83 The chalice. An insight into the life of Rev Dr Sir James Stonhouse and the early years of the Northampton General Infirmary

Abstract

<h3>Aims</h3> In 2021, during office relocation a communion chalice given to the then Northampton General Infirmary in 1746 was found and presented to the Hospital Archive for safekeeping. It was, perhaps, given to mark the occasion of Dr James Stonhouse (1716-1795), the founding physician of Northampton General Infirmary, on his becoming a Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 1746. Its inscription relates the following text, ‘This Sacramental Chalice (Six Guineas having been sent for it’s Purchase from a Person Unknown) was Presented on Dec.’r 20: 1746 by ye Governors of the County Infirmary AT NORTHAMPTON for the use of ye Patients, by JAMES STONHOUSE MD Physician to ye Infirmary’ Its date stamp appears to be that of the London Assay Office with the year letter ‘l’, indicating 1746. What is curious here is that Stonhouse, while an Oxford undergraduate, was a published atheist and his written tract against Christianity went to 3 editions, the authors have thus far been unable to trace a surviving copy of these tracts. (Unlike the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) in 1811, he was not sent down.)¹ Stonhouse qualified MB in 1742, came to Northampton in 1743, had a religious conversion to Christianity that same year. He founded the Northampton General Infirmary the following year – now the Northampton General Hospital, and qualified MD in 1746. He later took holy orders and for the last 20 years of his life practiced as a canon. He also wrote extensively on religious matters.² His ‘Some Friendly Advice to a Patient’, 1749, was a mainstay of 18th and early 19th century patient literature. It remained in print through twenty-six editions and was used in several other countries.² Its predecessor ‘A Friendly letter to a Patient’, July 1748, was recently made into a short film with each line delivered by a different Northampton child.³ It may have been with these sentiments in mind that the Chalice was presented to the Infirmary by Stonhouse.¹ This paper will also include mid eighteenth century child healthcare data from the then Northampton General Infirmary, conclusively demonstrating that one century before the opening of children’s hospitals, children (defined here as 13 years of age and under) were seen as in and out patients in large numbers. <h3>Methods</h3> <h3>Results</h3> <h3>Conclusion</h3> We are used to doctors who became revolutionaries such as Jean-Paul Marat (1743-93), Ernesto ’Che’ Guevara (1928-1967), but the opposite life path can also be taken. The chalice reminds us that people can and do change. Resting in the hospital he founded, the tangible now resides within an ongoing living legacy. <h3>References</h3> Unknown Author. Life of the Rev. Sir James Stonhouse MD with extracts from his tracts and correspondences. London: Rivington, 1844. Williams, A N, and O’Dell, F J. ‘Surrounded with Many Mercies’, 270 years of patient advice. Hektoen International, 2019, 11(2). Available from: https://hekint.org/2019/06/20/surrounded-with-many-mercies-270-years-of-patient-advice/Accessed 25th August 2021. Love, S, and Williams, A N. ‘Surrounded by Many Mercies’. Available from: https://youtu.be/MTUrA8-VNxE?t=2 Accessed 25th August 2021.