Francis John Fitzgerald Culhane arrived in Marlow to work as an assistant surgeon to Doctor Shone circa 1883. As his name suggests he was paternally of Irish descent but was born in Dartford, Kent in 1857. His parents were Daniel, an apothecary and surgeon and Rosalind née Crowdy.
Francis's childhood may not have been too easy with his father having gone bankrupt two years before Francis's birth and then dying aged only 48 in 1861. But the young man was educated enough to train as a surgeon and had an outlet playing rugby for Dartford.
Francis was engaged to Miss Mary Baskin by 1885. Mary was a "dramatic reader", someone who gave lively readings of books, poems or monologues putting on different voices if needed. Both men and women might pursue this unusual career. The readings took place in town halls and the like. Mary also worked as a published author of sentimental "sketches", novels and poetry. Her first work was published when she was not yet 20 years old and working as a drapery shop assistant in Southampton. Sweetly, she dedicated her book to the shopkeeper's wife, perhaps someone who had encouraged her literary dreams. The themes of her works according to reviews were faith, kindness and a wonder at nature. A creative, confident but humble young woman you'd think.
Mary wrote her first novel only 2 years later. The heroine of that fictional autobiography was of a "genteel" but poor family. Like many young women in a similar situation the heroine becomes first a governess but hates it and leaves. Reviewers were moved by Mary's description of her character's difficulty in going to London and finding a publisher for the writing she hopes will then support her. You have to wonder how much of this "fiction" wasn't Mary's real life experience.
In around 1880 Mary moved permanently to London. Once there she started to give readings from popular authors British and American as well as poetry recitals of her own and other's works. Her performances took place right across England as well as in Scotland. These mostly replaced her writing as her source of income.
Initially she lived with some cousins but after that for several years Mary lodged with the Reverend George Morlock and his wife Charlotte at 32 North Villas, Camden Town. George was the vicar of St Leonard's Shoreditch. Many of Mary's dramatic engagements were for the Young Mens' Christian Association or other similar religious groups. This may have put her into the sphere of the Morlocks who had an interest in such groups. In at least one performance of Mary's supplementary musical vocals were provided by Mrs Morlock herself.
The Sunderland Echo said Mary was possessed of a naturally "good, clear melodious and powerful voice". Other reports also praised the beauty of her voice and talent of her performance.
In 1883 Mary signed for a letter addressed to Mrs Morlock from a well wisher who wanted to donate to parish charities the Morlocks were involved in. Mrs Matlock claimed she was never given this letter or the 6 shillings it contained. Mary, she maintained must have stolen both. Mary denied not giving over either. If she was formally charged with theft as far as I can see from my initial research no criminal case materialised in a court of law. What did materialise was a bitter feud between the Morlocks and their lodger. The Reverend wrote letters to mutual acquaintances including, most painfully for Mary, her fiancé Francis Culhane at Marlow calling Mary a dangerous woman, a swindler, a liar, and a drunkard not to mention a woman of low morals.
There is a suggestion that there was no genuine suspicion of theft against Mary at first as the Morlocks were going out to the theatre with their lodger in a friendly way after the incident and Charlotte Morlock was happy to join forces with her in order to raise funds for a piano for the Shoreditch Girls Friendly Society. Mary gave a dramatic reading as part of the fundraising efforts. When that did not raise enough cash she wrote to the local papers urging the public to send money for the project to Mrs Morlock. The address given to send donations to was Shoreditch Church. If she was someone looking for opportunities to steal money sent in the post wouldn't she have suggested that it went to the house she shared with them and where she would have the best opportunity to steal it?
A falling out over a debt Mary was said to owe them seems to have caused the Morlocks to revisit in their minds some time afterwards that puzzling incident of their vanished letter and to cast the confusion as to what happened to it in a new and sinister light.
George Morlock sued Mary for slander for accusing him of persecuting her. Mary was humiliated and launched a counter suit for libel against the Reverend. Or in some versions of events she filed a suit first and he was the one with the counter suit. Francis Culhane was a witness for the prosecution in the case against George Morlock and gave surety for Mary's appearance at the Central Criminal Court for the trial. In his preliminary evidence Francis said that his fiancée had no need to steal money as he would always give her some. His support for her was publicly unwavering.
