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| Robert Porter Welch |
| Family
Name: |
Welch |
Variant
Spellings: |
|
| Given
Names: |
Robert Porter |
|
| DOB |
1808 approx
|
DOD |
25 February 1876 |
| Place
of Birth: |
England
|
Place
of Death: |
Greytown, NZ |
| Age
at Death: |
68
|
|
| School:
|
|
University:
|
|
| Qualifications:
|
LSA 1831
|
Speciality:
|
|
| Other
Occupations: |
Politician
Chemist |
|
| Spouse:
|
"Helen Uther" m.1841 Surry Hills, Sydney NSW |
| Children: |
Daughter b.1843 Sydney, NSW |
|
| Voyages:
|
"Letitia" from London arr. Sydney 27 September 1839
"Canton" from London arr. Sydney 12 June 1848
"Brothers" from Honolulu arr. Sydney 14 January 1852
"Hashemy" from Newcastle NSW arr. Port Cooper 5 May 1854
|
| Came
out as: |
|
| Date
Settled Aus: |
1839
|
Date
of Departure: |
|
| First
Registered: |
1839 NSW
|
Off
Register: |
|
| Addresses:
|
Taunton, Somerset, England 1831 (LSA lists)
Sydney, NSW 1839-1845 approx.(shipping record, Australian )
England 1848 (shipping record)
New South Wales 1848 (shipping record)
Murrurundi, NSW 1849 (Mercury)
Sydney, NSW 1852 (SMH, shipping record)
Newcastle, NSW 1854 (shipping record)
New Zealand 1854 onwards (Lyttleton Times etc) |
|
| Positions
Held: |
Surgeon, Taunton and Somerset Hospital 1834-1838 approx. (SMH)
Coroner for Wairarapa 1855 (Wright St. Clair)
Clerk Wellington Provincial Council 1858-1859 (Wright St. Clair)
MPC for Wairarapa 1865-6 (Wright St. Clair) |
| Publications:
|
Married woman's adviser and young mother's guide, London 1838 [reviewed Port Phillip Gazette 10 June 1840]
Familiar treatise on diseases of the eye. Sydney, 1840 (earliest medical work separately printed and published in Australia)
Original correspondence. Sydney Herald 19 June 1840 [signed Robert Porter Welch MD late surgeon Taunton and Somerset Hospital]
Songs, Ballads and Rhymes. Sydney : T.Trood, 1841
Observations on Convict and Free Labor for NSW. London, 1847 |
| Notes:
|
There were three medical men named Welch in the town of Taunton in 1809 (Toulmin) which suggests R. P. Welch came from a medical family
There is no Welch on the list of resident medical staff of the hospital from 1823; however there was a Dr.Welch on the consultant medical staff in 1830 (Toulmin)
Combined medical practice with a pharmacy business in Sydney early 1840s
Registered under Wellington Act at Greytown 1856
Of the four qualifications he claimed in his ostentatious petition to the NSW parliament in 1844, only the second one is correctly formulated - the remainder appear to be fabrications
Although his name appears on the printed lists of NSW Medical Board until 1867, there is no record in the Board minutes of his actually having been registered - Ed. |
| Acknowledgments:
|
This record was updated in July 2003 with information kindly supplied by Michelle Patient and Sheryl Pawson from New Zealand |
| References: |
New South Wales Medical Board. New South Wales Government Gazette 16 October 1839 [Robert Porter Welch, Sydney, on list of doctors registered since July]
New South Wales Medical Board. List of the Legally Qualified Medical Practitioners of the Colony of New South Wales. Sydney, 1842 [lists Robert Porter Welch, Sydney]
List of persons who have obtained certificates... as apothecaries 1815-1840. Apothecaries Hall, London, 1840 [Robert Porter Welch, Taunton, 20 January 1831]
Toulmin J. and others. History of Taunton. Taunton, 1874 [medical men in 1809 include C. Welch, J. Welch, Jos. Welch; includes a list of hospital house surgeons and apothecaries from 1823]
Ford E. Some early Australian medical publications. Medical History, July 1972
Ford E. Bibliography of Australian Medicine 1790-1900. Sydney : Sydney University Press, 1976
Ford E. Robert Porter Welch, M.R.C.S., and his first Australian medical publication. Medical Journal of Australia 1973; i: 503-6
Wright St.Clair (unspecified reference on NZ doctors)
Shipping intelligence. Colonist (Sydney) 28 September 1839 [R. Welch Esq surgeon on "Letitia" from London]
Valuable information for married ladies [book review]. Port Phillip Gazette 10 June 1840 ["Married Woman's Adviser and Young Mother's Guide" by Doctor Robert Porter Welch, London 1838]
Married. Sydney Herald 14 September 1841 [Robert Potter Walsh (sic) to Miss Helen Uther of Surry Hills]
Birth. Sydney Morning Herald 23 August 1843 ]at Castlereagh Street, lady of Dr. Robert Welch of a daughter]
New insolvents. Sydney Herald 15 April 1844 [Ambrose Eldridge and Robert Port Welch, trading as chemists]
Legislative Council. Australian (Sydney) 28 June 1844 [Robert Porter Welch, Member of the London College of Surgeons, Licentiate of the London Apothecaries' Company, Member of the University of Heidelberg, Member of the University of London]
Law intelligence. Australian (Sydney) 17 April 1845 [Robert Porter Welch, surgeon, attends assault victim in Sydney]
Shipping intelligence. Sydney Morning Herald 13 June 1848 [Dr. Welch Surgeon Superintendent, Mrs. Welch and child on "Canton" from London]
Abstract of sales by auction. Maitland Mercury 26 May 1849 [at Murrurundi, Dr. Welch's household furniture]
Shipping news. Lyttleton Times 3 January 1852 [Dr. Welch on "Fatima" from London - family not listed][presumably not him?]
Shipping intelligence. Sydney Morning Herald 15 January 1852 [Dr. and Mrs Welch and family on "Brothers" from Honolulu]
Welch's Dispensary and Drug Stores. Sydney Morning Herald 5 March 1852 [Dr Robert Welch, 28 Hunter Street, for five years Operating Surgeon at an English county hospital, recommenced practice in Sydney]
Shipping intelligence. New Zealand Spectator 6 May 1854 [Dr and Mrs Welch and family on "Hashemy" from Newcastle]
Ex Hashemy [advertisement]. Lyttleton Times 20 May 1854 [Robert Porter Welch, Port Cooper, landing assorted merchandise to sell to storekeepers]
Local and general news. Wellington Independent 2 January 1866 [Robert Porter Welch resigns from Provincial Council due to ill health]
To be sold [advertisement]. Wellington Independent 1 September 1868 [Robert Porter Welch, Wairarapa, selling a house at Greytown]
By subscription [advertisement]. Wairarapa Standard 11 January 1873 [New Zealand Songs, Ballads and Rhymes by Robert Porter Welch]
Death. Wairarapa Standard 26 February 1876 [at Matarawa, Greytown, Dr. Welch aged 68]
Local and general. Wairarapa Standard 26 February 1876 [Dr. Welch settled Wellington 22 years ago as medical practitioner, then Greytown, served Provincial Council] |
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last updated 14-01-2020
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