A Doctor In The Whau

A Doctor in the Whau

Dr. Thomas Aickin (1814-1897) by Lisa J. Truttman Avondale-Waterview Historical Society January 2007

Above: Portraits of Dr. Thomas Aickin and his wife Agnes (née Casement). By kind permission of the Aickin Family, as with Aickin coat of arms on last page.

Cover photograph: The Auckland Provincial Lunatic Asylum, popularly known as “The Whau”, as Dr. Aickin would have known it prior to the fire of September 1877 and the subsequent extensions. Photo reference 7-A10156, by kind permission of Special Collections, Auckland City Libraries (N.Z.)

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One evening in December 1866, in a small country township then known as the Whau, the parishioners of the Presbyterian Church there held a “tea meeting and social gathering”. The small church building’s interior was liberally decorated with flowers, branches of fern tree and nikau, and many of the residents attended, including one man who spoke to the audience about the meaning of their district’s name, and that “he saw a respectable and welleducated audience such as he had little expected ever to see there, when he first settled at the Whau,” many years before. After some anecdotes about “the imitative powers of Chinamen and monkeys”, he read the following poem he’d composed especially for the occasion: “And now my friends, before we all part, Let me speak a few words as they come from my heart. We are truly delighted to meet you all here, And we hope you’ve enjoyed your temperate cheer. From its fumes in the morning may you suffer no pain, Nor of head-ache or heart-ache, have cause to complain, To each of the fair ones, who furnished her tray Our tribute of thanks, most sincerely we pay, And with praises extol their benevolent souls, Who so freely replenished our baskets and bowls. Then three cheers for them all, let us heartily give; Midst blessings, and happiness, long may they live, And all honor to women, for to them it is given. To wreath this dull earth with the roses of heaven; To cheer us still onward through life’s dreary way, And shed warmth and light as the bright God of Day. Our meeting this evening contrived by their skill, Was, as you all know, carried out with a will, Though what they may prove we presume not to tell. But of this I feel certain, that no ill can accrue, From a meeting like this, to them and to you, For friendship and kindness, and truth and good will, To neighbour and visitor never caused ill. That such are the feelings of every one here, I have much cause to hope, and no cause to fear. Then adieu for the present, I hope I’ve said right, May we never regret our meeting this night.” 1 The speaker and author was Dr. Thomas Aickin, local landowner, farmer, and first local doctor to the settlers of the sparsely populated rural heartland of the Whau and West Auckland. Within three years, his association with Auckland’s Lunatic Asylum at Point Chevalier would begin, and within another decade after that he would leave the Whau behind him forever, amid acrimony and controversy. Dr. Aickin’s name tends to appear almost as a footnote to the history of the district. We know he tended to the ills of Avondale’s early settlers from the 1

NZ Herald, 21 December 1866, p. 4

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early 1860s as our first-known resident doctor. His was the name of the first Supervisor of the fledgling Whau School in the early 1860s, 2 and as well as supporting and attending special church functions in the district, he was the one chosen to chair the opening ceremonies for the Whau Public Hall in 1867. 3 He gave an acre of his land on Rosebank, part of his “Riversdale” farm, to the Anglican Church for a cemetery in 1862 after the death of his son William. 4 He was appointed as the second Resident Surgeon/Superintendent of the Auckland Lunatic Asylum in 1869, the only one holding this position in all of New Zealand. His land was subdivided and sold in the early 1880s, and he died without fanfare or public obituary in 1897 after living in Richmond Road, buried in the rural cemetery land he had given away 35 years before. But – there was much more to this country doctor than first meets the eye. Beginnings He was born Thomas Leland Aickin at Littlerath, Trim, Co. Meath in Ireland on 14 September 1814, the son of gentleman farmer John Aickin (from a family of Scottish descent) and Mary Patten (eldest daughter of Dr. James Patten, surgeon on the Resolution during Capt. James Cook’s second voyage). 5 These two familial threads came together in Dr. Aickin’s life, especially in New Zealand. He studied surgery from 1832 at Richmond Hospital and the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, entering Trinity College in Dublin in 1838 and obtaining his surgical diploma (Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in midwifery) with credit in 1839. 6 He is said to have given anatomical demonstrations in Belfast, visited hospitals in Europe, spending time in Vienna and Berlin (where he graduated in physics and surgery in 1842). 7 On his return, he initially practised medicine in the country at Cullen, but moved his practice to Dublin in 1844 where he was to work until 1857. He wrote a number of medical papers, among them Observations upon the nature and treatment of cholera. (1854) 8 By then, he had dropped his middle initial. Dublin didn’t seem to offer Dr. Aickin much prospect of independence, due to the “great number of practitioners and the relative poverty of its inhabitants.” 9 He’d given up on developing a lucrative practice there by the spring of 1857, and the Aickin family boarded the Mermaid on 11 July 1959 at Liverpool, bound for New Zealand. 10 In Dublin, he was just one doctor among many who also likely shared his level of qualification. In the colonies, his experience and knowledge would stand out, and possibly offer him the lucrative independence he sought.

