The Remarkable Ogstons of Aberdeen. Francis Ogston (1803 - 1887), Professor of Medical Logic and Medical Jurisprudence at Aberdeen University

Introduction

Alexander Ogston (1766) moved to Aberdeen in about 1785 to start a business at Lochside dealing in lint and thread, the textiles derived from flax.  In 1802 his firm diversified into the manufacture of candles and progressively became the most important local producer of this tallow-based means of working and studying in the long Aberdeen winter nights.  Further innovation followed with the introduction of soap manufacture in 1853 and by the end of the 19^th century Ogstons was one of the two dominant soap manufacturers in Scotland.  In 1899 the firm merged with its main competitor, the Tennant company of Glasgow.  The success of the Ogston manufactory brought great wealth to the family and the history of this enterprise has been chronicled elsewhere on this blogsite – “The Remarkable Ogstons of Aberdeen: Flax, Candles and Soap”.   

Francis Ogston (1803 – 1887) was a younger brother of Alexander Ogston (1799 – 1869), the second-generation family member to be in charge of the Candle Works on Loch Street, Aberdeen.  Since the elder brother of Francis had been given the task of managing the family business, Francis had to look in a different direction for a career.  He eventually chose the profession of medicine, perhaps because his parental home was close to Marischal College, one of Aberdeen’s two universities prior to 1860 and home to a thriving medical faculty.  This second son of Alexander Ogston (1766) must have routinely come into contact with both academic staff and students of the university.  His decision to join the healing profession proved to be fateful, because both Francis and his two sons, Alexander (1844) and Frank (1846), but especially the elder, Alexander, achieved great prominence as doctors.  Alexander (1844) developed a reputation as one of the leading surgeons of his generation, especially for his work on military surgery, but history will perhaps remember him more for his pioneering research work on the microbial causes of inflammatory illness, often fatal, that almost inevitably followed surgery up to the late 19^th century.  In contrast, Frank (1846) was a zealous pioneer of public health measures in his adoptive country, New Zealand.  The lives of both Alexander and Frank Ogston are chronicled elsewhere. 

But the Ogstons’ contributions to human health and knowledge were not confined to the specialities of their three medical members, public health and medical jurisprudence in the case of both Francis (1803) and Frank (1846) and surgery in the case of Alexander (1844).  In particular, this latter doctor possessed a towering intellect that was turned to the analysis of many different issues. 

The pursuit of medicine, while providing a comfortable lifestyle, did not bring the fabulous material wealth that the nephews of Francis (1803), the cousins of Alexander (1844) and Frank (1846), derived from the profitable manufacture of soap and candles.  But the counterbalancing gain for the medical Ogstons was the satisfaction of knowing that they had preserved the lives and improved the well-being of innumerable patients and members of the general population.  It is a moot point as to which activity was the more worthy.

 

Identification of members of the Ogston family

While the newspapers published in Aberdeen and the North-East of Scotland form a rich source of references to the doings of the medical members of the Ogston family, references to individuals were sometimes expressed in an ambiguous way, though the context, such as time, place or activity, relating to the particular instance often helps in resolving which alternative is the correct, or most probable, identity.  “Dr Ogston” could be a citation to Francis Ogston (1803), Alexander Ogston (1844) or Frank Ogston (1846), all of whom earned the title on graduation from medical school, Francis Ogston in 1824, Alexander Ogston in 1862 and Frank Ogston in 1873.  All three medical Ogstons also attained the title of “Professor”, Francis Ogston held the title between 1857 and 1883, though he could have been referred to by this title until his death in 1887, due to his Emeritus status.  Alexander Ogston held the Regius Chair of Surgery at Aberdeen University between 1882 and 1909.  Frank Ogston although a member of academic staff at Otago University for many years, only assumed the title of Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in 1909, although he probably retained that title until his death in 1917.  Even after his ascent to the august ranks of the professoriate, each of the medical Ogstons could still be referred to as “Dr Ogston”.  To add to this plethora of possibilities, there was a further, contemporary, “Dr Alexander Ogston”, another University of Aberdeen graduate, who practised medicine in the city around the turn of the 19^th century, though he was not closely related to the family under examination in this study.  He had been born in Crathie, Upper Deeside, in 1868 and graduated from the Aberdeen Medical School about 1894.  Subsequently, he lived and practised in the Rosemount district of Aberdeen until about 1929 and died in 1940.

 

Francis Ogston (1803)’s early life and education

Francis Ogston was born in Aberdeen and baptised on 23rd July 1803 by the Rev Bryce.  The establishment where the ceremony took place is not certainly known, but it may have been St Paul’s Episcopal Chapel in Loch Street.  The location of the family home at the time is also uncertain, but likely to have been within easy reach of the candle works at Lochside.  The two witnesses to the baptism of Francis were Alexander Middler and Francis Mollison, both described as manufacturers, the former having premises in Gallowgate.  Little has been discovered about the early education of Francis Ogston (1803).  He is known to have attended Aberdeen Grammar School and was admitted to Marischal College to read for a Master of Arts degree on 30^th March 1821, at the age of 17.  Francis probably graduated two years later and then moved to Edinburgh University to study medicine.  He took his final medical examinations on 20^th July 1824 and received his diploma in a ceremony on 2 August, aged barely 21.  Dr Francis Ogston then travelled back to Aberdeen for a brief stay before journeying onwards to London by sea.  In the capital he applied for a passport for entry to France and Holland and on the continent, he visited and studied at several leading medical centres before returning to his hometown and establishing himself as a working doctor.  Being from a relatively wealthy family, Francis (or, more likely, his father) could afford this continental extension of his medical education.

In the 1824 - 1825 edition of the Scottish Post Office Directory for Aberdeen, the content for which must have been submitted before Francis’ graduation in 1824, “Francis Ogston MD” is recorded as living at 2 Gallowgate, Aberdeen.  The house at this address is known to have been the family home between at least 1824 and 1832.  It appears to have been accessed from Ogston’s Court, 84 Broad Street.  Gallowgate is a continuation of Broad Street, and the two properties were adjacent to each other at the junction of the two streets.  The designation “MD”, which is usually employed to denote possession of a postgraduate medical degree, is curious since Francis only gained his medical diploma from Edinburgh University in the summer of 1824.  Perhaps it stood for “medical diploma”?

Ogston's Court (left) and entrance to Marischal College (right)

 

The Aberdeen New Dispensary

A General Dispensary, Vaccine and Lying-in Hospital to serve the medical needs of the sick poor was opened in Aberdeen at 45 Guestrow in 1823.  The residential portion of the dispensary subsequently evolved into the Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.  In 1825 the General Dispensary treated 3,914 people who applied for help.  That same year, supported by a list of subscribers, the distinct and separate Aberdeen New Dispensary began offering succour to the indigent population and treated 1,117 poor citizens.  The following year, 1826, there was almost a doubling in the number of patients helped by the New Dispensary.  “The sick receiving benefit from this charity are now very numerous and the increase (1,146) of the present year, shows the growing zeal of those to whom its affairs are entrusted.  Patients are attended not only through the city but also in the populous suburbs of Footdee, Dee Village, Hardgate, Gilcomston, Broadford, etc, while the numbers of those applying for advice from a still greater distance are considerable.  Medicines have been granted during the year to more than 1,900 sick poor; while almost the same number have been attended at their own houses.  While such is the state of the institution the managers cannot longer consider it entirely of a private nature and would therefore call upon the public to join their exertions to those of the respectable individuals who have hitherto contributed to its support; in order that means may be afforded for continuing it in its present enlarged state or for its still further extension”.  Another appeal for donations to assist a third dispensary in Aberdeen, the Footdee Dispensary, was also made in 1825.  Footdee, “Fittie” to the locals, was the home of the Aberdeen fishing fleet and associated fish processing works.  Accidents were commonplace in this environment and the medical need of the residents substantial.  It is unclear if this third dispensary was ever able to initiate services.

