William Dickson, surgeon

Looking for Scottish Ancestors

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peregrine19
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:42 am

William Dickson, surgeon

Post by peregrine19 » Sun Mar 24, 2013 11:55 am

One of the most frustrating things about family history is to find out a huge amount about a 3x gt grandfather but not be able to find his parents.

I have a William Dickson who from his Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh record was born in 1797 in Dumfries (or maybe Dumfriesshire as 'shire' was in brackets after the town).

He was apprenticed in Dumfries to a Mr John Little, apothecary until 1817, then to Mr Robert Neilson until 1819.

At some point after that he left Dumfries and moved to the East Riding of Yorkshire and married Anne Moss in Eastrington in 1824 and then lived and worked as a doctor in Elvington in Yorkshire. In 1843 he was admitted as a Licentiate at the Apothecaries Hall, sponsored by Mr W McLauchlan.

In 1847 when he was killed by being thrown out of a friend's gig when driving in haste to visit a patient.

On his gravestone, he is said to have been 50 when he died - so could have been born in 1796 or 1797.

His children were:

William died infant
John also became doctor and trained Glasgow d 1869
Mary died infant
William died New South Wales 1904
James McLauchlan d 1866 Elvington
Henry
Annie m Thomas Bowman of Fridaythorpe, Yorks
Mary m Thomas Kidd Murray
Thomas
George Charles died Victoria, Australia
Alfred
Robert Wilfred died 1930 New South Wales

The trouble is that the only one who, according to Scotland's People, might fit the bill, belonged to a family from Moffat who moved to Lanark!

Anybody got a spare William Dickson? :D

StewL
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 12:59 am
Location: Perth Western Australia

Re: William Dickson, surgeon

Post by StewL » Mon Mar 25, 2013 2:13 am

Hello peregrine19
[TS_welcome]
Sorry I don't have a spare William Dickson :lol:
There should be some others on the forum who will come along soon and pick up this thread.
You are right about the William born 1797, although I only did a preliminary search, and I am not sure how you got him moving to Lanark. But as I said, I only did a preliminary search :)
Stewie

Searching for: Anderson, Balks, Barton, Courtney, Davidson, Downie, Dunlop, Edward, Flucker, Galloway, Graham, Guthrie, Higgins, Laurie, Mathieson, McLean, McLuckie, Miln, Nielson, Payne, Phillips, Porterfield, Stewart, Watson

peregrine19
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 10:42 am

Re: William Dickson, surgeon

Post by peregrine19 » Mon Mar 25, 2013 9:57 am

Thanks for the reply.

I checked for possible other births for John Dickson/Betty Walls family and found all the other children (6 of them) were born in Crawford, Lanarkshire; the next one registered after William Dickson (born Moffat) was Robert born in 1801 when William would have been 4. Also, not that it is conclusive, there are census records for a William Dickson in Crawford in 1841, 1851, which I presume were probably referring to him.

I'm beginning to think I shall never get any further back as I've just been told by a lady in the Dumfries & Galloway FHS that as baptism was not compulsory at that time, there is every chance that he wasn't baptised! Oh great! That added to the fact that it seems like every other William Dickson in recorded history is either a surgeon or a doctor.... I think I may have to admit that this is one brick wall that is unsurmountable - and I hate having to admit defeat ](*,)

Currie
Posts: 3924
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:20 am
Location: Australia

Re: William Dickson, surgeon

Post by Currie » Wed Mar 27, 2013 5:49 am

Hello Peregrine,

I’ve been searching through the old newspapers hoping to find a marriage announcement or an obituary that may mention the father’s name but didn’t have any luck. There’s a scattering of stuff there for him and his family, some under the Dixon spelling, but not a lot more than what’s on the Elvington site. http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&a ... 80&bih=841

The Yorkshire Gazette at the BritishNewspaperArchive site has a death notice which appears to give him an age of 60, although you would have to check the image to see if that’s what actually appeared in print.
Yorkshire Gazette ,Saturday, 29 May 1847.
“…. 19th inst., at Elvington, aged 60, William Dickson, surgeon. He was much and deservedly respected by a great number of friends.”
http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.u ... %2bgazette

Was the story about the gig accident passed down or did you find it somewhere. I can access the York Herald and I found this article from 1857.

The York Herald (York, England), Saturday, April 25, 1857
"SERIOUS ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday evening last, Mr. Dickson, surgeon, of Elvington, met with a very serious accident. He had been to York on that day, and left with a friend in a gig which was drawn by a young horse. On the road between this city and the above village, the horse reared and fell, whereby the shafts were broken, and the animal then ran away. The gig was upset, and its two occupants were thrown with great violence on to the road. Mr. Dickson, who was dreadfully cut on the face and head, was removed home as soon as possible, and although every attention has since been paid to him, he appears to be in a dangerous condition. Fortunately the other gentleman was very little worse. We understand the horse was found next morning at some distance from the place of accident, with the shafts of the gig attached to the harness."

Have you seen the advertisement in this July 1848 edition of “The Lancet”?
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=FRZ ... on&f=false

All the best,
Alan