George Taylor lived with his mother at Crooked Steps Row, Pye Bank, Bridgehouses and was by trade a razor grinder. He was usually in good health, but around March of 1848 George became unwell with a pain in the back part of his left arm, just above his elbow. At first his mother Sarah was not concerned, assuming it was rheumatism. This she treated with an old remedy of rubbing the arm with turpentine and wrapping it in flannel. However this did little to release her son from his pain and discomfort. In desperation, she managed to obtain a recommendation for an appointment at the Sheffield Dispensary from the workhouse officials.
They supplied her with some lotion and for three weeks George tried rubbing it into his arm, the skin of which was now hard and swollen. Still under the direction of one of the doctors at the Dispensary, leeches were also applied to his arm, but they did no good at all. Six months later on Sunday morning, 28 September her son told Sarah that after being unable to sleep or rest, he had enough. In desperation she remembered that several of her neighbours had recommended a sixty four year old quack doctor called Thomas Whitehead. George was so sick of the pain at this point that he went to see Whitehead, who also tried out several different medications on the young man. One including cutting open the arm to release the pain, however nothing seemed to work.
Finally Whitehead had to admit to being stumped and Sarah went to see surgeon Mr Overend at the Infirmary. Once there, she begged for an appointment for her son, to which the surgeon agreed. Consequently on Saturday 19 August George went to the Infirmary in a cab. Mr Joseph Law who was house surgeon at the Infirmary, examined the poor man’s arm, and in particular the open wound which by now smelt bad. In fact so horrid was the smell, that the surgeon had to put him in a ward all by himself. Despite all efforts to treat the young man, George Taylor died on Friday 22 August. At the time Mr Law gave the cause of death as ‘from the consequences of constitutional irritation and exhaustion.’
Mr Law carried out the post mortem and found by an external examination that apart from the injury to his arm, the poor man also suffered from bed sores. He noted also that after all his suffering, his body was very emaciated and thin. The surgeon immediately consulted his brother surgeons regarding his concerns, but before any more attempted remedies could be imposed on the young man he died. Consequently, Mr Joseph Badger the Deputy Coroner arranged an inquest to take place at the Infirmary on Monday 25 September 1848. The jury heard evidence from Mrs Sarah Taylor and other witnesses, who described Whitehead’s treatment of the deceased man.
Surgeon Mr Law gave an extensive list of the poor man’s suffering, before concluding that his death had been caused by maltreatment from an untrained medical man. At this point, one of the jury commented that the witnesses all seemed to implicate the quack doctor Thomas Whitehead who was not there to defend himself. Therefore he felt it desirable that the man should attend the inquest in person to give his own account. Mr Badger agreed, and stated that he had ordered Whitehead to attend, but had not noticed that he was not actually there in the room. Thankfully the quack doctor was waiting outside and was called into the inquest.
The previous witnesses statements were then read out to him and Whitehead asked several questions before the coroner adjourned the enquiry. He wanted to hear the evidence of the medical officers of both the Dispensary and the Infirmary who had treated the deceased man. Therefore on Wednesday 27 September 1848 the adjourned inquest was reconvened at the Infirmary where it was noted that Whitehead now had a defence solicitor called Mr Oxley. At the first mention of the words ‘quack doctor’ however his defence intervened and told the coroner that his client was legally entitled to practise medicine.
However, he pointed out that he held no medical diploma, as he had already been in practice before the passing of the Apothecaries Act of 1815. Once again the witnesses statements from the last inquest was read out, before it was time to hear Mr Wilson Overend Esq., one of the senior surgeons at Sheffield Infirmary. He put the concerns of all the medical men involved in the case quite succinctly, when he stated that he had examined the deceased man on the day after the post mortem had been made. Consequently Mr Overend concurred completely with the evidence of Mr Law. He stated that when he first examined the patient on Sunday 20 August, the day after his admission to the Infirmary, he was appalled at what he saw.
The surgeon said it was not so much the man’s appearance, which he recognised immediately would end in death. But it was more the fact that the poor man had suffered so much from the miss-applications inflicted on him by the prisoner. Mr Overend told the coroner that ‘no human person should have to endure such suffering’. He stated that after his examination, both he and Mr Law saw it as such a flagrant case, that it was their duty to bring it under the investigation of a coroner and jury. Mr Overend concluded that he had advised amputation of the limb at the Infirmary. He said that ‘I believe that if that had been done, his life would have been saved.
Mr Badger then gave explanations of of what constituted ‘malpractice’ by a surgeon, qualified or not, before advising the jury that they had a duty to return a verdict of manslaughter against Thomas Whitehead. When the coroner asked the prisoner if he had anything to say, Whitehead made a voluntary statement outlining the different treatments that he had applied to the deceased man. The jury retired to consider their verdict, but even after three hours they still had not reached a decision. Therefore Mr Badger swore a court official to keep the jury locked up ‘without meat, drink, fire etc., and to allow no person to communicate with them, until they have reached a verdict.’
This appears very harsh treatment, nevertheless it was not until 10 pm before finally a unanimous verdict of manslaughter against Thomas Whitehead was reached. The coroner immediately ordered the prisoner to be taken into custody and he was placed in one of the cells at the Town Hall. On Thursday morning of 28 September, Thomas Whitehead was removed to York under a coroners warrant to take his trial. Consequently he appeared before Mr Justice Platt at the York Winter Assizes on Saturday 23 December 1848. After hearing all the evidence, his Lordship summed up for the jury, who only took fifteen minutes to find Thomas Whitehead guilty. Then the judge turned to the prisoner and told him:
‘You have been found guilty of a most aggravated offence. You have, by your own self conceit in supposing you could cure all ills and diseases to which man was liable, caused the death of a young man in the prime of his life.’
He then ordered that the prisoner be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for twelve calendar months.