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Samuel Gedge Ltd
ACCOUNT BOOK OF A PROVINCIAL DENTIST
25. [DENTISTRY.] [The account book of dentist William Fothergill of Northgate,
Darlington.]
[Darlington, 1841-1847.] Account book, manuscript, ink on paper. 4to (18.5 x 22.5cm) [86] full pages of accounts,
with additional blanks and a few pages of unrelated notes, paper watermarked “W Kent 1822”, very good in original
leather-backed marbled boards, rebacked, spine titled in gilt; together with small business card (3.8 x 7.6cm) “Wm.
Fothergill, Dentist, Northgate, Darlington”.
A rare and relatively early record of British dentisty, this account book provides detailed information on
the practice of the dentist William Fothergill of Northgate, Darlington between the years 1841 and 1847.
The dental profession in Britain in the first half of the nineteenth century was still in an unorganised state
and it was only during the 1840s that the first steps towards professionalisation were being taken. The first
British dental school was not opened until 1859. William Fothergill, son of Quaker doctor and philanthropist
Dr John Fothergill (1785-1858) was unrepresentative of the dentists of his day on account of his good
education and family medical background. Even serious practitioners in general did not communicate with
each other and guarded their methods jealously. William Fothergill’s brother, Alexander, also worked as
a dentist in Darlington. Reviewing the changes in English dentistry between 1841 and 1891, Alexander
Fothergill would comment on the professional isolation they experienced in the 1840s (see: N.David
Richards. Dentistry in England in the 1840s: the first indications of a movement towards professionalization;
in: Medical History, 1968, April, 12(2), p. 148).
The account book begins in 1841 which appears to be the very start of Fothergill’s dental practice. Wellorganised
in his record-keeping, he has listed dates of appointments, names and occasionally addresses of
patients together with the treatments they received and the costs of procedures such as “stopping”, “filing”,
“extraction” and the preparation of various “models”. In some instances indication is given of the particular
teeth that he was working on. Customers evidently would purchase “tooth powder” and “brushes”
from Fothergill, and there are some records of Fothergill’s own purchasing of supplies with costs, including
“pliers”, “napkins”, “advertising” and “quick silver”. The number of dentists operating in this relatively
modern way in the 1840s was small and few records of this type have survived, making this a valuable
source of information on British dentistry during this period of transition.
£2750