dr. Bouverie wore ʼa cluster of Little Dorrit rosebuds in
his buttonholeʼ. (Dr
S always wore a flower in his buttonhole) Dr.
Bouverie`s voice had ʼmagisterial authorityʼ Dr.
Bouverie had a ʼVictorian porch, with wooden doors, stuck out into the
roadʼ Both
doctors ʼwere up at all hours of the day and nightʼ The
house had a ʼfull-sized stuffed wolfʼ. Both
doctors had an interest in prize fighting. The roses had...ʼwhite canvas hoods
to protected them from the weatherʼ (Dr S held a patent for a flower cover) There
are many other similarities within the book |
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Dr. Salter`s house in Tolleshunt DArcy today and the blue plaque by the
front door
Many newspaper
articles were written about the doctor both during his life and
since his death. Here is a selection...
Dr. Salter also wrote articles
in medical journals during his
career, here are three examples...
After his death his friend and local jounalist James
Wentworth Day wrote:
I
saw him lying in his coffin, with two huge gaunt, grey wolves sitting gazing
glassily at the old hunter who had slain them more than thirty years before. So
passed a man who epitomised all that is most admirable in the character of the
English country gentleman.
the full and complete
article is available
here
____________________________
Below is the last chapter of Dr. Salter`s published diary which is
entitled...
R. I. P.
Dr. Salter`s remains were
laid to rest on April 21st, 1932, in the churchyard of Tolleshunt DArcy Parish
Church, by the side of his wife. Although the last rites were of a simple
character, vast numbers of people were present to pay their last respects and
reverence to ʼThe Doctor.ʼ Those present included representatives of
all the various activities and interests of the Doctor`s ninety-one years of a
full life, from the Lord-Lieutenant of the County, Brig.-Gen. R. B. Colvin,
C.B., downwards.
The whole district was in
mourning, and all those who could be, were present at the funeral. Among the
wealth of last tributes paid to the Doctor was a bunch of flowers with the
following note attached: ʼA few flowers from the garden which he made and
loved, from the staff of DArcy House who loved him.ʼ
The Bishop of Chelmsford, in
delivering his funeral oration, paid tributes to Dr. Salter`s professional and
public life, and speaking of his remarkable character said:
ʼThere is one thing
which it seems to me is typical of the whole life of the man. There was once: a
meadow in this village, plain, bare, and uninteresting. Dr. Salter determined
to make it a garden ; but if it was to be a garden, it must be no ordinary
garden. You know that garden, his multitudes of friends would meet annually to
admire its order, its beauty, its elegance, and, blazing in its midst was the alstroemeria which he had discovered and named
after his wife. That I say was typical.
He used his life to beautify
and adorn the lives of other people. He enriched all that he touched.
Metaphorically speaking, he converted rough meadows into ordered gardens, and
made all of them realise their very best. Health and healing, order and
enrichment, he produced in everything he undertook. Nothing but the best would
satisfy him.ʼ
examples of Dr Salter`s hybrid red Alstroemeria
they are cultivated and marketed today as both
plants and cut flowers, still using this name
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