Remote & Rural Remedies

"Survey return from Rob. Clark"

Harris, near Lochmaddy.

1851.

RCP/COL/4/8/242

Rob. Clark was a medical practitioner in Harris.

Harris was a parish and a village in the Western Isles in the historic County of Inverness. The parish contained multiple principle islands, including Scalpay and Taransay. The main village was Tarbet, which had continuous communication with Skye via steamboat. The population in the mid-19th century exceeded 4000. Most of the land was used for pasture, including for sheep breeding.

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[[Addressee]]
Rob. Clark. Esq.
Surgeon
Harris
near Lochmaddy

[[Survey]]
QUERIES

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

Twenty six years

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

The ordinary distance is about eight, and the
greatest about thirty three miles

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

Riding, walking & boats.

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

They are pretty fair, but are not
carried to the inhabited parts of the Parish.

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

It is other-
wise. My Salary since Whitsunday last, I was told
two days ago only, was is to be reduced upwards of £20.- It is now
down to £70.- The Government Grant for Medical Relief has slightly
improved the position of some, but not of others.- My own position is
in Status quo & worse indeed.- having additional duties to perform
as Medical Officer under the Poor Law Amendment act.

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 way in which the people of the Western Islands pay a
medical practitioner is on the basis of mutual assurance.- I have
notwithstanding the distance from one end of the parish to the
other been able to [1 word illegible] almost every call made upon me except
perhaps once in two years, but the physical exertion abase & privations of
every kind I must undergo, are incredible.

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?

The hardships incident to my situation are various & numerous - it is
a life of labor, but not an age of ease - owing to the miserable & inade
quate remuneration, I cannot afford, after supporting a wife & ten of a
family, even to insure my life or make any provision for myself or them. As my
family increased I was obliged to give up a Medical Periodical. I can
scarcely afford to give my family the common Rudiments of education.
District Surgeons ought to have a retiring Salary, as they are generally,
from overexertion, rendered unfit for their professional duties, much earlier
than Medical Practitioners in the South. - I have several inhabited Islands
to attend & visit, which, in the winter & spring, is often attended with great risk
and danger. The Government Grant for Medical Relief which ought to be specially
for the Medical officer is given to the Parochial Boards and in many instances, only
a share of it given to the Medical officer. - Vaccination is a thing not much at
tended to in the Western Islands because the people cannot afford to pay for it, neither
can a Medical Practitioner afford to travel over a score of miles of rugged, broken moor
& morass, to vaccinate for nothing - Altho’ I have a right to charge for vaccination, operations
& medicines, such charges cannot be realised. The Government ought to take vaccination un
-der its charge in these remote quarters & pay for it, it would encourage the people to
seek employment south, whereas, at present, the dread of Small Pox prevents them in
great measure. It would tend much to improve their social condition