Francis Ogston’s first known employment after his graduation from the University of Edinburgh appears to have been as physician to the Aberdeen New Dispensary.  He was in post in 1826 but it is not known if he also fulfilled this role in the previous (first) year of its operations.  The next annual meeting of subscribers to, and managers of, the Aberdeen New Dispensary was held in December 1827, with Mr William Phillip in the chair.  “The subscribers tendered their cordial thanks to the managers for their great care in meeting the purpose of examining into its affairs and inspecting the items of expenditure previous to their annual payment by the Treasurer; to the Treasurer for his steady exertions on behalf of the charity and to the Physician (Francis Ogston) for his arduous and unremitting labours (which are given gratuitously) among the sick poor.  The subscribers feel the highest satisfaction in observing the extent of good done at an expense comparatively insignificant and entertain no doubt that  the public will continue to appreciate an establishment as strictly charitable as any the city can boast”.  So, Francis Ogston was working without remuneration though, on the positive side, he would have been gaining extensive experience of a wide range of ailments and medical conditions, an important benefit for a young doctor.  Perhaps his liberal family circumstances could tolerate him working for nothing?  Francis Ogston continued in the role of physician to the Aberdeen New Dispensary until 1831. 

However, in 1830 alarm bells started to ring for the managers of the New Dispensary, when demand for services exceeded their financial means to satisfy them.  “By rigid economy the funds, which were never ample have been nevertheless sufficient not only to meet the annual disbursements but also to leave a small balance; until the present year when demand has exceeded the usual supply by a few pounds owing to the greater number of poor requiring medicines during the last year”.  The following year the decision was taken to close down the operations of the Aberdeen New Dispensary, in the process of which the chairman paid a generous tribute to their physician.  “The subscribers were however of opinion that as the public did not seem to appreciate the valuable and gratuitous services of Dr Ogston, nor the great benefit which thousands have derived from the Institution, that the same be given up and only a subscription raised forthwith among the managers and others to discharge the small debt contracted.  The meeting could not take leave of Dr Ogston without expressing their unqualified approbation of his very meritorious services and their best and anxious wish for his future success in that profession to which he does honour”.  More than 10,000 poor Aberdonians had received medical support in the six years of existence of the New Dispensary.

 

Francis Ogston’s early remunerated employment

The first gainful employment of Francis Ogston appears to have been as police surgeon in Aberdeen.  He was in this post from at least early 1828 and this is known from a report of the proceedings of the Circuit Court of Justiciary which opened on 15 April.  John Mather, a mariner, was brought up and accused of having assaulted widow Mitchell or McLean residing in Hutcheon Street, Aberdeen.  A blow felled the old lady, causing her to bleed profusely.  Mather pleaded not guilty, but the charge was found proven, and he was sentenced to one year in the Bridewell.  Dr Francis Ogston had examined the auld biddie and reported to the court that her life was in danger.  He would continue with this role supporting the police for the remarkable period of almost 50 years.  “Mr Ogston”, probably Alexander Ogston (1766), the father of Francis, had been a police commissioner since before 1831 and this fact may have been significant in Francis securing the role of police surgeon.

Also in 1828, in November, Francis Ogston mounted a lecture series in chemistry, which was advertised as follows.  “Dr Ogston will commence his winter course of lectures on chemistry on Mon 3 Nov at 7 o’clock in the evening in his classroom, Duthie’s Court, Guestrow.  The course will be illustrated by many experiments and apparatus selected by him last summer in Edinburgh.  The certificates for attendance on these lectures are received by the Royal College of Surgeons.  Particulars may be learned on applying to Dr Ogston at No 2 Gallowgate.  Aberdeen, October 7, 1828”.  Guestrow, which was obliterated by the construction of St Nicholas House, itself now demolished, ran parallel to, and to the west of, Broad Street, the location of Marischal College and close by Francis Ogston’s family home. This fee-paying course of chemistry lectures for aspiring doctors was continued at the start of winter in both 1829 and 1830 but was not detected in subsequent years.

The Aberdeen Journal’s obituary of Francis Ogston (1803) reported that after his return to Aberdeen from visiting the continent, he “soon acquired an extensive practice”, which included private patients.  However, it is unclear how quickly his roll of such clients grew.  Presumably, his listing in the Post Office and other directories as “Francis Ogston MD”, which occurred from1824 – 1825, was primarily intended to advertise his professional expertise to the upper classes who could afford to pay for their medical treatment.  (At the 1851 Census, Francis Ogston, then living at 18 Adelphi, was self-described as MD Edinburgh, LTCSE (Licensate of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh) and General Practitioner.  From 1861 he was listed in city directories as “Francis Ogston, Physician”).  Between 1832 and 1844, Francis Ogston’s place of residence, also the Ogston family home, changed to Ogston’s Court, 84 Broad Street and he may have had consulting rooms there.  The growing reputation of Francis Ogston led to him acquiring further roles during the 1830s.  In 1832 the Aberdeen Health Board was constituted, and Francis became a member of this body.  This was a time of flowering for mutual organisations as workers sought to provide for the unpredictable events of life, such as injury at work or premature death, and for income in retirement.  In 1836 the Operative Mutual Assurance Society was established in Aberdeen by a group of leading citizens, including Francis Ogston and he was appointed as physician to the Society from its birth.  It rapidly gained in prominence and was financially successful.  In 1844 it held its 8^th annual meeting in the Grammar School when, “The Treasurer stated that during the last seven years they had paid for sick and funeral expenses upwards of £250, while they had at the same time adding to their stock upwards of £50 yearly, to provide for after life”.  At this time, Francis Ogston was an honorary director, but it is unclear if he still fulfilled the role of physician to the society.  In 1850 he was a member of the council of the society.  The Aberdeen Journal was approving of such mutual societies and commented, “In reference to this Society, we may only state that we believe the benefits derived from it are 6s per week when sick, £5 payable on death, and £5 per annum of annuity after 70, all which a man at 25 years can obtain for about 2¼ d per week, and a man at 40 for about 3¾ d per week.  We should like to see such Societies as the above in every district of our country”.  A further remunerated post was acquired by Francis Ogston in 1853, when he became the medical officer to the Aberdeen Board of the United Kingdom Life Assurance Company.

 

The death of Alexander Ogston (1766)

Alexander Ogston (1766), the father of Francis Ogston and the founder of the candle manufactory, which was the source of the family wealth, died on 27 July 1838 at Ardoe, the estate he had only recently purchased, on Lower Deeside.  Both sons were named as trustees of their father’s will.  Francis appears to have been detailed to acquire a burial plot at St Clement’s Church, the parish church of Footdee, which he did for the considerable sum of £30 for his father’s lair.  Several members of the Ogston family, including both Francis (1803) and his elder son Alexander (1844), two subjects of this study, were subsequently interred there.

 

Francis Ogston’s role as Police Surgeon

The role of police surgeon was busy, and the pages of the Aberdeen Journal and other local newspapers frequently contained reports of Francis Ogston’s activities in this role.  An appreciation of the scope of the job can perhaps best be gained through the following examples, chosen for their diversity.  In June 1831, the police day patrol found one Moses Dunn apparently drunk in the street.  He was taken to the Watch House, the rough equivalent of a central police station.  It included cells and a room where post-mortem examinations could be conducted.   Moses Dunn quickly became very ill, and Francis Ogston was called to attend him, but Dunn died.  Subsequently, Frances “examined” the body, possibly conducting a post-mortem dissection, and concluded that he had expired due to apoplexy (stroke). 

A male customer entered an Aberdeen druggist’s shop in May 1848 to buy 2oz of laudanum (tincture of opium containing a variety of alkaloids, including morphine and codeine).  The druggist became suspicious of the man’s intentions, as he was rather seedy in appearance.  This pharmaceutical retailer then filled a vial with coloured water, which the man immediately swallowed, left the shop and went home.  On the way he had second thoughts about his actions, confessed to his wife that he had tried to kill himself and urged her to send for medical help.  Hysteria then overcame the repentant spouse as he thought he was dying.  Meanwhile Francis Ogston arrived brandishing his trusty stomach pump and proceeded to evacuate the man’s gastric contents.  He was followed by the druggist who assured the panicking attendants that the man had only consumed coloured water and was not about to expire, whereupon the victim resumed his composure as his impending termination was cancelled.

Seven soldiers out on the town in August 1850 attacked Constable Gilbert, causing him bruising on his head and shoulders, cutting his skin, and leaving the marks of strokes on his cheek, brow and across his back.  Francis Ogston appeared in court to give an account of these injuries. 

In October 1854, Drs Ogston and Jamieson were sent to the scene of the sudden death of a housekeeper, who had been sleeping with her master after a party, where both had been drinking.  She appeared to have died from a stab wound to the head with a pair of scissors.  Her master, a farmer, was taken into custody on suspicion of being the perpetrator of her demise.  It was then discovered that some years previously he had spent time in the Aberdeen Lunatic Asylum. 