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Auckland Provincial Council records Daily Southern Cross, 14 November 1867 4 Headstone, George Maxwell Cemetery, Rosebank Road 5 Hugh Speechly, Thomas Leland AICKIN (1814-1897), unpublished mss via email, sighted 2006 6 ibid; also R. E. Wright-St Clair, Medical Practitioners in New Zealand from 1840-1930 7 Speechly, p. 2 8 ibid, p. 4 9 ibid, p. 3 10 ibid, p. 5 3

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Arrival in Auckland On the voyage out, Dr. Aickin assisted with divine service on the Mermaid by reading church prayers, and on at least one sad occasion read the funeral service for the burial-at-sea of a little girl who died after having been ailing for 7 weeks. 11 The ship arrived in Auckland 19 October 1859. On Christmas Eve 1859, Dr. Aickin purchased for £1400 Allotments 9 and 10 (totalling just over 201 acres) in the Parish of Titirangi, part of the Rosebank Peninsula, from well known hotel proprietor William Edgecombe (who built the Old Stone Jug pub at Western Springs). 12 He later purchased part of Allotment 11 on 24 January 1867, 13 and transferred the total of the Rosebank property to his son John Aickin for just £200 on 25 September 1867, 14 in trust for John’s mother Agnes Aickin. 15 Dr. Aickin and Agnes transferred the property to John in 1871, 16 and John transferred Allotments 9 and 10 back to his father in 1875 for £400. 17 When Graves Aickin, Dr. Aickin’s nephew, arrived in Auckland in 1863, he worked for around 18 months on his uncle’s Rosebank farm, before opening up a chemist shop in Karangahape Road in 1865. He’d studied his profession originally in Belfast under his uncle. 18 Back in January 1860, Dr. Aickin also purchased a farm comprised of five allotments in the Parish of Takapuna, totalling over 210 acres. 19 This was close to Duck Creek and just to the north and north-west of the later site of the Chelsea Sugar Refinery. 20 By 1881, however, this farm was no longer in Aickin’s ownership. 21 J. Crum recorded that that Dr. Aickin in 1862 set up a small brickmaking plant at the foot of Avondale road on his land, employing a Mr. Dunbar as manager and later Jack and Arthur Marsh, 22 with John and Gordon Aickin taking part. The clay was found to be “too strong”, and so the venture ultimately failed, and piles of broken bricks left at the site for years. 23 It should be said, though, that the Aickin family advised they had no record of a connection between Dr.

