Doctor William Gunn had a long and varied career in the Royal Navy. After spending time on anti-slavery patrols along the west coast of Africa, he was posted to the south Pacific. At Pitcairn Island, he treated the inhabitants during an influenza epidemic, proving himself to be a determined and dedicated practitioner. Subsequently, he was appointed head of the medical department at Chatham Royal Dockyard (1859–1865), an appointment that coincided with the final stages of the Royal Navy's transition from sail and wood to steam and iron. The impact of these changes on the health of dockworkers was quickly felt at Chatham, and Gunn found himself in charge during the building of the first iron warship in a royal dockyard. His story thus offers a window through which to observe a practitioner confronting the health issues and medical uncertainties thrown up by technological change in the Victorian era.
BruntonD. The politics of vaccination: practice and policy in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, New York: University of Rochester Press, 2007.
8.
GUL, MS Gen 510 (24), Letter, 23 October 1826.
9.
It is thought that this refers to The Medico-Chirurgical Review, and Journal of Medical Science which was published quarterly.
10.
The National Archives (hereafter TNA), ADM 196/8, Admiralty: Officers' Service Records (Series III). The aforementioned source, along with the Navy Lists, makes it possible to trace Gunn's naval career, including all the ships in which he served. However, with the exception of the period July 1841 to September 1842, the journals he kept while at sea have not survived. Consequently, although this paper mentions all his appointments, there are necessarily some gaps in detail.
11.
Digby A. The evolution of British general practice, 1850–1948. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp.82–83. Those who persevered in private practice, often took salaried posts as well, such as workhouse medical officers. Although poorly paid, these gave newly qualified practitioners a guaranteed source of income while they established themselves. For further details, see Digby A. Making a medical living: doctors and patients in the English market for medicine, 1720–1911. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1994, pp.120–124.
12.
Gunn's time on both vessels was uneventful. Spartiate remained mostly in port at Lisbon: TNA, ADM 53/1217 Ships' Logs HMS Spartiate; ADM 51/3481 Captains' Logs HMS Spartiate 23 December 1825–31 December 1828. Falcon spent its time in Simon's Bay, with occasional patrols around the Cape of Good Hope: ADM 51/3186 Captains' Logs HMS Falcon 4 June 1828–7 December 1831.
13.
TNA, ADM 196/8.
14.
The London Gazette, issue 19030, 15 March 1833, p.532.
15.
State Papers. Relating to Slaves, Netherlands, and Greece. 1833; XLIII: 23–24.
16.
McLeanD. Surgeons of the fleet: The Royal Navy and its medics from Trafalgar to Jutland, London: IB Tauris, 2010, pp. 32.
17.
TNA, ADM 196/8.
18.
The University of Glasgow Story (op. cit. ref. iv).
19.
TNA, ADM 51/3118 Captains' Logs HMS Clio 16 April 1835 – 2 October 1838; ADM 53/259 Ships' Logs HMS Clio 16 April 1835–2 October 1838.
20.
TNA, ADM 196/8.
21.
MaudeHE. The records of the Royal Navy's Pacific Station. The Journal of Pacific History1969; 4: 146.
22.
TNA, ADM 101/95/4A Medical Journal of HMS Curaçoa 1 July 1841–20 September 1842. The journal is comprised of three sections. The first (16 pages) gives a table listing all patients, treatments given etc. The second (38 pages) provides detailed notes on a selection of cases. In the third (29 pages) headed ‘General Remarks’, Gunn details visits to various islands in the South Pacific. Some, but not all, pages have been numbered. Similarly, not all entries are dated.
23.
BrocklissLCardwellMJMossM. Nelson's surgeon: William Beatty, naval medicine, and the Battle of Trafalgar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 17–19.
24.
Although there are plenty of examples where surgeons fell below par, recent scholarship has shown that the Royal Navy's poor reputation (which lasted well into the nineteenth century) was completely unjustified: McLean: p.10 (op. cit. ref. 16).
25.
TNA, ADM 101/95/4A, second section, entry 7 Sept 1841.
26.
Sir William Burnett reviewed all surgeons' journals: Penn C. Sir William Burnett (1779–1861), Professional Head of the Royal Naval Medical Department and Entrepreneur. Journal of Medical Biography 2004; 12: 141–6 [at 143].
27.
TNA, ADM 101/95/4A, p. 33.
28.
Ibid., p.34.
29.
Ibid., p.35.
30.
MurrayTB. Pitcairn: the island, the people and their pastor, London: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1853, pp. 231.
31.
Library of New South Wales, Objects R 18/ a-f, Relics from the Bounty Collected by William Gunn.
32.
TNA, ADM 196/8.
33.
The details of Gunn's marriage and children were pieced together from census returns, death indexes and the national probate calendar. The deaths of his two daughters were also reported in the British Medical Journal. 1856; 4: 260; 1859; 1: 95.
34.
TNA, ADM 196/8.
35.
McLean: p. 21 (op. cit. ref. 16).
36.
TNA, ADM 196/8.
37.
HughesDT. Chatham naval dockyard & barracks, Stroud: The History Press, 2009, pp. 20.
38.
BiddleRThe health of workers in the Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth. In: LeggettDDunnR (eds). Re-inventing the Ship, Farnham: Ashgate, 2012, pp. 99.
39.
Ibid., pp.99 & 102.
40.
PresnailJ. The story of a dockyard town and the birthplace of the British Navy, Chatham: Chatham Corporation, 1952, pp. 216–217.
41.
Chatham Royal Dockyard Library (hereafter CRDL), 2011-0229 Doc 1182, Letter Book at Chatham Surgery August 1859–July 1871.
42.
There is a substantial literature about these changes. A good starting point is: Grove EJ. The Royal Navy since 1815, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
43.
Ibid., p.40.
44.
PrestonJM. Industrial Medway: an historical survey, Chatham: W & J Mackay, 1977, pp. 129.
45.
DickensC. The uncommercial traveller, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 2008. repr, p.213.
46.
CRDL, 2011-0229 Doc 1182, Letter, 9 May 1863.
47.
BiddleR. Naval Shipbuilding and the Health of Dockworkers C. 1815–1871. Family and Community History2009; 12: 110–112.
48.
CRDL, 2011-0229 Doc 1182, Letter, 9 May 1863.
49.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, surgeons serving on steam-powered vessels began to see similar injuries from accidents involving boiler explosions. However, these tended to be isolated incidents rather than being encountered with the regularity experienced in the royal dockyards: McLean: pp.41–42 (op. cit. ref. 16).
50.
CRDL, 2011-0229 Doc 1182, Letters, 15 & 18 December 1863.
51.
TNA, ADM 196/8.
52.
Family and house details have been established from census returns.
