Doctor BENSON or Quack?

[majm]

So in Sept 1843 there was a Dr BENSON, MD   MRCSL  at Beau-Desert on the Coombing Estate ...  which had previously been occupied by a Major BOWLER ..  and that card ... it mentions CARCOAR ...

Back shortly !  Edit 1  Yes, the Cooming Estate is in the NSW electorate of CARCOAR, and not to be confused with Beaudesert in Queensland
Edit2  Dr Barker J BENSON 's wife (Hannah) ... her probate packet has been indexed and it clearly shows the address linking her to him.  Probate packets sometimes contain very little family history info BUT usually they have lots ...  http://srwww.records.nsw.gov.au/indexsearch/keyname.aspx  There is now a photocopying service for the files from that Deceased Estate index.   
Edit 3So in May 1842 Barker Joseph BENSON was up at the Brisbane Waters district around Broken Bay NSW, and in Sept 1843 he was over the Great Dividing range around Blayney, Carcoar etc, and I wonder where he was in August 1844 ...  His sequestion ended 21 August 1844. 
Edit 4And in May 1867 the Surgeon, Barker Joseph BENSON was found to be insolvent, but had cleared the debt by 3 Dec 1867 ...

BUT these are only index references, and to get to the nitty gritty of Carna's question (was he a quack or was he properly qualified) perhaps there is information in those sequestion files ... particularly the 1840's ones ... that indicates his medical standing at that time. 

I cannot find how to link Dr BENSON at Carcoar  in 1843 with Carna's Barker Joseph BENSON  ,  ...     Have I missed something ... please help, it is very confused, I can find quite a number of Dr Benson chaps in what was NSW in the 1840s  ... I can find others with that surname in NSW in the 1840's   

Cheers,  JM

[majm]

Oops, forgot

MRCSL =  "Member of Royal College of Surgeons, London".

Cheers,  JM

I have placed my comments in red ... you can see my confusion

Hi all,

Thank again for the replies. Much appreciated.

I believe the Dr Benson that went to Tasmania was a different Dr Benson. Thanks anyway.  There were at least TWO named DR BENSON  to VDL in that era, 1835 for them both, one in Jan and one in March

The post regarding Dr Barker J Benson in Carcoar, is the right Barker Benson, and the initials after his name might be a clue to his qualifications? I am confused,  which post please shows a Dr Barker J Benson in Carcoar ... I cannot find the post ... sorry ...Thanks heaps.
Carna

[majm]

Looking at the NSW 1854 list for the medical witnesses at NSW Magisteral Inquiries and Coroners Inquests ... none surnamed BENSON but did notice :

The Medical Witness received £1/1/- for appearing in each case plus £2/2/- for each post mortem and 1/- per mile travelling expense. 

Coroners received LESS ... £1/-/- for hearing the case and 9d per mile travelling expense ...  BUT the Coroner also had an annual salary ...£40/-/-

EDIT TO ADD
As some of my NSW forebears were also receiving salary from NSW govt around this time,  the annual fee for the Coroner is very very low  for that era ... he would have needed to chair many inquests.  I can see why Dr Barker BENSON may have chosen to avoid submitting his own qualifications to the NSW Medical Board, especially if the main financial benefit to each ordinary member of that Association was to become eligible for one guinea after giving perhaps several days evidence at a criminal case, and then having the details of his evidence scrutinised in the court of public opinion via the various views put by newspaper editors... 

For example  in 1854 an Assistant Surveyor was on £300 per year after only a couple of years service...  The Surveyor General was on £1,000 pa plus half pay (from a war service pension v Napoleon in the 1810's) plus forage for his two horses

Cheers,  JM

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Hi Carna and all watching this site.

Good to see so many posts about Barker's credentials. Guess a defining boundary on him however is that he died Christmas Day 1871 at 57 years of age (Not bad the expected age of death for males at this time was 44).  He is noted as a 'Surgeon'. A Dr. Grey was his doctor. It was certified by William Robson and the address is 1 Hope Terrace Glebe Road. He was buried at Balmain cemetery, the bodies there being transferred to Lidcombe when they built the railway.

When we first started looking for relatives his death certificate was all we had so all this discussion is great for our notes.

I have found no evidence to date of how he and Hannah got to Sydney. I feel the post about Carcoar is reasonable as someone previously posted Thomas Barker Chapman's (their first son's) birth there.

As I've put on the other site, we need to keep the family picture in England in view. Thomas his father was a big business man and they were involved in timber and sail building. Maybe Barker went initially to NZ - Fort Nicholson - new settlement to see if the 'Family Timber business' could be started there? From what I've read on Fort Nicholson, many thought it was 'difficult' and it was a long way for the ships to come for timber.

Transferring that to the Aussie situation - it too was difficult and our timber was not good for ships masts etc. Add on to that, the development of the steam engine around this time which altered the need for wood and you can see what helped Barker and Abraham to go bankrupt.  Also explains his father's somewhat 'acid' tone (in his will) with Barker's inability to handle money an attitude Thomas inherited from his stepfather Thomas Willis who writes his own son William out of his will for his 'imprudent' ways! Oh and don't forget the contrast with his younger brother William John Chapman Benson who was hugely successful in New Liverpool Quebec, shame he and his wife died so young.  