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“Voyage to New Zealand”, from A Quota of Qualtrough”, pp. 31-40, via http://www.qualtrough.org/index.htm 12 Deed No. 15594, LINZ records 13 DI 20D/245, LINZ records 14 Deed No. 36369, LINZ records 15 Declaration by John Aickin, Deed No. 39681, LINZ records 16 Deed No. 44038, LINZ records 17 Deed No. 51264, LINZ records 18 Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Vol II, 1902, p. 120 19 Deed No. 15750, LINZ records 20 Map from 1868 sale of de Jersey Grut property at Wawaroa Valley at Duck Creek, published in The Story of Birkenhead, Margaret McClure, 1987, p. 33 21 CT 25/33, LINZ records 22 “Early Clayworkings in New Lynn and Surrounding Districts”, 1951, from J T Diamond Collection, 1270 BNE, Waitakere City Libraries 23 Crum office records, handwritten on exercise book paper, 1979, from J T Diamond Collection, 1270 BNE, Waitakere City Libraries

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Thomas Aickin and a brickyard when asked by John T. Diamond in the 1960s. 24

Dr. Aickin duly registered as a medical practitioner under the country’s first regulations in early 1868. 25 He was providing vaccinations with his Whau residence from 1873 as Public Vaccinator for the district under provisions of the Public Health Act 1872. 26 But from 1869 to 1878 his name became bound to the Auckland (or Whau) Lunatic Asylum at Pt Chevalier. His time as Resident Surgeon at “the Whau” In March 1867, inmates from the old Lunatic Asylum at Grafton were conveyed to the “new and magnificent edifice on the Great North Road” at Pt Chevalier, in the words of the first Resident Medical Officer, Robert E. Fisher. 27 Fisher died from consumption just over 20 months after his appointment in October 1969, apparently after catching a cold around the same time as the Asylum opened. 28 He was married to the eldest daughter of Dr. Thomas Philson,29 the Provincial Surgeon – who was also the father-in-law of Graves Aickin, Dr. Thomas Aickin’s nephew.30 This connection, along with a relative scarcity of fully-qualified medical professionals in the colony plus the Provincial Council’s concerns that their Asylum should continue to be seen as a progressive success, may have led to Thomas Aickin’s involvement with the institution. One anonymous correspondent to the Daily Southern Cross in 1870 referred to his qualifications as being “not surpassed by any medical man in New Zealand”. 31 By the end of November in 1869, he had been appointed as Resident Medical Surgeon of the Asylum. 32 The titles of Resident Medical Officer, Surgeon or Superintendent seemed to be interchangeable during the 19th century history of the asylum. Essentially, they meant the same thing: the Supervisor-in-charge at the institution. Serving under the Resident Surgeon in 1872 was the Keeper, Senior Male Attendant, Matron, and attendants. The arrival of every new patient was reported to the Resident Surgeon, who also gave instructions as to bathing and cutting the hair of inmates, and directed the Matron as to the care of female patients. 33 From the time of the first Asylum in Grafton the Resident Surgeon was responsible for reporting to the Provincial Government, via the Provincial Superintendent. Dr. Aickin’s general medical qualifications were impeccable – but, as with his predecessor, he appeared to have limited prior experience, if any, in the field of mental health. 24

J T Diamond’s personal communication with “Mr. Aickin”, 1960s, from J T Diamond Collection, 1270 BNE, Waitakere City Libraries 25 The New Zealand Gazette, 1870, p. 36 26 The New Zealand Gazette, 1873, pp. 722-723 27 Fisher, “Annual Report of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum”, NZ Herald, 17 March 1868 28 NZ Herald, 3 November 1869, p. 3 29 ibid 30 The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Volume 2, 1902, p. 120 31 Letter from “Honour To Whom Honour Is Due”, Daily Southern Cross, 26 August 1870 32 Daily Southern Cross, 26 November 1869 33 Thomas Aickin, M.D., “Rules and Regulations, Auckland Provincial Lunatic Asylum”, 1872, YCAA 1083 5a, Archives New Zealand

