Remote & Rural Remedies

"Survey return from Dr. MacIntyre"

Kilbrandon, Argyll.

1851.

RCP/COL/4/8/215

Dr. MacIntyre (also written as McIntyre) was a medical practitioner in Kilbrandon.

Kilbrandon was a united parish with Kilchattan in the historic County of Argyle and contained areas of the mainland along with inhabited and uninhabited islands. The Clyde and Oban steamers were a means of communciation and transportation. There were many quarries on the islands which provided employment and agriculture was the primary industry. In 1861, the population of the combined parish was 1859.

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[[Addressee]]
Dr Mac Intyre
Kilbrandon
Argyll

[[Survey]]
QUERIES

1. How long have you practiced in the locality you at present occupy?

ten years

2. What are the ordinary and what the greatest distances which you have to travel in visiting patients?

Ordinary distances 12 Miles extreme thirty-six

3. What means of conveyance do you employ in going long journeys?

Horse & Saddle or Gig¹

4. What is the state of the roads in your neighbourhood?

Good

5. Is the position of medical men in general in your quarter improved, or otherwise, of late years?

By no means

6. Supposing the people of the Highlands and Islands were generally able to pay for medical
advice, according to rates usually observed in other parts of the kingdom, what extent of
country in your locality would you regard as sufficient to occupy a single practitioner
fully?

The United Parishes of Kilninver and
Kilmelfort together with the united
Parishes of Kilbrandon & Kilchattan.

7. Mention, if you please, any special hardships incident to your situation, such as you think
might be remedied by some general measure or enactment?

My hardships
are too numerous to be mentioned
but the most vexatious is the inability
of the people to pay even for Medicine

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Explanatory notes:

1. A gig is a light two-wheeled carriage pulled by one horse.