The same year, a woman in Aberdeen attempted to commit suicide by drinking a large quantity of laudanum, a remarkably frequent occurrence.  About two hours later Dr Ogston was called to the scene.  He used his stomach pump on the victim, but with little immediate effect.  However, she gradually recovered from her self-inflicted brush with mortality. 

In May 1860, a young man, David Thomson, went out drinking with his mates in Longside, near Peterhead and then travelled towards Aberdeen on a cart.  The inebriated group started arguing and fighting as they were approaching Ellon, which led to Thomson being put on top of the cart, possibly unconscious.  At Ellon he was found to have died.  The following day, Francis Ogston was sent to examine the body to determine if the dead man had been murdered, but he concluded that his death was due to exposure. 

A tragic maritime accident occurred in 1863 at Aberdeen harbour.  Two seamen were sleeping in the forecastle of a schooner, which was heated by a small stove.  The mate was abed in the after part of the vessel.  In the morning he found his two shipmates insensible.  Drs Ogston and Will were called and managed to revive one man, but the other had died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

A statistical analysis has been made of the 133 cases reported in the newspapers involving Francis and/or Alexander Ogston (1844) in association with their work for the police.  (It appears that Alexander Ogston never had a formal appointment with the police but probably substituted for his father in this role, due to serving as assistant to him in his private practice, probably from 1865).  This sample is unlikely to be close to a random sample of all cases, since some examples would likely be deemed more newsworthy than others.  For example, only 3% of cases reported in the print media involved assault to or by policemen, yet from Francis Ogston’s annual reports, (eg. in 1867) a high proportion (39%) involved the police, usually as victims of assault.  Perhaps injuries reported by policemen were typically of a minor nature?  The most fundamental conclusion to be drawn from this sample is that of cases drawn to the attention of the police, 61% involved a sudden or unexpected death.  Also, 43% of cases (some of which led to death) involved accidents, and horses or horse-drawn vehicles were responsible for 21% of these.  In some 20% of examples, the involvement of the law was due to sudden illness, sometimes leading to the demise of the victim, usually in the street.  Almost 15% of cases involved murder, culpable homicide or infanticide and 14% were examples of suicide or attempted suicide, mostly by laudanum poisoning, though other methods employed were hanging and throat cutting.  Of the sudden or unexpected deaths, post-mortem examinations were conducted in 17% of cases.  Only one example of firearm use was uncovered and in 6 cases issues of mental health (real or pretended) were involved.

The role of police surgeon was not particularly well remunerated, being 20gns per annum in 1846, which deficiency was recognised by the police commissioners at their meeting of that year when Francis Ogston’s annual report, which was described as “elaborate and minutely drawn up”, was tabled.  The opinion was voiced by a commissioner that the salary would be justified by the report alone.  Perhaps realising that Francis was under-paid, his emoluments were increased by 50% in the same year.  Throughout his career, Francis Ogston never gave the impression that he was driven by financial gain in his employment decisions.

 

Francis Ogston, additionally, becomes Public Officer of Health for Aberdeen

From late 1865, a new kind of case started to be dealt with by Francis Ogston and his son Alexander in their joint role of Public Officer of Health, the inspection and frequently the condemnation of foods offered for human consumption.  The first detected case involved the seizure of Monte Video beef, pork and hams, which had been seized by Mr George Thomson, Inspector of Nuisances, from James Allam, grocer and provisions merchant, St Nicholas Street.  These meats were determined by Profs John Struthers (Anatomy, 1863 – 1889), Francis Ogston, and Dr Alexander Ogston to be unfit for sale to the public.  From 1867 Francis Ogston also conducted large numbers of pre-employment medicals on police recruits.  Other new case types appearing during the 1870s were child neglect, reports of defective drainage and infectious disease cases onboard visiting ships requiring quarantine measures.

 

Francis Ogston becomes an expert in Medical Jurisprudence and marries Amelia Cadenhead

Through his work as the police surgeon, Francis Ogston must have become familiar both with the law surrounding police investigations of suspected crimes and unexplained deaths, and with the procedural formalities of such work.  He must also have become closely acquainted with Aberdeen’s procurator fiscal at the time, Alexander Cadenhead (1786 – 1854).  The ancient role of procurator fiscal was to collect taxes, debts and fines but it evolved during the 18^th century into the court officer responsible for bringing prosecutions and in 19^th century Aberdeen he was the public prosecutor.  The relationship between Alexander Cadenhead and Francis Ogston is likely to have included interactions between the wider families of the two men because, in 1841, Francis married Amelia Cadenhead (1819 – 1852), the elder daughter of Aberdeen’s fiscal.  The wedding took place at Ardoe House, Banchory-Devenick, the grand estate which had been bought by Francis’ father.  At the time of the marriage, Francis was 38, 16 years older than his bride.  A second consequence of his role as police surgeon was that he became recognised as an expert in the highly specialised field of medical jurisprudence.  This subject was being taught in the University of Edinburgh from at least 1793, where it was defined as “…treating of those questions which come before Criminal, Civil and Constitutional Courts for determination of which the opinion of a Medical Practitioner is required …”. 

 

Francis Ogston becomes a lecturer in Medical Jurisprudence at Marischal College

During session 1839 – 1840 in the medical faculty at Marischal College, where “excellent accommodation for the Medical Classes will be ready in the new buildings”, Francis Ogston was engaged as a lecturer on 3 September 1839 and for the first time he delivered a course of lectures on medical jurisprudence in the University.  This lecture series was repeated annually and in 1844, the fee for attendance was 2gns, which went to the lecturer.  In November 1857 the lectureship was converted, with the sanction of the Crown, to a Chair, supported by an endowment from Alexander Henderson of Caskieben, and Francis Ogston was elevated to the new Chair in Medical Logic and Medical Jurisprudence.  From that year his lecture course changed its title to correspond with that of the chair.  In 1860, Aberdeen’s two universities, King’s College in Old Aberdeen and Marischal College in the New Town merged to form a single “University of Aberdeen”.  As a result, several professors became redundant and were dismissed but Francis Ogston was retained in the new institution as professor of medical jurisprudence, though his lecture course still included “medical logic” in its title.  The roles that Francis Ogston played in the protests which the University Commissioners’ proposals for this academic fusion engendered, and the development of the Marischal College Medical School are dealt with elsewhere.  Francis Ogston continued to occupy this chair until July 1883, when he reached the remarkable age of 80 and resigned.  He was replaced by Professor Matthew Hay.  It is not clear if Francis Ogston continued to lecture in his special subject right to the end of his tenure, since the last year in which he was advertised as delivering the course was session 1878 – 1879.

Marischal College during demolition 1840

Marischal College after 1840 reconstruction

 

The origin of the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

Aberdeen’s original infirmary, located at Woolmanhill near the city centre, admitted its first patients in 1742.  In 1773 it was designated as the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) by Royal Charter.  The first hospital building was replaced in 1840 with a grand new granite structure designed by architect Archibald Simpson.  Subsequently, the site underwent further development with the construction of additional hospital accommodation.  In those pre-National Health Service days, ARI was maintained by charitable donations and overseen by a board of managers, the members of which were elected annually from amongst the most generous donors.  Francis Ogston was first elected as a manager of the ARI in 1845.

 

Francis Ogston’s children

After his marriage to Amelia Cadenhead in 1841, four children were born, Jane (1842), Alexander (1844), Francis (1846) and Helen Milne (1849).  Son Francis usually referred to himself as “Frank”, presumably to create a distinction from his father’s appellation, and Francis (1846) will be referred to as “Frank” throughout the rest of this essay.  In 1845, Francis Ogston and his growing brood moved from Ogston’s Court to 21 Adelphi Court adjacent to the east end of Union Street, the grand main street of Aberdeen city.  The reason for the move may well have been the need for additional accommodation, but perhaps also the requirement for consulting rooms in a more salubrious part of town.  Francis Ogston moved the family home again three years later, but not far, to 18 Adelphi Court, which remained his domestic abode until 1866.  In 1848, 21 Adelphi Court was described as being “excellent and commodious …  with stable and other outbuildings”.  However, Francis’ wife, Amelia, died prematurely, aged 33, in 1852 and the widowed Francis did not remarry.

 

Francis Ogston’s career advances

By 1847, when he was 44, Professor Francis Ogston’s academic star was clearly rising in the Marischal College medical firmament.  He had become the convener of the Medical Committee and this role required him to open the session on 1 November with a general introductory lecture, in the presence of the Senatus and Medical Faculty academics.  The Aberdeen Journal reported that “the attendance was numerous” and that Francis Ogston’s lecture “was listened to with the most marked attention”, so much so that Dr Pirrie proposed, seconded by Dr Macrobin, that the lecture should be published.  Sadly, no copy of this lecture has so far been uncovered. 

