Joseph Bower Siddall

Dr Joseph Bower Siddall Died Malvern, July 4, 1925, aged 85

Biography. Born at Matlock, March 4, 1840.(1) Educated at St Thomas's Hospital and Aberdeen University. In 1868 went to Japan as Medical Officer to the British Legation, where under the direction of Dr William Willis he took control of the hospital at Yokohama, and later Tokyo during the war of 1869-1869. Here he performed pioneering work in Hygiene control. He was a vocal enthusiast for vaccination against Smallpox.(2,3) His work on this led to his being awarded the Order of The Rising Sun, 4th Class in 1909. He was the first foreigner to be given the honour of this award, but was not given permission by the British Foreign Office to receive it until 1909.(2,3,4) The medal is held in the British Museum Coin and Medal Collection. (5) He practised for a time at Ross on Wye, and retired to Devonshire.

Sporting Interests. A founding member of the North Devon Golf Club. As cricketer was a batsman for the Gentlemen of England, and among his boasts in old age were that he had played with all the Three Graces, and had once smashed the clock at the Oval.(2)

(1)http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/anne-ogden-boyce/records-of-a-quaker-family-the-richardsons-of-cleveland-cyo/page-33-records-of-a-quaker-family-the-richardsons-of-cleveland-cyo.shtml (2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2226839/?page=1 (3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2226839/?page=2 (4) http://www.malverngazette.co.uk/news/memorys/9470468.Japanese_honour_for_Malvern_doctor/?ref=rss (5) http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?currentpage=13&toadbc=ad&objectid=3299704&images=on&orig=%2Fresearch%2Fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&partid=1&searchtext=glass+seal&fromadbc=ad&numpages=10