The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters.

  • Bowerbank, Lewis Q.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The letters of Mr. Alexander Fiddes, F.R.C.S., Edin. considered and refuted, his misrepresentations exposed, his calumnies and innuendoes set in the light of truth, his various statements in the press and otherwise weighed in the balance and found wanting / by Lewis Quier Bowerbank ; together with documentary letters and papers, tending to expose a professional conspiracy, and to afford the public in the colonies, and in Great Britain, correct judgment as to the controversy now existing on hospital matters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    15/108 (page 9)
    From Uiiri circnni.?tance I cniicliuled, and I tliiuk ri;4lilly, tliat Governor Eyre had aliaiidoued liis indcpGiidruce and veliiuiuitjlicd liis judj^mevit, in liof^pital matters, to Dr. Bo« erhank, and tliat he waa little niove than an automaton in his hands. Subsequent transac- tions in the hospital liavc not tended to remove this impression, for in tlie several entries which Dr. Bowerbank lias since made in the Visitors' Book, the Governor must have perceived that this gentle- man was overstepping the bounds of his official position, and was in fact running counter to all propriety. He should have seen that Dr. Bowerbank's ofFensis'c criticism, in the Visitors' Book, with re- ference to the Annual Keport of the Medical Officers for the year 1862-3, a criticism replete with insinuations and arithmetical l)lun- ders, was a most improper stretch of official authority, and h3 should have further perceived that the same censure which Dr. Bower- ])ank managed to cast upon the Hospital Report for 1863-4, merely because the Medical Officers had expressed their opinion on the sa- lubrity of the hospital site, was an act of official arrogance and pre- sumption beyond the limits of professional end<iirauce. But the Grovernor, instead of checking or putting a stop to these improper proceedings, seems rather to have given encouragement to them ; and, to cap the climax of the whole, he finally entrusted the Board of Visitors, consisting virtnallj^ of Dr. Bowerbank and his two kinsmen, witli full power to adjudicate upon the retirement or re-appointment of the several members of the Medical Staff. It may be readily seen how, b3'a movement of this kind, the Governor so played into Dr. Bowerbank's hands, as to enable him to ol)taiTi the object which he so long desired—that of getting the hospital en- tirely under his own control. I, l)eing fully cognizant of all the movements in the game, and perceiving that my means of self-defence would be materially di- minished by Dr. Dunn's retirement, had no alternative but to re- sign my otRcc, and accordingly lost no time in forwarding to the Governor, the following letter :— Public Hospital, 29th December, 1864. Sir,—Wishing to retire trom the office which I now hold in the Public Hospital, I have to request t\v.\t you will convey to his Excellency the Governor, this desire, so that he may be pleased to appoint another Medical Officer in my stead. I am, your obedient servant, ALEX. FIDDES. To D. P. Trench, Esq., Inspector and Director. After some private correspondence had passed between the Go- vernor and myself, which it would be improper to publish, I re- ceived the following official letter from the Governor in Executive Committee :— Executive Committee Office, 4th January, 1865. Sir,-—! am directed by the Governor in Executive Committee, to acknowledge your letter of the 20th ult., addressed to the Go- B