The Aberdeen Medico-Chirurgical Society was founded in 1789 by a group of medical students who were dissatisfied with the quality of teaching at both the city’s universities.  However, in 1811 the society evolved into a postgraduate medical community, due to the original members graduating but continuing to attend meetings.  Initially this situation was dealt with by the creation of senior and junior sections of the society, but the junior component withered and vanished, leaving only the postgraduates.  Francis Ogston became a prominent member of the Medico-Chirurgical Society and in 1848 he was one of two representatives of the society attending a meeting in the Town House, which had been called for the purpose of forming a Board of Health in the city.  He agreed to act as a link to the Marischal College Medical Faculty and he was appointed as the Board’s secretary.  Also in 1848, Francis Ogston became a member of the council of the Medico-Chirurgical Society.

As already noted, one of Francis Ogston’s duties as police surgeon was to prepare an annual statistical report summarising his case load for the previous 12 months.  His 1850 report noted that he had treated 117 individuals, 89 being in the department of the day patrol and 28 on the night watch.  Most of the subjects were male (79).  But, by this year, Francis Ogston had become so concerned with conditions in the Watch House that he shared his views with the Police Commission.  When ten or twelve persons were confined in one cell, “the atmosphere must become unwholesome”, he said.  Some commissioners thought that Ogston should have raised such issues much earlier, but Francis was defended by the provost, and by Sheriff Watson, who pointed out that he was only employed to deal with cases brought before him.  The annual report for the following year made clear two important characteristics of the range of situations presenting themselves: more than half the cases involved drink at the time of referral and some of the police out on patrol themselves got injured in the line of duty.

 

The Boys’ and Girls’ Hospitals

Formal provision for the education of poor boys in Aberdeen was instituted in 1768 with the formation of the Boys’ Hospital in the old house of Robert Gordon, the Earl of Aberdeen.  Initially 25 boys each year were “clothed, maintained, and taught the ordinary branches of learning”.  Subsequently the number being supported was doubled.  A similar Girls’ Hospital for the education of 30 poor girls was instituted in 1829 at a house in Upperkirkgate, support continuing to the age of 14 when the inmates were put out to service.  In 1830, Francis Ogston was appointed as physician to the Boys’ and Girls’ hospitals.  In that year his remuneration was £5.  Each year from 1854, Francis produced a summary report dealing with the overall picture of illness in the two hospitals.  In his first such report, he noted that he had dealt with 17 cases among the boys and with 12 female patients, with one male and three female deaths.  There was a similar level of illness the following year but with no reported fatalities.  Thereafter, Dr Ogston usually recorded generally good health amongst the inmates of the two hospitals, usually without fatalities.  The year 1862 was an exception.  Three lads from the Boys’ Hospital went swimming at Aberdeen beach but, tragically, got out of their depth.  Two drowned and one was saved but one body was washed away and not recovered.  Francis Ogston was called to the incident.  The year 1870 saw another fatality of a lad who died of complications to his heart following rheumatic fever.  Francis Ogston continued in his medical support to the two hospitals until 1886 when he submitted a letter of resignation to take effect “as soon as it may be convenient to them (the hospital managers) to appoint a successor”.  He had been in post for the remarkable time of 55½ years, between the ages of 27 and 83!  The regard of the trustees and managers for their recently departed physician was minuted.  “In accepting the resignation of the office of physician to the Boys’ and Girls’ Hospital which Dr Ogston has held since October 1830 the trustees and managers desire to enter in their minutes an expression of their high appreciation of Dr Ogston’s services.  At the commencement of his professional career Dr Ogston was elected to the office he has now resigned and neither a large practice nor the duties of the chair of medical jurisprudence in the University of Aberdeen ever caused Dr Ogston to lessen that care which 55 years ago he was called upon to bestow on the inmates of the hospital”.

 

The British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting (1859)

In 1859, a new Lord Rector, the Earl of Airlie, was installed at Marischal College, with the students entertaining their champion at a banquet held in the recently completed Music Hall buildings.  Francis Ogston was a top-table attendee and replied to the toast to “Medicine”.  In September of the same year, the British Association for the Advancement of Science met, also in the Aberdeen Music Hall, under the presidency of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort.  Francis Ogston was a supporter of the BAAS and donated £5 to the fund raised to mount this important event.  He was appointed to the committee organising the programme for the Physiology sub-section and presented a paper on a curious subject, cross-species suckling in mammals.  He cited a case of a greyhound suckling a kitten and also commented on the practice in some West African tribes of young women who have never had children being employed as wet nurses, milk secretion being stimulated by the application of the irritant juices of a species of Euphorbia to the breasts.

 

A brief history of the Aberdeen Medical School

Almost from the establishment of King’s and Marischal Colleges, each had employed a Mediciner, and medical courses had been taught at both institutions, though there was usually an antagonistic relationship between the two academic postholders.  However, in 1818 a joint committee of the two colleges was established, on the initiative of Marischal College, to conduct a single medical school with an agreed curriculum.  The extent of collaboration, however, appears not to have been deep.  Each college still mounted its own Chemistry courses, part of the medical curriculum.  The Aberdeen Medical School only survived until 1839 when the old antagonisms between Marischal and Kings led to the abandonment of collaboration and each college then promoted its own medical school.  Along with the two seats of medical learning in Aberdeen, there was also a flourishing private enterprise provision of independent medical courses in the town, just as Francis Ogston had himself conducted in both Chemistry and Medical Jurisprudence, before being employed by Marischal College. 

This sundering of the unitary medical school was probably the event which triggered the appointment of Francis Ogston as lecturer in Medical Jurisprudence in 1839.  According to the biography, written by Prof McKendrick of Glasgow University, of the Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, published in the “Aurora Borealis Academica" (a compendium of pen-pictures of outstanding Aberdeen academics) in 1898, "Up to the time of his appointment to the lectureship in 1839 the number of graduates was small and all who had ambition and could afford it went to Edinburgh University with its famous medical school..  Ogston with Thomas Clark, then Professor of Chemistry (an MD graduate of Glasgow University), did much to improve the educational facilities in Aberdeen, to raise the standard of teaching  and to make the examinations more thorough.   He (Francis Ogston) had the satisfaction of seeing his labours crowned with success".  Clark had been appointed Professor of Chemistry in 1833, but in 1843 his health broke down; thus, their collaboration must have occurred between 1839 and 1843.  In 1883, when Francis Ogston retired from the University of Aberdeen, it was noted that he was the last surviving link with the founding of the Marischal College Medical School.

In the newly reinstated competition between the two colleges for medical students in 1839, King’s was clearly at a locational disadvantage, being seated in the rather small borough of Old Aberdeen about two miles from the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where clinical teaching, of necessity, was conducted.  Marischal College’s location was in the much larger settlement of the New Town and within easy walking distance of ARI.  King’s sought to remove this disadvantage by relocating much of its medical teaching to the New Town.  In 1842, King’s College advertised its forthcoming medical courses in the Aberdeen Journal.  “Chemistry will be taught as formerly in King’s College; Anatomy and Surgery at No 6, Flourmill Lane and the other classes in the Medical School at Kingsland Place till 1^st January after which all classes will be taught in the Medical School presently erecting in St Paul Street”.  This really was taking the fight to the enemy.  St Paul’s Street was situated off Gallowgate, a mere stone’s throw from Marischal College on Broad Street.

During the 1850s, bickering, antagonism, non-cooperation and even frank obstruction were the order of the day for relations between the two colleges, but outside forces were tiring of this perpetual low-level warfare.  The Aberdeen Herald, in an opinion piece in 1853, summarised this external frustration.  “For nearly a score years we have been labouring, in season and out of season – occasionally, we doubt not, greatly to the annoyance of some of our readers – to get rid of the scandal of two rival Universities, or Colleges, or whatever they are to be called, running each other down, and by their competition for the business of manufacturing Degrees, bring discredit on the cause of learning in the north.  Every legitimate weapon that came to our hand we have freely used; argument till we were tired of arguing; remonstrance till we felt ourselves getting angry; and ridicule to the full extent permitted in dealing with grave and dignified Professors, even although they had laid themselves open to any freedom of comment by their silly jealousies, hostile attitudes, and ill-disguised attempts at corporate and individual aggrandisement in the paltriest of all directions – pecuniary profit”.

