Lady Bridgeman and the Painful Case of a Tooth for a Tooth
Staffordshire County Records Office holds the Bradford MSS – the papers that tell much of the story of the Earls of Bradford and their ancestors together with the estates that the family have owned. All sorts of gems are within the care of the dedicated team of staff there, ranging from Capability Brown’s plan for Weston Park, through to designs for the mansion itself by John MacVicar Anderson, the Victorian architect who made many changes to the House.
Recently a number of late eighteenth century journals that belonged to Elizabeth Simpson, Lady Bridgeman, have been transcribed by volunteer Joy Pownall. Joy’s patience, in getting to grips with the often-illegible scrawl and the names of the late seventeen hundreds have been phenomenal although the rewards, in terms of human interest and historical interest for Weston Park, have been very rich indeed.
Not only do we have details of meetings that Lady Bridgeman, rather than her husband Sir Henry, had with the architect James Paine, as plans of the family’s London house and for Weston Park were discussed, but we gain an insight into the family’s opulent social life. Lady Bridgeman’s family home of Stoke Hall in Derbyshire, had an estate that ‘marched’ with Chatsworth and so parties, often lasting until 3am it seems, were very much the norm at Chatsworth, with the Bridgemans in attendance. In 1786 Lady Bridgeman and her daughters went to Bath to take part in the fashionable social season there. During the course of their stay, though, Lady Bridgeman requires dental treatment and so visits a Mr Troy to have her tooth taken out and a replacement inserted. The pain and discomfort is one that transcends the ages, although the remedies for this are perhaps a little unconventional to twenty-first century readers:
Thursday Morn Dec ye 14th – fine
before I went out I sent for Mr
Troy ye Dentist who conned my
Gumbs & to whom I agree to go at
7 o clock to have tooth taken
out – another put in – I then
walk’d up to a shop in ye Circus
call’d at Lady D Monalts[?} &
one or two more places & came
home where I staid a little
while then went to Troys with
North only – he left me under
the operation from different
untowerd events from three
till above ½ past 5 o clock
when I returned to ye Bear, with
a tooth badly put in – I was
too late for dinner consequently
took up with a snack drest
& went to ye Rooms with Lady
Lucy Boyle who came in ye Morn[?]
my Girls & Mrs Grey – the pain
in my face brought me home
sooner than ye rest went to bed
in great pain taking in con=
sequence 25 drops of Opeit not
enough to deaden ye
toothace consequently I spent
a wretched night which was Friday ye 15th in ye Morn
I saw Troy again & drew another tooth
Mrs Grey calld upon me and
advised me to see Mr Spoy[?} her
apothecary – who presented formen
tatins[?] made of Camomile
flowers put into Linnen bags
sprinkled with Spirits of wine
& Camphire – and after ye applic:
ation of the 6th – I took my Opeit
of 35 drops of Laudanam which
jointly gave me relief & at
one o clock in ye Morn I woke
as if were in heaven I slept
ye rest of ye time till daylight
sound – and remained comfortably
free from pain – but found my
face swel’d up on Saturday
Morn Dec ye 16th – I had never
been up from Thursday night
except on Friday whilst my tooth
was drawn till Sunday when
I took a Dose of Phisice y
Even of which day Mr Spoy
perceived the tooth I had
had put in was become
loose & my face suffered much
pain in consequence he
sent for Troy who took it
out hurting me much at ye
time he took ye tooth out be:
tween 9 & ten o clock at ye
time Sr H & ye Girls were at
Mrs Maecetings[?] where they
were to sup
Monday Morn Dec ye 18th
having taken an opeit I dozed
all morning –
