Clement-Jones family 12/22 - Person Sheet
Clement-Jones family 12/22 - Person Sheet
NamePeter HOLLAND , 672
Birth3rd June 1766, Moberley
Death19th June 1855
FatherSamuel HOLLAND , 667 (1734-1816)
MotherAnne SWINTON , 668 (1740-1814)
Spouses
Birth1767
Death1803
FatherRev William WILLETTS , 6500 (1697-1778)
MotherCatherine WEDGWOOD , 11672 (1726-1804)
Marriage1787
ChildrenHenry , 673 (1788-1873)
 Mary , 11477 (1792-)
 Lucy , 11478 (1801-)
 Elizabeth , 11479
Birth1769
Death1840
FatherDaniel WHITTAKER , 11482
MotherEsther BOARDMAN , 11483 (-1813)
ChildrenCharles Aiken , 11489
 Arthur , 11490 (1813-1833)
 Susan , 11491
Notes for Peter HOLLAND
Of Sandlebridge and Knutsford

The Royal College of Physicians had been founded by Henry VIII in 1528 to organise and control teaching in London. In 1800 membership consisted of only 50 associates and 50 licentiates. This exclusivity made these physicians, who were almost entirely based in London, very rich. To counter competition from Scottish doctors it became a requirement that members must graduate from Oxford or Cambridge. However at these institutions medical education was far behind that available in Scotland. It consisted mainly of learning the works of Galen, a Greek physician who lived in the second century AD. Qualification was by oral examination, in Latin, on three questions known in advance, about the works of Galen and Hippocratres. Contact with patients was not required and indeed neither town had a significant hospital. Oxford and Cambridge required students to be Anglicans. The monopoly which the Established Church had on grammar schools and universities produced a conservatism and complacency which did not serve the nation well at a time when the industrial revolutionrequired education in mathematics, natural science, navigation and engineering.

Dissenters such as Peter Holland had to pursue other options. In the early part of the 18
thcentury they may have gone to Leyden in Holland, where there were no religious barriers and where teaching was in Latin. However, during the 18th century, Edinburgh University developed the premier school of medicine in the British Isles and many Dissenters went there to train. The school had been set up by four Scots who had trained inHolland. Under the physician Boerhaave, they learned by looking both at patients in hospital and by dissections
post-mortem. This was in stark contrast to the reliance on the writing of the ancients at Oxford and Cambridge.

The Guild of Barber Surgeons, dating from 1540, split into two groups, Barbers and Surgeons in 1745. In 1800the Royal College of Surgeons received its charter. Most of the medical practitioners in England were surgeonsand they qualified by apprenticeship. Many surgeons also qualified as apothecaries. Apothecaries providedmost of the medical service outside London especially for the middle and lower classes. The profession wasinitially recognised by Henry VIII as able to treat ìsimple diseasesî. Later the Apothecaries Company was formed. The apothecaries trained as apprentices and obtained legal regulation of their trade and qualifications in 1815. Until 1815, anyone could practice medicine without a recognised qualification or any legal control.

A major reform came with the Medical Act of 1858, which established the General Council of MedicalEducation and Registration and the approved book of drug treatments, known as the British Pharmacopoeia.

The London and Provincial Medical Directory first produced in 1847 showed that the vast majority ofmedical men at this date were surgeons and apothecaries. Most were Members of the Royal College ofSurgeons (MRCS) a few were Fellows. Apothecaries were mainly Licentiates of the Society of Apothecaries(LSA). Those with university education were less common, mainly with the degree of MD from Edinburgh,Glasgow or St. Andrews; a small number of surgeons had the degree of BA or MA in addition to MRCS. Avery small number were Licentiates or Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians.

Eighteenth Century Medics shows that Peter Holland of Nether Knutsford was apprenticed to Charles Whiteof Manchester on 5 December 1783, when he was 17. The fee was £31 for three sessions. Charles White wasan eminent surgeon and obstetrician.

Robert Murray mentions that Peter Holland, having studied with White, moved to Knutsford, which was justoutside the ten mile radius of Manchester specified in his apprenticeship. Later Charles White accused PeterHolland of poaching on his territory and demanded from him a forfeit of £1000. The matter was settled by the intervention of the Earl of Stamford and Warrington of Dunham Hall, where Peter Holland hadtreated thecountess. Pamela Sambrooke of Keele University has made an extensive study of the Dunham papers for herbook A Country House at Work: Three Centuries of Dunham Massey including some of the medical bills

The Dunham estate papers are at the John Rylands Library in Manchester.
In 1793, Peter Holland took on an apprentice, Charles Worthington, for three years. Further apprenticesfollowed with Samuel Dean in 1796 and John Harrison in 1802. James Edge Partington, connected with a number of Manchester Charities, and a lecturer at Pine Street was another a pupil.

Peter Holland developed a large practice in the Knutsford area and became the family medical practitioner tothe Leicesters at Tabley, the Stanleys at Alderley and the Egertons at Tatton. In addition, he attended the Gregs at home and at the Apprentice House at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal as mentioned below.

Peter Hollandís connection with the Stanleys is mentioned in the lettersof Maria Josepha Lady Stanley (1771- 1862), the wife of Sir John Stanley of Alderley. She was the daughter of John Holroyd, the 1st Earl of Sheffield. Sheand her father had visited Edward Gibbon, the author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman

Empire in Lausanne. In 1795, after Gibbonís death they arranged his papers. Gibbon had a high opinion of herintellect and Lord Sheffield reported ìGibbon used to lament that Maria Josepha was not a boy, saying shewould maintain a contest well with Charles James Fox.î Maria had nine children, twin sons Edward and William and seven daughters. She maintained a regular correspondence with her aunt, Sarah Holroyd (1739-1820) whom she called Serena, and with her sister, Louisa, who was the wife of General Clinton. Some
extracts of the correspondence that relate to Peter Holland are quoted below:
Letter of 1 June 1799 from London: Maria to Serena.

We left the babies in perfect health.and I have begged Mr. Holland to visit them as often as hecan.

Letter of 6 April 1800 from London: Maria to Serena.

ìSince I wrote my mind has been a good deal engaged and good deal anxious about my poor littlebaby. She has been inoculated a fortnight ago, and the place seemed to die away, so Mr. Hollandthought it advisable to try the other arm. On the eleventh day after the first inoculation, fever andinflammation had increased so considerably that Mr. Holland applied five leeches to the poor littlearm, which in a very few hours gave great relief. Last night she had fever, and the other arm is verymuch inflamed in the usual way, so that I am puzzled to know whether she had the disorder last weekor is going to have it in this. I hope in a few days the dear thing will be quite herself again,and all herarms restored to the convalescent state.îLetter of 3 January 1802 from Alderley Park: Maria to Serena.You and Lady S are two ninnies to insist on Baby Louís being twice cowpocked. I have had thirty sixchildren of all ages inoculated in Alderley within the last month, and all are doing well.

The following illustrates Mariaís interest in the science of the day as well as her wit:

Letter of January 30 1803 from Alderley Park: Maria to Louisa.

ìI wish I knew how to make a battery and try some experiments on the oxís and sheepís heads, and Iwish I could hear what the wise folk say about it. Mr. Holland does not seem disposed to think itdifferent from the electric fluid, and he is the only person I have seen who knows the differencebetween Galvanism and Calvinism.îPeter Holland was appointedsurgeon to the Earl of Chesterís Yeomanry Cavalry in 1803
Last Modified 23 Aug 2014Created 4 Mar 2023 using Reunion for Macintosh