By 1853, the two institutions of higher learning had established a joint committee to examine future collaboration.  It reported that there should be a full merger between both of the universities, in terms of their degree-awarding powers, and between the two colleges, in terms of their teaching programmes, though both sets of buildings, in the old and new towns, were proposed to be retained.  The Senatus of Kings College passed a resolution endorsing amalgamation on the following principles.  1.  Complete fusion of the two colleges resulting in single faculties of Arts, Laws, Medicine and Divinity.  2.  Arts to be taught solely at the Aulton site, other faculties to be taught as appropriate, but that the seat of the University should be at King’s College.  Because Marischal College did not object to this proposal, the Aberdeen Herald took that as tacit acceptance, but predicted that the proposal would generate public hostility.  More likely, Marischal College did not deign to notice the proposal.

This merger proposal would, of course, have solved the problem of the competing medical schools, though there were some who saw such an outcome as bad, through the loss of competition, which they deemed to be unhealthy.  It was even suggested that the Infirmary might then be prompted to start its own rival teaching facility.  Meanwhile, the Marischal College medical school was winning the fight for students.  The Aberdeen Herald at the end of 1856 reported that “The friends of this School will be glad to learn that it is in a more prosperous condition now than it has ever been previously – no fewer than 116 students having been enrolled during the present Winter Session, many of whom come from a distance”.  Then, the University Commissioners in 1858 settled the argument in proposing the full merger of the two institutions with the single medical faculty to be located at Marischal College.  It is interesting that although Francis Ogston was a public, bitter and implacable opponent of the loss of Arts teaching from Marischal College, he was entirely silent on the future location of the medical school.       

 

The “Fusion” of 1860

The merger of King’s and Marischal colleges in 1860 to create the University of Aberdeen proceeded from “The report of Her Majesty’s Commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of the Universities of Aberdeen with a view to their Union” published in 1858.  It was presented to Parliament and approved, its provisions being enacted through the Universities (Scotland) Act of 1858, which passed on 2 August.  A Head Court of the inhabitants of the city was called at the Court House in mid-May at which the Universities (Scotland) Bill was discussed.  Francis Ogston was an attendee. The main structural recommendations of the University Commissioners were that only the Faculties of Law and Medicine (which included Botany and Chemistry) should remain at Marischal College, the Faculty of Arts, along with Divinity should be based at Kings and a new library should be constructed at the Aulton site.  Francis Ogston had graduated MA from Marischal College, the loser in the rationalisation of arts teaching and he clearly felt an attachment to Arts provision at his alma mater.  He, along with four other senior academic staff at Marischal College organised a petition, in June 1858, opposing the move to relocate arts instruction.  A citizens’ committee then solicited subscriptions for the defence of Marischal College to which Francis Ogston donated 3gns.  At the end of January 1859, the Aberdeen Herald and General Advertiser described Francis Ogston as one of the protest leaders campaigning for the retention of arts teaching at both the Kings and Marischal sites.

The academic opposition to the merger proposals was mainly expressed by the staff at Marischal College and the division of views amongst the teaching community spilled over into the election of the Dean of Faculty at the beginning of March 1859.  Two candidates were put forward, Alex. Thomson, Esq of Banchory, the retiring dean, proposed by Rev Dr Pirie, and Sir Thomas Blaikie, proposed by Principal Dewar, the two candidates falling on opposite sides of the fusion debate.  A vote was taken which produced a split decision with seven votes for each candidate, Francis Ogston casting his vote in favour of Sir Thomas.  Mr Thomson attended the meeting and attempted to vote – for himself – to break the impasse but Principal Dewar declined to accept his participation.  Instead, Dewar cast his deciding vote for Sir Thomas, elevating him to the role of the new Dean of Faculty.  The principal’s decision was disputed by Thomson and his supporters, but the outcome stood.  Sir Thomas Blaikie was also the chairman of the Citizen’s Committee for the defence of Marischal College.  

It was not just the senior academics at Marischal College who took exception to the proposals.  In general, the citizenry of Aberdeen was antagonistic towards the recommendations, which appeared to them to be emasculating their university, making it subsidiary to the campus at Kings College in Old Aberdeen, the much smaller settlement, and removing arts teaching from the site which was most conveniently placed for the attendance of the general population.  Their views, along with those of the academics at Marischal and of the Town Council, were fully expressed at a second Head Court, held in March 1859.  This meeting was called by the provost, with the concurrence of the Town Council “To take into consideration the resolutions of the Universities (Scotland) Commissioners, as regards the universities and colleges of Aberdeen, and to express such opinion, and adopt such measures thereanent as may appear to be proper and expedient”.  Feelings were running high in the New Town.  So many people turned up for the event that the Court House could not accommodate everyone, and the meeting was relocated to the North Church.  Not all attendees were opposed to the reform proposals.  A group of students from Kings College were in favour of them and formed a disruptive element in the proceedings, which were attended by an estimated 1600 – 1700 people.  Francis Ogston, of course, was present and a resolution opposing the abolition of arts teaching at Marischal College was passed.

Many further attempts were made to get the proposed reforms revised but without success.  In January 1860, the Ordnances of the new university were published in the Edinburgh Gazette, while the old ordnances were still under appeal to the Privy Council, but outwith Aberdeen there was no mood to change the proposals.  As the Aberdeen Herald and General Advertiser commented at the time, “… there is no indication of any change in the localization of the fused Classes of Arts.  That they are to be fused is obvious from the superannuation of several professors …”.  This newspaper was not supportive of the Marischal College academics, suggesting that their actions were damaging their own interests by fighting the fusion plan.  The displaced professors were treated generously, being retired on full salary during life and the older of the two professors in each subject generally being chosen for removal.  However, a contrary and particularly fateful decision was taken in the case of the two professors of Natural Philosophy (Physics).  Professor James Clark Maxwell, the much younger incumbent at Marischal College was, anomalously, given the heave-ho.  He went on to become one of the most famous physicists in the history of the discipline.  Francis Ogston survived the cull, his position being unique, and he was retained in the Chair of Medical Jurisprudence, in which post his salary was to be £222 per annum. 

Even after the fusion became a reality, protests against the removal of arts teaching from Marischal College continued.  In February 1861, a vote was taken in the Senatus Academicus, where Francis Ogston was a prominent member, proposing the removal of arts teaching to New Aberdeen (ie to Marischal College) but it had to be set aside when the University Commissioners declined to sanction the move.  Francis Ogston was appointed as an assessor to the University Court by Senatus in the same year, in which body he proposed a motion inviting the Court to express an opinion that Marischal College was the preferable site both for arts teaching and as the location for the new library.  But such protests had reached the end of the road.  An amendment to Ogston’s motion, “to the effect that it is incompetent for the Court to entertain the motion in respect that the Commissioners have fixed the site both of the Arts classes and the Library by an ordinance approved of by Her Majesty in Council and with which the Court is bound by statute not to place itself in conflict”.  The amendment was passed by four votes to two.  Perhaps the final protest by Francis Ogston concerning the ramifications of the fusion occurred in 1863.  At the University Court in April of that year, Francis supported the view that if a new library could not be located mid-way between King’s and Marischal, it should be located in the Marischal College buildings.  Francis returned, like a dog with a bone, to the library theme at a further meeting of the University Court in October of the same year.  A proposal was made to convert the hall at Marischal College for dual use; library and public meeting place.  This was opposed in a motion by Mr Webster, though Francis Ogston pointed out that such a situation held at Trinity College, Dublin.  It appears that Francis, who was generally thought of as a mild-mannered man, did not pull his punches in attributing blame for the lack of good library accommodation as reported by the Aberdeen Journal.  “…he was of opinion that the present defective accommodation in the Library is owing in some degree to the grudging and illiberal spirit of the Librarian and others in King’s College”!  Mr Webster’s motion was carried, and the new library was built in Old Aberdeen.  Francis Ogston’s term as Senatus Assessor on the University Court expired in 1865. 

The reconstituted, merged university continued on its way, with Marischal College as the academic home of but two faculties, albeit the important ones of Law and Medicine.  It will perhaps be surprising to those familiar with the modern University of Aberdeen that in 1860 there was no Faculty of Science and subjects such as chemistry, botany and natural history, all relevant to the study of Medicine, were taught at Marischal.  Although much needed accommodation for the burgeoning disciplines of Medicine and Science was thus freed at Marischal College, the problems associated with this restricted site in the middle of the New Town would soon return to trouble the nascent institution.  The Faculty of Science was created in 1893.

