Career of Dr. William Druitt

[aspallek]

Just a tiny glimpse into the heritage of Ann Harvey Druitt. Herbert Druitt was one of the Christchurch Druitts and the originator of the Red House Museum in Christchurch which is well worth a visit.

Notes & Queries for Somerset and Dorset (1907):

[Johnr]

William Druitt's Schooldays

Hello Andy, Norma, Miss Marples ,Uncle Tom Cobley and All,

After the crash of last year,I thought it might be useful to mention the following link, "Dorset Life" magazine, which published the schoolday reminiscences of William Druitt's Christchurch based brother, James Druitt:

https://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/articles/ArticlesDetail.asp?ID=428

It is reasonable to assume that William would have had almost identical schoolday experiences to his brother.
Note that James married Jane, the Wimborne Grammar School's headmaster
(Dr James Mayo's) daughter.
William himself was later governor of the grammar school.
Note too, that the headmaster in William's time joined in with the pupils in their game of "fives", a game Montague Druitt later excelled in.
William Druitt's 1880 Census details are already posted on the Casebook page for suspect, Montague Druitt.
William is shown in that Census as an "FRCS not practising".
JOHN RUFFELS.

[Johnr]

Daniel Farson's book details on Dr Wm Druitt..

Hello All,
Daniel Farson says this in his book on Dr William Druitt ( Paperback Sphere version of "Jack The Ripper" page 112):
" his father William was one of Wimborne's most respected men: a distinguished surgeon, a Jusice of the Peace ", (that is a local magistrate)." a governor of the ancient grammar school, a member of the Church Governing Body- ' a strong Churchman and a Conservative ' as the Wimborne Guardian described him."
JOHN RUFFELS.

[Natalie Severn]

Thanks John for these snippets of information.Doesn"t the extended Druitt family come across as a very conventional and traditional upper middle class family,all conducting their lives in a worthy and respectably conformist way ? Was it perhaps too respectable and too conformist for oddball Ann and oddball Monty?
And somehow there is a contradictory force at work on the one hand this ultra respectable environment concerning itself with Church and tradition and on the other his father"s and uncle"s enthusiastic commitment to the very disreputable and unconventional world of prostitution and std"s.
Add to this the fact that Arnold Toynbee was "spreading the word"about the East End, in the Inner Temple in the early 1880"s, where Monty had his chambers,and was bound to have heard him or heard about him. Arnold Toynbee went there regularly to encourage graduates of exactly the type of Monty, to become "temporary residents" or "helpers" in the comparitively disreputable world of the East End and the Commercial Street - which St Jude"s and Toynbee Hall were situated.Ofcourse there is no record [yet?] of Monty actually visiting Toynbee Hall, though one of the Dyke Acland"s definitely did,and another Dyke Acland"s chambers shared the building at Kings Bench Walk that housed Monty"s chambers.Moreover his long time, Blackheath ,Winchester and Oxford compatriot Edward Cook devoted a large section of his life to the work of Toynbee Hall.And it wasnt as though Monty was against all this care about the scandalous poverty of the East End.Monty actually gave £1 to the People"s Palace,an almost identical venture and situated ,originally, in Toynbee Hall.

With the particular background Monty had had with surgeon Father and surgeon Uncle Druitt both dedicated and in hot pursuit of the "evils" of prostitution and disease, it doesnt take a monumetal leap of the imagination to see contradictory messages being set up in Monty "s troubled mind about the delicate lines between licence and freedom ,action or inaction to eradicate these dreaded evils etc .So if he was indeed on the brink of madness,as he himself stated ,in his suicide note and Macnaghten also states was the case in his memorandum, he "may" have eventually succumbed and decided to get and do his "bit" by initiating an "extermination project" !
Norma

[aspallek]

And it wasnt as though Monty was against all this care about the scandalous poverty of the East End.Monty actually gave £1 to the People"s Palace,an almost identical venture and situated ,originally, in Toynbee Hall.

Hi Norma,

Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place for Montie's East End connection. While I do think we (i.e., you ) should keep trying to unearth Druitt's name in some visitor's log at Toynbee Hall, perhaps his involvement had much more to do with The People's Palace. The agenda of the latter included entertainment, much of it in the form of music, and we have seen how musical were at least Montague's cousins.

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Norma,

Perhaps we are looking in the wrong place for Montie's East End connection. While I do think we (i.e., you ) should keep trying to unearth Druitt's name in some visitor's log at Toynbee Hall, perhaps his involvement had much more to do with The People's Palace. The agenda of the latter included entertainment, much of it in the form of music, and we have seen how musical were at least Montague's cousins.

Hi Andy- I am continuing to look into it and will try to track down the visitors log-good idea.I agree about The People"s Palace---it was also markedly more interested in estabishing a University of the East End,in popular culture generally and in getting teachers trained.Quite down to earth in its approach despite its early claims based on Mr Bessant"s predilection of going off to cloud cuckoo land. Point is ,in Druitt"s time---ie up to 1888 I believe it had to have its headquarters in Toynbee.
The other matter I was interested in was the contradictions in the home environment with both Monty and his mother possibly like fish out of water and certainly as Monty became adult,he must have heard his father and uncle discussing their specialist work........
Norma