Has anyone seen the articles in Kincumber (East Gosford) where Barker is on the 'Board' of the Episcopalian Church - now the Anglican church. I doubt he would practice without 'the days' credentials - it would be too hyprocritical to be organizing the Bishop to come and then practice without credentials. He was after all great-grandson of a Quaker and grew up with them all around him alah, Barkers, Chapman's Nicholsons who were in London when he was a child.

The picture grows - still want to know if he's related to the Archbishop pf Canterbury - Edward White Benson DD and if this line of Benson's came from Egton (Whitby) in the 1300's (only got possibilities on this one at the moment)

Once again thanks to everyone for your interest - are anymore of you rels?

We've now got Carna, and bark rels, and blynch, and others seem to know so much oh and Tiffany in America from genforum.

Cheers

[majm]

So Barkrelsatthepoint

Do you have any photocopies of any of the records held by NSW State Records Office, and if so please what clues have you noticed ....  I mention this to avoid doubling up further with information... 


Edit to add  reply #10 on this thread: 
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,513531.msg3721121.html#msg3721121

Cheers,  JM

[majm]

Sat 22nd Feb. 1851 SMH
A Coroners Inquest - seems that Barker is the Coroner or a doctor reporting?
It's a good read.

As per reply #20 on that thread just quoted ...

Is the reason that Barker is NOT on the various Colonial boards lists contained within that SMH cutting ?

Here's different newspaper 
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/60032920
22 February 1851 Empire ...

Here's the link (for other RChatters) for the SMH cutting
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12925037

In both those cuttings, Dr Barker Benson is a MEDICAL WITNESS, he is not the coroner.

Cheers,  JM

[Barkrelsatthepoint]

Hi JM, and others

I only have dates that situate Barker in Brisbane Water, Kincumber, East Gosford what ever it was called. I had not looked for his medical qualifications so all this info is new to me.

The 1843 Carcoar date confuses me. Benson and Parkinson Wharf Brisbane Water is definitely in existence 10th Feb. 1842. Then they go bankrupt. Barker is not happy with Abraham as is Abraham with him in later notices.

William Robson's birth certificate 1845 indicates he is a surgeon. Barker is 30?ish years of age now and the BC is registered in Gosford.

While I think about it he did have a returned paid passage to Gravesend so he wasn't emigrating to NZ or here. Hannah thwarted all that.

14th Sept and (26th Sept 1848 Barker takes chair) S.M.H. and in both cases he is written up as Dr. Benson at a meeting discussing the Bishop of Newcastle's visit to their 'isolated area' (of Brisbane Water).

SMH 5th May 1856 he is part of a deputation to Sydney congratulating J. H. Plunkett on becoming rep of Hunter area. 

So any info posted here on official records for his medical quals won't be doubled up on. 

And while his reputation still seems to be on the line the embezzlement charge was countermanded with a perjury one against Dr. Harrison which Barker won.

None of the above quals or anything else will remove the seeming reality that he had difficulty handling money - gambler or too generous who knows???

Cheers barkrelsatthepoint 

 

[majm]

Hi there,

There are more Australian newspapers from the 1840's available online at the following link (they are not keyword searchable, you need to read each page of each newspaper)  From these you can get a clear picture of the political climate in NSW, including for example some church v state issues, economic downturn, end of convict transportation to NSW, the spread of squatters, exploring the inland, etc.  You will of course notice that you need to dedicate quiet time to get through these newspapers, some of which are church based newspapers.
http://www.nla.gov.au/ferg/browselist.html

It would be a good idea to obtain copies the primary records that the indexes at the NSW State Records Office indicate are in their holdings ....  I assure you these records can be very informative,  for example I have the correspondence file for the land dealings of several of my NSW forebears.  It shows the name of the ship that they arrived on, the dates and family members.   This vital information is perhaps the only place in the NSW records where the arrival ship's name is mentioned.  On another of the NSW SRO indexes I find other forebears, dates of sequestation etc, and yes I can find info about that in the newspapers BUT the information on those sequestration papers is DETAILED and contains their then residential addresses, their full occupation information etc and thus  that information is much more accurate, and reliable than the newspaper reports ... (see the two different ways for reporting Baker J's apparent embezzlement ... )

I doubt if I can help further on this thread ... but may I please suggest that the information in the primary records should be consulted (in the UK, in NZ, in Aust and anywhere) and the primary records should have greater reliance placed on it than say a brief index description or the various newspapers and their own apparent editorial  bias in their reporters contributions.


Edit to add
http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020556b.htm
the Anglican clergyman who went to all the ísolated'areas in the Northumerland and  right up into the upper Hunter and just about everywhere north of the Hawkesbury River  Rev WILTON ...  He may well have known Dr Benson ... see the planning info re Bishop of Newscastle mentioned in Rev Wilton's adb entry.    I leave this for others to follow up.



Many cheers,  Good Luck,  JM

[Billyblue]

Oops, forgot

MRCSL =  "Member of Royal College of Surgeons, London".

Cheers,  JM
 

JM I don't think that is right.  In all my years dealing with the medical profession, transcribing Medical Board minutes etc., the Brits are of the opinion that there is only one Royal Medical College and that it's therefore not necessary to put L at the end because 'everyone' knows it's in London   

Also to be a Member of the Royal College is a higher grade than a Fellow and usually only very senior surgeons would have that distinction - in which case they go from being called Doctor to being called Mister (very confusing for the general populace who don't know the finer points!!)

That's why in my post a few before yours, I said I think it might be an American post nominal, if it's 'for real'
Cheers
Dawn M