 

Francis Ogston acquires a new and prestigious residence  

By the year 1865, Francis Ogston had developed a substantial private medical practice and on graduation his son Alexander, now aged just 21, was appointed as his assistant to help with this work.  Alexander continued in this role for eight years.  Also in 1865, Francis sold two houses, “… front and back with the shop at the front in Broad Street adjoining the entrance and Court of the University buildings, as possessed by Dr Ogston and his tenants”. 

Likely the two houses were 84 Broad Street and 2 Gallowgate which had been owned by the Ogston family for many years.  A year later, in 1866, Francis Ogston moved house from 18 Adelphi to the prominent and prestigious address of 156 Union Street and the Adelphi town house was also subject to disposal.  In those days, Union Street was a popular domicile with prominent Aberdonians, especially those in the medical profession and this change of accommodation must have helped with advertising the presence of the two medical Ogstons to potential patients.  Further, in 1866, son Alexander was appointed by the University Court as an assistant to his father in his role as Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, a post which was nominally shared with Prof Dyce Brown of Materia Medica.  This arrangement continued until 1869 when the shared assistantship was separated into two components by order of the Privy Council.  Alexander was then appointed Assistant Professor to his father, Francis, for the academic year 1869 – 1870 in Medical Jurisprudence and continued in this role until 1873.

 

Francis Ogston and the cholera epidemic of 1865 - 1866

Cholera is caused by some strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae which infect the small intestine and cause the production of large quantities of watery diarrhoea, with associated loss of electrolytes, which frequently leads to death if untreated.  It is usually spread by drinking water contaminated with the faeces of infected persons.  Although this malady did not reach British shores until the major epidemic of 1831 – 1832, it had probably existed in human populations for 1,000 years or more.  This first British epidemic spread to all parts of these islands and killed perhaps 40,000 people, including 10,000 in Scotland.  A second epidemic occurred in 1848 – 1849, probably entering via the port of Leith. Altogether about 53,000 deaths resulted from the recurrence of this intestinal infection.  A further outbreak from a new source took place in 1853 – 1854, with at least 20,000 fatalities.  Thus, when a fourth outbreak was detected on the south coast of England in 1865, which had probably originated in Egypt, there was a good deal of anxiety and even panic that this dreaded scourge, especially of those living in poor housing conditions, had returned.  The Lord President of the (Privy) Council sent a circular letter to local authorities warning them of the necessity to take precautions against the possible arrival of cholera.  A further directive required the appointment of local Officers of Health to supervise precautions against cholera, isolation and treatment of victims and local management of the response to any epidemic.

In Aberdeen the Police Commissioners met to consider what precautions should be implemented and initially their attention was drawn to the need to quarantine vessels arriving at the port and the need to provide for the hospitalisation of affected people should cholera appear.  Aberdeen Royal Infirmary managers were approached concerning provision of hospital accommodation, but they denied it was their responsibility.  The West Prison was then suggested as a possible cholera hospital and Francis Ogston, together with the city architect, Mr Smith, were dispatched to assess its suitability.  Meanwhile, cholera was steadily advancing through the country.  It had reached Southampton in October 1866 and was soon after reported in Sheffield and Epping.  Later it was also rife in London, especially in the crowded and insanitary conditions of the East End.  Unfortunately for the Aberdeen Police Commissioners, the County Prison Board rejected the request to employ prison accommodation for cholera isolation and another suitable building had to be found.  By August 1866 the disease was reported in Montrose and there had been unexplained deaths in Fraserburgh, which Francis Ogston was despatched to investigate.  It proved to be cholera and in the first two weeks of August this northern fishing port had experienced 73 cases of cholera and 12 deaths.

Francis Ogston, ever willing to serve the public interest, agreed to take temporary medical charge, at the request of the Police Commissioners, should cholera break out in Aberdeen.  Some important arrangements were finally agreed in mid-August.  The money (£200) for salaries associated with the officer of health function was committed, of which it was anticipated the officer of health would take half.  After an initial delay, the appointment of Francis Ogston as the Officer of Health was announced.  He was already familiar with police work and was easily the best-qualified candidate.  The provost spoke in his favour.  There had been some concern that Francis Ogston would be unable to devote sufficient time to the role in an emergency, due to his other commitments, though the Commissioners also worried that his present salary (30gns) as police surgeon was too low for the work required.  The Fever Hospital at the Infirmary was cleaned out, fumigated and lime-washed to make it suitable for use, if required, as a cholera hospital.  It contained two male and two female wards in which 40 to 50 patients could be treated.  A litter to carry patients had been constructed and men retained for carrying it.  Two male and two female nurses were also engaged.  Francis Ogston made a selection of doctors to take charge of districts and experienced medical students to conduct house-to-house visitations.  Arrangements were also made with druggists in different districts of the town to supply medication at no cost, if consulted about bowel complaints and arrangements were made for making the statistical returns requested by the Board of Supervision.  Twelve additional scavengers (street cleaners) were recruited to clear the worst streets, lanes and closes in the town of rubbish and filth, prior to them being washed down.  The police were alerted to report nuisances to the Superintendent, so that he could deal with their removal.  He had also reported that the licensed lodging houses in the town were in good condition but, as a precaution, he had issued an order for them to be lime-washed, except where that operation had been recently done.  Finally, Francis Ogston was provided with statistical information to guide him on dividing the town into districts for supervision and control, should cholera arrive.  The disease possibly arrived in Aberdeen about 18 August 1866 when a woman, who had been in contact with a seaman, developed severe diarrhoea and expired.  At that time, it was difficult to diagnose the condition with certainty because there were other diseases (such as “British cholera”) which mimicked the symptoms of Asiatic cholera.  Although there were eventually about 64 deaths from Asian cholera in Aberdeen during this epidemic, the arrangements made for managing the outbreak were fairly effective.  In mid-September 1866, Francis Ogston made a precautionary visit to both Edinburgh and Glasgow to evaluate the measures introduced by those cities to counteract the cholera.  He reported to the Police Commissioners on his return that Aberdeen’s measures were at least the equal of those introduced in Scotland’s two largest conurbations, no doubt stirring Aberdonians’ civic pride in the process.  By the end of September 1866, the threatened crises had effectively ended, though sporadic cases recurred until the end of the year, when a violent snowstorm seemed to break the chain of transmission.  Altogether in Scotland there had been about 1,170 deaths.

During January 1867, Francis Ogston made a report to the Police Commissioners on the recent cholera epidemic.  In it he made a series of recommendations for the future protection of the city should there be a return of the dreaded malady.  These recommendations were based closely upon the conduct of the authorities and the officer of health during the local outbreak of the previous year.  They were as follows.  1.  The division of the city into convenient and manageable districts.  2.  The printing of handbills setting forth such plain rules for the preservation of health as might be useful to the community under existing circumstances.  3.  The arrangement of convenient stations throughout the city for the giving out of appropriate medicines on application.  4.  The appointment of a staff of medical house-to-house visitors.  5.  The appointment of district medical officers.  6.  The appointment of a Sanitary Inspector to carry out the orders of the Nuisance Removal Committee on the reports of the medical officer and the district medical staff.  7.  The procuring of stated weekly returns of the health of the city.  8.  The procuring of a cholera hospital with the appliances necessary for the removal and treatment of the sick.  9.  The obtaining of a sufficient staff of nurses for the duties of the hospital and the charge of patients at their own homes.  10.  The finding of a house of reception for healthy persons requiring removal from unhealthy or infected localities.   At the same meeting, the Dean of Guild publicly acknowledged the leading role that Francis Ogston had played.  Francis received a fee of 120gns for his work and this figure was later used by his son, Alexander, to derive his fee (2gns per patient) for work during an epidemic of smallpox.  As will be seen, this proved to be highly controversial.

 

Francis Ogston and the North of Scotland Banking Company

This Aberdeen-based bank was incorporated in 1836 and Francis Ogston’s association with the firm went back at least to 1846 when he was listed as a member of the company.  That status was maintained until 1853 but in 1854 he was elected to the bank’s board of ordinary directors, an appointment which lasted for a year but with the possibility of re-election for a further term of office.  He joined the board again in 1856 and then served continuously up to and including 1867.  No evidence has been found that he served after that year.  He would then have been 65 and may have decided to retire from this commercial position.  Francis had a sharp intellect and came from a family with strong commercial instincts and appeared to find the challenges of a bank boardroom well within his capabilities.