There is no record that I can find of a full trial going ahead so perhaps the parties concerned decided to limit their future public embarrassment by coming to an understanding. Mary's dramatic readings stop abruptly after the first hearings of the case. No further work was published by her either as far as I can trace, at least under her own name.
Despite the support Francis showed Mary they never saw through their engagement. Francis found a bride in namesake Frances [aka Fanny] Ford in 1890 [married Kensington, her family was from Cambridgeshire]. These two had two known sons together in Marlow - Hubert and Frederick. They lived in what was then known as Quarry House in the High Street. Below is a picture of the premises in Culhane's day. It is the building in the middle with a tall carriage entrance doorway. Sadly these premises no longer exist. Thanks to Michael Eagleton for the photo. In 1900 the rent for this property was £80 a year.
Doctor Culhane worked hard in Marlow. He became one of the surgeons attached to the Cottage Hospital and gave first aid classes for working men. The importance of the latter endeavour at a time where workplace injuries were common and not infrequently life limiting or fatal can't be underestimated. He was also the appointed doctor attending various Marlow slate clubs and benefit societies whose members could qualify for a sick benefit if they could not work. For example members of the Clayton Arms slate clubs could pay an extra subscription to qualify themselves for subsidised medical attention from Dr Culhane.
For those who could afford not even the small price of slate club membership Francis made no charge for visits and gave any necessary medicines for free. He was universally known as a kind man and friend to the poor, and unlike other doctors of his day would never turn anyone away even an obviously unable to pay patient calling on him in the middle of the night. For countless impoverished Marlow families he was the last and only hope they had when someone in the family fell ill.
Given his tender heart many aspects of his job must have been hard to bear. Francis had to attend distressing cases as a matter of routine including dying children who could not be saved and multiple attempted suicides. He was also called to give medical evidence at criminal trials. A particularly sad case was the death of a baby of the Boddy family believed to have been the victim of infanticide by its mother. This case is discussed in detail in this post. He was also the attending surgeon in the Moor End murder case of 1891. You can read more about that event here
He was also the Marlow Vaccination Officer and the Medical Officer for the Wycombe Board Of Guardians [of the poor]. For more than 20 years he served on the Marlow council and was once chair of the Parish Council. For leisure he played in friendly football matches for Marlow teams, as well as in cricket ties including for the Marlow Institute cricket team.
Francis died in 1940, greatly mourned.
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Mary Baskin possibly became a domestic cook.
George Morlock came into a large amount of money in 1886. The next year he moved to Haggerston. He was given a reasonably large fine for non compliance with an unspecified court order in 1887 and was also sued for the non repayment of a loan so he was not necessarily as reliable a man as his job may suggest. The work he and his wife did for orphans and inner city disadvantaged children, giving them access to the countryside and sea is however not open to doubt.
Francis's brother Frederick also became a surgeon. His mother Rosalind survived until 1903. Both she and Frederick moved to Hastings, Sussex.
Further information:
All mentions of a person on this blog can be found by looking at the A-Z Person Index - thousands of people
For more medicine related posts see the General Marlow History option on the top drop down menu and the medical history sub category within it.. here's a selection:
Patients treated at the Cottage Hospital here
Call the Apothecary here
Marlow Hero Nurse Cassidy here
Matron Mary Cole here
Marlow Heroes Emily and Dr Dunbar Dickson here
Written and researched by Charlotte Day
©Marlow Ancestors. You are very welcome to use this research for family or local history purposes if you credit this blog and link here.
Some Sources:
Mary Baskin's works are mostly available to read on Google Books.
Newspapers in the British Library Collection via the BNA: Newcastle Courant 22nd Feb 1886, Hackney and Kingsland Gazette 5th Feb 1886, Bucks Examiner 6th March 1886, Sunderland Echo 25th October 1884.
"England and Wales Death Registration Index 1837-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVH1-F9PZ : 2 November 2021), Francis J F Culhane, 1940.
GRO marriage registration index, GRO.
Census for Great Marlow, my transcriptions from microfilm. Dartford census transcribed by Jane Pullinger.
