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Dr Dimock and the Wisbech Riots, 1913听
听 Listener's query
"My ancestor, Dr Horace Dimock, a family doctor in Wisbech in 1913, was at the centre of a row which ended in his death, a libel case and the reading of the Riot Act in the town. What was it all about?"
Brief summary
It all started with the National Insurance Act of 1911. For the first time people paid into a scheme which gave them some protection against sickness and unemployment. It was the beginning of the Welfare State.
Among doctors a sequence of events was set in train that in Wisbech would end with tragedy and riot. Before 1911 there were private GPs who gravitated towards wealthier areas. The 1911 Act provided insurance cover for about 12 million workers earning less than 拢160 a year and included the free services of a GP. The individual became a 'panel patient'. The difficulty lay in finding a private doctor prepared to work at panel wage rates. In Wisbech this was a problem because no doctor would do it. A new doctor, Dr Horace Dimock, was drafted in to help clear the case-load. Though the poor of Wisbech took him very much to their hearts, his arrival created hostility among the other doctors. Dimock was a local man from the village of Stretham, but the local private doctors, fearing a cut in their incomes, turned their backs on the Government's health reforms.
In October 1913, Dr Dimock's already difficult relationship with other doctors became impossible. These other doctors were receiving malicious postcards and anonymous letters supporting the wonderful work of Dr Dimock and criticising them. One of the doctors receiving the hate mail, Dr Meacock, informed the police and Dr Dimock was arrested. He was taken before local magistrates and was remanded on bail. Dr Dimock appealed to the Medical Defence Society but discovered they were already acting for the other doctors. Dr Dimock returned tired and distressed to his home village, Stretham. The next morning he was found dead. He had taken an overdose.
On 30 October 1913, the news broke in Wisbech of the death of Dr Dimock. A crowd gathered and rushed to Dr Meacock's town house by the river and stoned the windows. The local police called for reinforcements but the situation got out of control. Eventually the Mayor of Wisbech read the Riot Act and the police went in with their truncheons.
Experts consulted
Mike Petty, Cambridgeshire historian
Professor John McNicol
Further reading
Derek Fraser, The Evolution of the British Welfare State (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002)
J.R. Hay, The Origins of the Liberal Welfare Reforms, 1906-14 (Palgrave Macmillan, 1983)
Vanessa has presented听science and current affairs programmes for 大象传媒, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for 大象传媒 Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.听
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Vanessa has presented听science and current affairs programmes for 大象传媒, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for 大象传媒 Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.听