 

Francis Ogston and Queen Victoria.

No direct evidence has been discovered, including in the Royal Archives, that the monarch ever sought help from Francis Ogston for either her relatives or her staff.  However, his son Alexander wrote that his father, Francis, had had a number of interviews with the Queen, concerning illnesses to both her family members and estate employees, and that he too had initially found that holding a conversation with Her Majesty had been a nervous experience, though the feeling passed with time.  Alexander also wrote that his father did not want his Royal connection publicised, and no indication was given of the time interval during which these consultations occurred, though they probably took place after 1861 (when the Prince Consort died) and before 1880 (when Francis Ogston started withdrawing from medical activities).

 

Francis Ogston and charity

As he got older, Francis Ogston became more involved in charitable giving, with a strong emphasis on local causes in the North-East of Scotland, the most prominent of which were the two main hospitals, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.  In 1885, it was reported in the Evening Express that Professor F Ogston continued to subscribe 5gns annually to ARI and thus qualified to be a life manager of the institution.  He also made one-off donations to the Children’s Hospital, for example, a 1gn donation in 1877.  Francis was also reported on several occasions as channelling donations from his private patients to ARI, for example £5 given by “a country lady” in 1874.  The Aberdeen Asylum for the Blind also received at least one contribution from Francis Ogston.

The Professor of Medical Jurisprudence was also moved to support acute needs such as the Indian Famine of 1877, the famine in Asia Minor in 1874 and the Chicago fire of 1871.  Nearer to home, he also contributed to appeals supporting unemployed operatives in Aberdeen in 1868 and 1885 and he was a member of the Association for Improving the Conditions of the Poor.  Although most of his charitable giving related to human distress, he occasionally donated to other causes, such as the Aberdeenshire Volunteer Artillery and Rifle Association, the Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum and the Imperial Institute, which promoted trade links with the Empire.

 

Francis Ogston and the Church

Francis Ogston was a committed churchman and from at least 1869, he was an elder and a prominent member of the congregation at the West Kirk of St Nicholas, acting as convenor of the committee appointed to find a successor to the minister of the West Kirk in 1869, being a member of the Aberdeen Church Extension Association and the committee set up to raise funding for the restoration of the transepts at St Nicholas in 1876.

St Nicholas Kirk

 

George Cadenhead, Procurator Fiscal and the spat with Dr Angus Fraser

The need for doctors to have a clear understanding of the principles of Medical Jurisprudence was well illustrated by an incident which took place in 1878.  The same event also illustrated the need for doctors, or indeed anybody, to control their passions when a clear view of a complex issue is required, unobscured by the descent of a red mist of irrationality.  At the time George Cadenhead, Francis Ogston’s brother-in-law, was Procurator Fiscal for Aberdeen, a role his father, Alexander, had previously occupied’

Dr Angus Fraser, an Aberdeen GP who had been born in the city and lived at 232 Union Street, was called out one morning in 1878 to see one of his patients who had died unexpectedly during the night, having previously seemed in good health.  Fraser’s judgement was that this death was due to natural causes and would not need to be referred to the Procurator Fiscal.  Fraser still felt that it was wise to carry out a post-mortem examination to establish the cause of death and the widow agreed to this proposed course of action.  He planned to carry out the procedure himself, two days hence, but did not inform the Procurator Fiscal of his intention.  Meanwhile, the Procurator Fiscal was notified of this sudden death from another source and, being ignorant of Fraser’s arrangements, gave an instruction to Francis Ogston, the Police Surgeon, to carry out a post-mortem examination.  Francis Ogston delegated the task to his second son, Frank, who was acting as his assistant at the time.  Frank completed the procedure on the day following the man’s demise and concluded that his was, indeed, a death due to natural causes.  As far as the Procurator Fiscal was concerned, that ended his interest in the matter.

The Aberdeen GP was extremely miffed when he discovered that events had overtaken his plan and he sought to take out his anger on the Procurator Fiscal, whom he held responsible for the disruption of his intentions, with an exchange of angry letters to which George Cadenhead, the PF, retaliated in kind, the difference being that Cadenhead understood exactly the ground which he occupied, whereas Fraser could not see beyond, as he saw it, the subversion of his plan.  He continued to rage.  The simple fact was that Cadenhead could legally nominate anyone he cared to, to perform the post-mortem, provided that person was qualified to carry out the work, and Frank Ogston was so qualified.  Dr Fraser considered that he held senior status over Frank Ogston, which may or may not have been true, but this was irrelevant.  Is it possible that Fraser’s anger was due to the base motive of losing the fee for the examination?  Is it also possible that he suspected a degree of nepotism that the work had been directed to the Ogstons, since Francis Ogston was the widower of George Cadenhead’s sister?

Angus Fraser made a number of tactical errors, in addition to misunderstanding the legalities of the case.  He released the correspondence to the press, which gleefully published this tasty exchange, perhaps thinking it would vindicate his stand.  He also forgot the name of his patient, submitting an incorrect appellation.  Further he suggested to the PF that there were suspicious circumstances surrounding the death when none existed.  George Cadenhead did not hesitate to discomfort his antagonist with his cutting responses to Fraser’s accelerating ire, as the following excerpts from the correspondence show.

“This would have been my resolution even if your communications had shewn that the discussion was likely to be conducted on your side with high logical ability”.  “Pray don’t add to other dialectical mistakes that of supposing that by this style of answer I either take or intend to give any personal offense”.  “Lastly, I would strongly recommend to you to submit our correspondence to some impartial person or persons unprejudiced by the professional grievances – which I think is the main motive of your letters – and see what they may say about it and be guided by their opinion.  If you do publish, I can tell you there are several points which will provoke amusement in your readers – beginning with the family medical attendant being ignorant of his patient’s name and ending with the curious process by which you seek to convict me of improperly dealing with the present case as one of suspicion.  The correspondence will certainly be amusing.  You will assuredly make sport for the Philistines and you may even succeed in bringing down the house as Samson did”.

The “Medical Times and Gazette” politely put Dr Fraser in his place.  “We regret exceedingly that such a correspondence as this was ever laid before the public …”.  “It is a pity that Dr Fraser was not present at the post-mortem, but his own statement of his own conduct puts him entirely out of court and the subsequent correspondence does not improve matters”.

 

Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence

In 1878, Francis Ogston reached the age of 75.  He had been lecturing on Medical Jurisprudence since before 1839, a period in excess of 39 years.  During this long interval, he had revised and expanded his lecture course many times and felt confident that his work was worthy of publication.  This scholarly treatise was very much a family enterprise, written by Francis Ogston, edited by Frank Ogston, advised by George Cadenhead, Procurator Fiscal for Aberdeen and illustrated with line drawings by James Cadenhead, only son of George Cadenhead, who became an artist of significant status.  The book was published in London by J&A Churchill in 1878 and quickly became established as a seminal work on medical jurisprudence both nationally and internationally and especially with reference to Scotland with its own legal system.  The work retained the lecture course structure with 45 chapters, each one lecture in length, plus two appendices, more than one lecture being required for some topics.  The subjects of discussion were: Medical evidence, Age, Sex and doubtful sex, Personal identity, Impotence and sterility, Defloration, Rape, Sodomy, Pregnancy, Delivery, Birth, Criminal abortion, Infanticide, Insanity, Feigned, factitious and latent diseases, Death, Medico-legal inspections, Homicide, Wounds, Death by drowning, Death by hanging, Death by strangulation, Death by suffocation, Death from cold, heat, lightning and starvation, General toxicology. 

Reading the work today, one is struck by its comprehensive nature (it runs to over 650 pages) and its erudition.  In 1883, on his retiral from the University, Francis Ogston’s successor to the Chair of Medical Jurisprudence, Matthew Hay, said of his predecessor, “Dr Ogston was a man of venerable age and a man who held a very high reputation in his profession, and they had every reason to believe for he supposed that it was in the knowledge of almost all of them, as well as of the professors, that Dr Ogston was held as a first professor in his special department.  The latest work he had published had been spoken of not merely in Scotland and England but throughout the whole of Europe as a work on Jurisprudence of the very highest class”.

Francis Ogston's Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence

   

The death of Francis Ogston  

Francis Ogston died on 25 September 1887 at his home, 14 Albyn Terrace in Aberdeen’s upmarket West End.  He was 84.  He had been declining in health for some time and had been noticeably ill for about six weeks.  According to the Aberdeen Journal the immediate agent of his death was a sudden “heart affection”, though at the registration of death the cause given by Dr A MacGregor was simply “old age”.  Francis’ daughter, Jane (Mrs Cowan, wife of Professor Henry Cowan) was with him at the end.

