Morpathia: The latest article about the Morpeth Dispensary - Dr Dutt departs

“Wanted a General Servant at the Morpeth Dispensary. She must be a good cook and manager, clean, respectable and honest. Apply ... (etc.)”

The annual meeting of the Dispensary took place on the 27th. Under the Rules, Mr G.B. Grey and Rev D. Young (neither of whom had attended any Committee meetings for a year) and the Revs W.H. Davey and A.H. Drysdale, and Messrs Mathews, Chirney, Burn and N.I. Wright (once each), forfeited their membership.

Messrs Young, Mathews, Wright and Burn were re-elected, along with two others. Mr Young was the Congregational minister, Mr Drysdale Presbyterian and Fr Davey the Roman Catholic priest.

Dr Dutt read his medical report.

Mr Schofield proposed that the Committee have discretion to issue extra tickets, but as there had been no requisition, it was not discussed.

Finally, the House Surgeon applied for an increase in salary. He was told it should be addressed to the Committee in writing.

This was probably the turning point in relations between Dr Dutt and the Committee.

They had exonerated him when he went off to Cambridge for a week without asking permission and had gone along with what they must have regarded in many cases as reckless expenditure, but this was a step too far.

The salary had been £120 p.a. for many years (inflation was unknown then) and there had been over forty applications for the post. He was simply not in tune with the mindset of the small-town solicitors, doctors and tradesmen who made up the Committee.

On February 6 a special meeting of the Governors was held, requisitioned by F.E. Schofield, G.F. Marshall, W.H. Brett, J.B. Proctor and D.W. Greenwood, who proposed that Rule 6 be amended to say that “The House Committee have power to issue extra Tickets at their ordinary meetings, when they may deem it necessary.”

Eleven governors were present. It was carried nem con.

Then, at the ordinary meeting held immediately after, they turned to Dr Dutt’s letter:

Dear Sir,

Having held the post of house-surgeon for the Dispensary for more than a year, and finding that the incidental and household expenses (the housekeeper being paid by me) are scarcely met by the salary I at present receive, I respectfully venture to ask the Committee for an annual increase of £10.

The Chairman (probably George Brumell) read the letter aloud and asked what he meant by incidental expenses? The doctor replied they were private and personal expenses.

The Chairman said he must have known before he accepted the post that he had to pay the housekeeper. He was under the impression, moreover, that only £5 was being asked. How was it that it was doubled?

Dr Dutt explained that he had not reckoned up the expenses when he asked for £5. He was asked to withdraw.

“He was recalled in 10 minutes,” says the minute, “and the Chairman told him that the Committee did not see their way to grant his request.”

Once more, Dr Dutt had either misread the temper of the Committee, or he was totally oblivious of it. I think probably the latter.

Life went on. In May, a Loan Exhibition of Fine Art was held in the Town Hall, in aid of the restoration of the tower of St Mary’s Church and recasting the largest bell. Dr Dutt was on the committee for Literature and Mathematical Appliances.

Later in the month there was a great Conservative gathering at Morpeth, when he attended the public meeting in St James’ School Hall.

At the Committee meeting on July 10, with Canon Grey in the chair,

“A letter was read from Mr Dutt, House Surgeon, asking the Committee to allow him a month’s absence to look after a practice in Essex and offering to supply a locum tenens. Mr Greenwood proposed and Mr A. Brumell seconded that the application be refused. Carried unanimously.

“The House Surgeon then tendered his resignation, which was accepted at once on the proposal of Mr Schofield ... and that the vacancy be advertised in the Brit. Med. Jourl. & Lancet, applications and testimonials by the Secretary not later than 26th inst. Carried unanimously. …

“Mr Schofield proposed that the offer by the Medical men and chemists to carry on the affairs of the Dispensary until the successor of Dr Dutt be appointed be accepted. Carried unanimously.

“The House Keeper was asked to remain in Charge of the House at a salary of £2 a month.”

The response of both parties – Dr Dutt and the Committee – was decisive. Neither side either asked or gave notice and the alacrity with which the Committee accepted the resignation and made all arrangements speaks for itself. The advertisement appeared in The Lancet only four days later:

“Morpeth Dispensary – House Surgeon. Salary £120 per annum, furnished house, gas, and coals free.”

Only three other advertisements in the same edition state a salary. The highest was fifty guineas, with board and lodging. One post carried no salary but only board, lodging and washing. Morpeth Dispensary was evidently a plum job.

It is a sad story. Dr Dutt’s tenure as House Surgeon began so well and his playing tennis for Morpeth, attending the Grammar School sports, etc., was so promising, but it all ended badly.

Despite this, he went on to have a successful career, got married in Scarborough where he worked at the local hospital and was welcomed into his wife’s family.

He died in 1912. The British Medical Journal tells the rest of the story:

“We regret to announce the death, after a long illness, of Dr Aroon Chunder Dutt, of Everest Lodge, Newington, Hull ... Dr Dutt belonged to a Calcutta family, well known for its legal and literary abilities, being himself the grandson of Sir Rajah R. Deb, K.C.S.I., first county court judge of Calcutta, and cousin of the late Romesh Dutt, C.I.E., Prime Minister of Baroda.

“Dr Dutt graduated at Cambridge, taking the degree of B.A. in the Natural Sciences Tripos with honours, proceeding to the M.B., and later to the M.D. degree. ... After holding various hospital appointments at Morpeth, Salford and Scarborough hospitals, Dr Dutt practised in Whitby, Yorks, for a few years and then in Hull for fifteen years up to the time of his death. …

“He married the only daughter of Mr F.W. Booty, of Scarborough, and his widow and only daughter survive him.”

He was cremated, as would be a natural choice for someone born beside the Ganges:

“The remains of the late Dr Aroon Chunder Dutt ... were cremated at the Crematorium, Hedon-Road ... Amongst the mourners were Mrs Dutt (widow), Miss Kathleen Dutt (daughter), Mr F.W. Booty (father-in-law), of Scarborough, the Rev W.E. Booty (brother-in-law, and Vicar of Warter), the Rev W.F. Booty (Vicar of Arundel), Nurse Crafts, Miss M. Forrest, and others.”

Four of Dr Dutt’s medical colleagues were there and also the vicar of the Church of the Transfiguration, Hull Newington, which was no doubt the family church.

Despite his long illness, he did not die a poor man. His wealth at death was over £3,000.