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"Survey return from Archibald MacTavish"
Kildalton, Bowmore.
1850.
RCP/COL/4/8/27
Archibald MacTavish (also written as McTavish) was a church minister to Kildalton parish.
Kildalton was a parish in the historic County of Argyle and contained multiple small islands. There was much livestock breeding in the parish and agriculture and husbandry was maintained. The population was 3315 in 1841.
[[Addressee]]
The Revd.
Arch. MacTavish
Kildalton
Bowmore
[[Survey]]
QUERIES
1. How many Medical Men practice within the Parish of Kildalton?
One
2. The Names and Addresses of these.
William Campbell
Portellen
3. Has the number increased or diminished of late years?
Diminished
4. Have any left the Parish since you became connected with it? If so, for what reasons?
One for want of the means of support
5. Is there any complaint among the people of inadequacy in the supply of Medical aid?
Yes, great complaints
6. Do you know of any cases of protracted suffering, or of injury by Accident, such as might have been alleviated had proper advice been at hand?
I do several
7. To what extent is the deficiency of qualified Practitioners made up by the efforts of other parties?
A few private individuals administer simple medicines, reduce dislocations, set fractures, and bleed1 in cases of violent inflammation from want of confidence in the resident practitioner
8. Does your experience enable you to suggest any measure – of general applicability – such as would be likely to relieve to some extent the evils (if they exist) of deficiency in the supply of Medical aid?
The only measure I can suggest is foreign aid to enable a respectable practitioner to reside in the reside in the parish, and to put it in his power to supply medicine gratis to the poor
9. What Heritors2 are resident, either generally or occasionally, in your Parish?
There are no heritors in the parish, the property is at present under trust
[[Additional Text]]
Archd McTavish Minr of Kildalton
Explanatory notes:
1. Bleeding, or bloodletting, is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. This was a common medical practice in the 1800s, dating back to antiquity, and was often carried out by unlicensed healers as well as qualified physicians.
2. A heritor was a landowner, under Scots Law, whose holdings were sizeable enough for them to be liable for the payment of public burdens such as Poor Law rates, road and bridge assessments and the church minister’s stipend.
Remote & Rural Remedies
