For almost 200 years there had been a doctor resident in Bow. I was the twenty-ninth.
This is our story
THE MEDICAL GENTLEMEN OF BOW
William Snow
William Snow was a bit of an oddball.
Born in Somerset in 1797, he was living in Bow almost continuously from before 1826 until his death there aged 74 in 1871. He was buried at Bow Church. There is no record of his clinical activities, and his name was never included in the GMC Register (first published in 1859). During his time in Bow he saw several other surgeons come and go.
He never married. He lived at Reeves when it was owned by George Packer (prior to 1826).
In 1828 he was sentenced to six months in gaol for libelling a young lady in the village. See contemporary report of his trial.
The object of his attention was Miss Patience Reed (1798 - 1876), sister of Mrs Mary Wreford of Grattons. She sued him for writing libellous letters after she had turned down his proposal of marriage. She went on to marry, in 1834, William Langdon of Tedburn St Mary. He died two years later as did their 5 month old daughter the following year. Her second husband was Luke Ponsford (1788-1850), previously surgeon to the Exeter Lunatic Asylum; the son of a Moretonhampstead surgeon. They married at Bow in 1845. "The bride, with her usual benevolence, presented the poor of the parish with the sum of £50, which, under the superintendance of her relative, Samuel Wreford, Jun., Esq., is being dispensed in good old English style, and the day is passing off with great rejoicing".
After his release from gaol, he lived at Chanterhayes, near the present "Church Rooms".
In the accounts of the Overseers of the Poor of the village, there is an entry in March 1832 - "Mr Snows Bill for Doctring £1 2s 6d"
When the Crediton Poor Law Union was formed in 1836 Snow tendered for the first post of District Medical Officer for the parishes of Bow, Clannaborough, Down St Mary, Zeal Monachorum and Hittisleigh, at a rate of two shillings per case or 1/6 for over 98 cases per year. Francis Street tendered for five shillings and four shillings respectively and was appointed.
In 1842 he complained to the Poor Law Commissioners in London that he was not appointed as Medical Officer for the district of the Crediton Union that included Bow, when Charles Basely from Morchard Bishop (outside the district) got the job. The Union replied that the tenders of Mr Snow “were not satisfactory” and that Mr Basely had been extremely satisfactory with no complaints about his performance.
Later that year he complained again to the Commissioners, this time about Basely’s treatment of Mary Tracey of Bow, a pauper aged about 50. He asked to be informed of the character of Mr Basely for “humanity and kindness to the poor” and informing them that Mary Tracey was “now in nearly a dying state” yet was reported by him [Basely] to be “an imposter and not ill but deserving of corporal punishment”. It was Snow’s opinion that this patient “was labouring under disease principally brought on by poor diet” and that he had seen a large number of similar cases locally. Basely replied that the blisters and injection he had ordered had not been applied by the nurse appointed by the parish officers, and the matter was taken no further.
Mary Tracey survived another ten years. There is a note in the Bow parish register for her burial on 9 March 1851 that she was "the last of the Tracey Family from which Nymet Tracey is called".