Francis Ogston (1803)

The funeral of Francis Ogston was a very formal and public affair and was attended or observed by many members of the Senatus and Court, academics and students of the University, together with doctors from the surrounding area and of the citizenry of Aberdeen.  This was a natural outcome after so many years serving the University, his private patients and the city of his birth.  The coffin bearing the remains of Francis Ogston was moved from Albyn Terrace to the Upper Hall at Marischal College on Saturday 1 October, prior to the funeral two days later.  It was encircled by Francis’ academic gown and hoods for a sort of lying in state within the institution which had nourished his intellect from the age of 17 and which he had served as a member of staff for 44 years.

A religious service was held in the Upper Hall before a substantial, organised procession left from Marischal College, where a large crowd of the public had gathered.  The processional order of mourners was: Medico-Chirurgical Society, Students, Court and Senatus, Relatives, Kirk-Session West Parish, General Public.  The coffin was carried on the shoulders of members of the Shore Porters’ Society down Broad Street, Castle Street, where more crowds had sought a vantage point, Castle Terrace, Summer Lane and St Clement’s Street to St Clement’s churchyard in Footdee and the plot where Francis had buried his own father in 1838.  There was a strong presence of senior Ogstons and their relatives by marriage, led by Professor Alexander Ogston and including grandsons, Alfred Ogston and Frank Cowan, son-in-law, Henry Cowan, nephews Alexander Milne Ogston and James Ogston, the soap manufacturers,  nephew Alexander Ogston Gill, the paint manufacturer, brother-in-law George Cadenhead, the Procurator-Fiscal and his son James Cadenhead the artist, James Miller, owner of the Sandilands Chemical Works, James Matthews, the architect and late Lord Provost of Aberdeen and Dr Lawrence, RN.  Dr Mitford Mitchell, minister of the West Kirk of St Nicholas and Chaplain to Queen Victoria in Scotland conducted a short service at the graveside.  That was quite a send-off for a man of diffident mien and a marked reluctance to court publicity.  Not many of his contemporaries received a farewell of such grandeur, formality and magnitude.

Francis Ogston's gravestone, St Clement's Church

The value of Francis Ogston’s personal estate was £5,545, a substantial sum at that time but modest in Ogston family terms.  Almost half of that sum was represented by shares in the North of Scotland Bank, by that time incorporated as a limited liability company.  Francis’ will left his whole estate, heritable and moveable, equally to his two sons, Alexander and Frank and his son-in-law, Henry Cowan, though £100 went to Archibald Malloch, the widower of his daughter Helen who died young.  He also remembered his two grandsons and his servants with legacies.  In a codicil, Frank was given first option to buy his father’s house at 156 Union Street.  This windfall for the two sons of Francis Ogston, Alexander and Frank, helped with the purchase of the Glendavan estate by the former in 1888 and the establishment in New Zealand of the latter, who had emigrated the year before his father’s death and was thus absent from his funeral. 

 

The personal characteristics of Francis Ogston

Francis Ogston possessed a great breadth and depth of medical knowledge.  He was both a generalist and a specialist, his knowledge being both “wide and deep”.  Francis worked as a GP in private practice for much of his professional life, he looked after the health of the inmates of the Boys’ and Girls’ Hospitals and he dealt with the great variety of conditions presented to him in his role as Police Surgeon, including carrying out post-mortem examinations.  His specialisms were driven by his public roles too.  Francis was recognised as the Scottish expert on medical jurisprudence, but his reputation as a medical jurist transcended national borders.  Related to this expertise was his knowledge of medical logic by which, "the students were instructed in the laws of reasoning and in the vari8ous methods employed in the investigation of phenomena".  With his appointment as Medical Officer of Health for Aberdeen, he soon developed a great knowledge of public health issues and practices, too.

But this Aberdeen University professor was not blessed with an outward-going or engaging personality.  His lecture delivery was “somewhat monotonous”, apart from a single vocal mannerism, the raising of his voice at the end of a sentence.  Allied with the fact that medical jurisprudence “was not popular with the rank and file", his abstruse lectures must have been hard going at times, though he was always listened to "with great attention and respect".  But there was a sympathetic human being lurking beneath this rather austere carapace.  "Under a somewhat cold manner he had a warm heart, while there was a substratum of quiet humour now and then revealed by the twinkle of an eye or a pithy sentence.  He was singularly modest and unpretending and yet he was a strong man who went his own way and let the world wag.  One of his most distinguishing characteristics was that sagacity and power of seeing things as they really are, and not as they appear to be or as we may wish them to be".  A sense of duty and obligation, which transcended his interest in financial reward, characterised his professional conduct.  He worked for the Aberdeen New Dispensary for several years, without financial remuneration.  He served the medical needs of the Boys’ and Girls’ hospitals for 55 years for a paltry monetary sum, and similarly with his service as Police Surgeon (almost 50 years), and as Medical Officer of Health for the city of Aberdeen.  Perhaps this indifference to income in his public roles was facilitated by the fees earned from his private patient list, but that would not detract from his saintly qualities.

However, Francis Ogston could not be described as an ivory-towers intellectual, divorced from the financial realities of everyday life.  He had a sharp intellect and came from a family with strong commercial instincts, and he found the challenges of a bank boardroom well within his capabilities.

There was also a general recognition within the city of Aberdeen that Francis Ogston performed his public roles not merely competently but very well.  In 1867, following the Cholera outbreak of the previous two years, the Dean of Guild publicly acknowledged the leading role that Francis Ogston had played.  “I cannot lose the opportunity of expressing my own feeling of our indebtedness to the medical gentleman who had charge of this matter.  (Hear, hear).  The more I have been brought into contact with Dr Ogston the more I have been struck by his care and attention and his energy and decision in meeting the crisis through which we have passed”.   The Aberdeen Journal added its own accolade.  “Every praise is due to Dr Ogston and his assistants for their admirable arrangements and the zeal and energy with which they set themselves to the discharge of their sometimes very painful but very necessary duties”.     

Francis Ogston had a mild personality and was only occasionally roused to strong words or public protest.  His most significant display of public emotion came during the attempt to retain Arts teaching at Marischal College in the fusion of 1860 and its aftermath.  In 1863, Francis Ogston was critical of the King’s College Librarian.  “…he was of opinion that the present defective accommodation in the library is owing in some degree to the grudging and illiberal spirit of the Librarian and others in King’s College”. 

More generally Francis Ogston was compliant, accommodating, modest and discrete.  During the Smallpox epidemic of 1871 – 1872 Francis and son Alex were Joint Medical Officers of Health.  This was a technicality, for Francis was by far the more experienced.  Alex was put in charge of the Smallpox isolation hospital at Mounthooly and performed well.  But his bill for services was rejected by the Town Council.  Both father and son resigned immediately, but it is likely that the instigator of this precipitate action was Alex, not his mild-mannered father.  Did Francis fall in behind his forthright elder son to maintain family solidarity?  When the Town Council considered the two letters of resignation, the Lord Provost, William Leslie, made a pointed distinction between the two Ogstons.  “I have no hesitation whatever in recommending acceptance of Dr Alexander Ogston’s resignation, but I think we should hesitate before we accept Dr Francis Ogston’s.  Dr F Ogston has always shown himself, under ticklish circumstances, to be conciliatory and very willing to do all that devolves upon him. (Applause)”.  The Town Council, having put themselves in a bind due to their inability to deal competently with contractual matters during the last epidemic, was keen to avoid a similar situation recurring, so it wanted to fix the terms of remuneration for the Medical Officer of Health in advance of any recurrence.  This post was then offered to Francis Ogston and he accepted, including its associated terms, without challenge.  It should also be born in mind that Francis Ogston did not seek to profit from his role as advisor to the monarch, since he did not want his relationship with Royalty to be publicised.

Francis Ogston memorial, St Nicholas' Kirk

Perhaps the best summary of Francis Ogston’s essential nature came from Principal Pirie in responding to the news of Francis’ death.  “The gentleness, the sweetness – the desire in point of fact to do his duty and at the same time say nothing unkind to those around him (except perhaps once to the Kings College librarian!) – eminently distinguished Dr Ogston.  He could not help thinking that Dr Ogston was a man who, though so highly estimated and esteemed, had still been somewhat underestimated”.

Don Fox

20220921

donaldpfox@gmail.com