Doctor BENSON or Quack?

[majm]

Yes, Dawn, realise the point you are making re the NSW Medical Board in recent past, BUT this thread is about how that qualification would have been noted in the 1840's etc ...  so I should probably also note that the various Medical Lists in the NSW Gazettes etc have MD against the surnames of many of those 1860's lists...  Sorry for not thinking to mention that in my earlier posts...

Also, my surgeon is a "Mister"and my local GP is a "Doctor" but the receptionist at "Mr"office refers to him as "doctor"... and my Dentist also expects to be given the title "Dr"  but my bestest friend with a Doctor of Psychology (DPsych) (Qld Uni)  would not ever even know who I was talking to if I addressed them as "Dr Brown"  cause to them  they are "Mary Smith" (Brown being the sub for surname of spouse, Smith being surname from at least primary school friendship, probably surname on her b.c. but I have never sought to intrude or to prove my own i.d.)

I have exhausted all my known NSW haunts and also my hard paper copy resources re finding hard evidence that Doc Barker was either a quack or not ....  I can clearing see that Doc Barker thought of himself as a surgeon and that he did good in the communities in which he lived.   He simply chose NOT to be involved with the industry association ie the NSW Medical Board ... the members of that Board were self- regulating and were constituted under the the then terms of the NSW Govt's Act 22 of etc...  I don't have any detailed texts for the history of the NSW Medical Board, but I do have lots of texts re  NSW in the 19thC

Cheers,  JM

[Billyblue]

Hmm
Some years ago I transcribed the first 15 years of Qld Medical Board minutes for QSA.
I noticed that even then they did not deem it necessary to put L for London against any of their FRCS or MRCS post nominals. 
As this was the first 15 years after Q broke away from NSW I would have thought they'd both be pretty similar?
And, granted, they didn't seem to do as many years study then as they do now - I suppose they didn't know so much about a lot of diseases, so there was less to learn       
Dawn M

[majm]

1870 NSW Medical Board list from NSW Govt Gaz has various post nominals etc
for Isaac AARON (of Sydney) Lic Apoth  co Lond 1826 Mbr R Coll Surg Eng 1827
 
Around 1/3rd of the page I am currently looking at would have MD as their first qualification then perhaps a Scottish (Edin or Glas) qualification.  Also noticed MD precedes Univ Gotteningen. 

I have previously mentioned that  Dr William John ANDERSON who along with Dr Baker Joseph BENSON started the FIRST medical practice in GLEBE and that Dr Anderson's qualifications are noted as   Fell. R. Coll Surg. Edin 1848  ...

I can also see other Sydney Doctors whose qualifications are, in the 1860's  shown as MRCSE (rather than "L") ... perhaps the E would be England or Edinburgh ... but I cannot see any that are simply MRCS or FRCS or RCS

Exhausterated now ...

Cheers,  JM

[judb]

Hmm

Time for a bit of a review of BJ Benson - at least to try and get him sorted in my head!  

These newspaper mentions appear to place him in Brisbane Water area till 1848 and "of Sydney" by 1849.  As I said earlier he is known as DR Benson in Brisbane Water only 6 years after he was a storekeeper so, it seems, there was acceptance of his claim to be a doctor.

1815 Born Whitby

24 June 1841 - ship arriving NZ with two names which could be him:  (Could be the same person?)
Cabin passenger, Joseph Benson Barker, 26, no occupation.  (booked to return by the same ship)
Steerage  passenger, Barker Joseph Benson (no age or occupation)
Also aboard: Barker's future wife Hannah Vandervord (17) .

30 May 1842, Barker Joseph BENSON of Brisbane Water, Storekeepers - insolvency proceedings against him and his partner, Atkinson

Tuesday 26 September 1848 The Sydney Morning Herald - Dr Barker Joseph BENSON chairs a municipal meeting  at Brisbane Water.

Saturday 1 December 1849, The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser Perjury charge brought by 'Mr Barker Joseph BENSON, surgeon of Sydney'

Saturday 5 June 1852 The Sydney Morning Herald, Barker J BENSON listed as a 'Collector of Electoral Lists' for Sydney district, Brisbane Ward.

7 May 1867 Barker Joseph BENSON   of Glebe Rd Sydney,   Surgeon: insolvency proceedings - owing 944 pounds and having assets of only 18pounds



There are a couple of marriage announcements for nieces of his.  These marriages took place in Whitby and I wonder why it was felt that they should be put in the Sydney papers.


The Sydney Morning Herald Monday 27 May 1878
Son Thomas Barker Chapman BENSON married at Brewarrina
The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954) (about)   <Saturday 26 August 1916
Death mention for a Thomas Barker Chapman BENSON, died age 72, who "was connected with the estates of Dr Tyrell, the late Bishop of Newcastle".

The Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday 14 November 1906
Death of son Joseph James BENSON - our man is listed as Barker Joseph BENSON MD and in same manner in Marriage notice of second son William Robson BENSON 1878


A sad aside: The Brisbane Courier, Tuesday 10 June 1902
Barker BENSON 24 died of bubonic plague in Sydney.
The Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday 11 June 1902
Death notice for a Barker Joseph BENSON aged 25

Sorry to be so long-winded!  And we are still no further as to whether he was actually formally qualified.  

Interestingly though in the other thread

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,513004.15.html

Gerry (Reply #23) has shown that his son William Robson BENSON appears to have been practising without formal approval.  

Australasian Medical Directory & Handbook 1886
LIST OF UNREGISTERED PRACTITIONERS.

THE NAMES OF ALL PERSONS KNOWN TO PRACTISE THE MEDICAL
PROFESSION IN THE AUSTRALASIAN COLONIES, WITHOUT BEING
REGISTERED WITH ANY OF THE COLONIAL MEDICAL BOARDS.
(With their addresses, alleged qualifications, and other particulars.)

NEW SOUTH WALES
BENSON, William, Cameron st., Paddington.
Gerry[/i]

Cheers, Judith

[majm]

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12926500
23 April 1851  SMH

On the 15th instant, at Murrurundi, New South Wales, Charles Henry Hallett, Esq., M.R.C.S., London, aged 26 years, eldest son of John Hallett, Esq., M.R.C.S.L., of Devonport, England — late Demonstrator of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh.

So the newspaper editors did not have a set protocol as to how to report this accreditation in NSW in the 1850's ...  

Edit to add at the trove digitised newspapers online site .... try searching for MD MRCSL .... lots of results, not just Dr Benson !  to me that would be confirming he was NOT a quack, because I assure you SOME of the surnames from those NSW cuttings with MD MRCSL are also found on the NSW Medical Board list released Jan 1861, and some are not    HOWEVER I still do not see how the Dr Benson at Carcoar and the Dr Benson on the Chapman birth cert are ONE and the same person ...  It is not an easy task to get from Kincumber NSW  to Carcoar NSW even today, and it would be VERY difficult in the 1840's ... crossing the Hawkesbury, crossing the Nepean, crossing the Mountains, crossing the Macquarie, crossing the Belubula and all points inbetween...

PS, good summary Judith !

Cheers,  JM

[judb]

And another snippet; the only child whose birthplace is shown on NSW BMDs index - Willis A BENSON - was registered in Gosford 1860.

I do not think the Carcoar doctor is the same man.

Judith

[judb]

Another query -

IGI has this baptism - is this the same chap?  There is no reason why he could not have been born in Whitby and baptised in Chigwell.  This is an extracted entry so is fairly reliable.

Barker Joseph BENSON   
 Christening:    23 DEC 1815     Chigwell, Essex, England
Father:    THOS BENSON   
Mother:    SARAH

The NSW BMD death index (1871) gives his parents as Thomas and Sarah.

I see his parents marriage in Whitby (IGI)

THOMAS BENSON   
SARAH BARKER   
13 SEP 1810     Whitby, Yorkshire, England

And an apparent sibling for him (same parents):

Ann Barker BENSON
Christening:    20 JUL 1813     Chigwell, Essex, England

Edit to add - I see much of this information was provided earlier by Sue. 

Judith

[majm]

And another snippet; the only child whose birthplace is shown on NSW BMDs index - Willis A BENSON - was registered in Gosford 1860.

I  do not think the Carcoar doctor is  the same chap.

Judith

I agree with Judith ,  I note that from the 1840's Kincumber (and it is still there today) and the 1840's Carcoar (still there today) it would be around 275 miles or more to traverse EACH way back in the 1840s  ...   Kincumber is at sea level, while Mt Boyce is around 3,400 ft above sea level, and Carcoar is around 2400 feet above sea level  

Moving house in the 1840's involved organising your own transport, your own tents to sleep in, food and cooking facilities along the way and the wagons, the bullocks, the spare parts for running repairs, the waterproofing materials for crossing the rivers, there was not any golden arches along the way! There were the usual threatening creatures in the bush, as well as the bushrangers and also agitated and displaced members of the various tribes across whose territories these "caravans"were moving ... perhaps at a rate of around ten to 12 miles a day depending on a) the weather,  b) the terrain  and c) the health of the bullocks .... and that's without considering the comforts of the family being moved...

There's around five weeks journey time ... so it is just not an easy decision to make to go from Kincumber to Carcoar and then return back to Kincumber

Cheers,  JM

[judb]

When I look back at the ref provided by Gerry in the other thread it says

From the SMH Thursday 28th September 1843.
On page 3 there is a notice.

"A CARD--CARCOAR
Dr, BENSON, M.D,.  M.R.C.S.L.,
may be consulted at Beau-Desert, on
the Coombing Estate, late the residence of
Major Bowler."

There is no mention of this chap's initials in this ref - is there another reference?

Judith