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This isn’t a criticism against him – in the Victorian period, care of the insane was regarded as consisting of restraint and isolation from society, while those caring for them waited either for a recovery from their ailment, a stabilisation, or the almost inevitable death. Psychiatry was in its infancy, modern drugs were unknown, and mental illness was treated as a physiological disorder, in the days before psychoanalysis. A resident surgeon did not need to be proficient in psychiatric medicine, only the more general kind, and Dr. Aitkin was the only resident surgeon in the country. He himself wrote “A purely physical cause demands a physical remedy; but a disease upon the origin of which no one can clearly determine, demands a continuation of treatment which, it is to be feared, has not yet been discovered by the ablest psychological physicians.” 34 It can’t be said that he didn’t do all that he could he could to keep informed as to progress in the field of mental health, as it was at the time. In his submission to the Joint Committee on Lunatic Asylums in 1871 (who were considering the merits of enforcing that all provincial asylums followed Auckland’s example of having a resident surgeon, as well as instituting a government-run Central Asylum), Dr. Aickin authoritatively quoted and referred to a number of texts and publications on the care and treatment of the insane from around the world. 35 He was a learned man in other fields of knowledge as well, writing to newspapers of the day with considerable thought on ways to combat the caterpillar nuisance on farms, 36 and designing the arrangement of “the apparatus necessary to produce a large volume of carbonic acid gas for the purpose of extinguishing fires on shipboard” in 1876. 37 Dr. Aickin’s medical skill in his position was initially praised highly by the likes of the Daily Southern Cross, describing the successful rehabilitation of one William Wetherall of Thames, apparently driven mad by “resisting the mesmeric influence” of a Dr. Carr (who, at the time, apparently held séances). “At first the patient was very violent, and had to be kept under control by means of the strait-waistcoat. By judicious treatment, however, a gradual improvement took place, and at length, after the lapse of a few days, Wetherall was able to take gentle exercise, and more recently he was able to do light work. After this the improvement was more rapid, and yesterday he was liberated, having entirely recovered his reason.” 38 Dr. Aickin was noted at this time as showing “great interest in his unfortunate charges, and is anxious to avail himself of every means of making their position as agreeable as possible.” He organised entertainments at the Asylum “to provide a little amusement for the unfortunate inmates.” These followed on from concerts arranged during Fisher’s time. 39 One in April 1870 included refreshments “abundantly provided by Dr. Aickin” and local settlers from nearby Whau 34

“Report by the Resident Surgeon for 1872”, 30 January 1873, published in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1873, H 23, p. 6 35 Submission by Dr. Aickin, published in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1871, H 10, pp. 16-19 36 Daily Southern Cross, 16 February 1867 37 Daily Southern Cross, 4 October 1876, p. 2 38 Daily Southern Cross, 6 April 1870 39 NZ Herald, 6 March 1868

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township and surrounds performed. 40 Even in the latter months of his charge at the asylum, he wrote plays which were performed there, for the inmates’ amusement. 41 “Dr. Aickin,” wrote an Inspector of the asylum in 1875, “is unquestionably entitled to great credit for his judicious treatment of his patients, and his unwearied attention to them, night and day. Those who know him will unhesitatingly acknowledge that the institute that has him at its head is indeed highly favoured.” 42 Problems began to surface within the Asylum’s administration in 1871. H Hanson Turton, the Inspector of Asylums in reporting to the Provincial Superintendent, wrote of hearing that the Surgeon and Keeper were “being grossly insulted in the presence of the patients, and of an improper spirit being shown to each other by the attendants, both in the male and female wards, with no further penalty than the empty threat of being ‘reported to the Inspector’.” 43 The problem seemed to lie with the Resident Surgeon’s inability to hire or fire staff at the Asylum, who seemed to be employed on a month by month basis. “The power of dismissal”, according to Turton, “should rest where it is assumed to rest) with the Medical Officer of the Asylum” or in conjunction with the Keeper. “When the power is clearly defined by His Honor the Superintendent, and officially published at the Asylum, in all probability it will not require to be exercised at all.” 44 This is quite possibly what lead to the 1872 “Auckland Provincial Lunatic Asylum – Rules and Regulations” 45 which, while not explicitly threatening dismissal for contravention of the regulations, stipulated among other things that copies of the rules “must be suspended in the private apartment of every male and female Officer and Attendant, and any infringement on their spirit will not be tolerated.” Of interest is Rule 10, where it forbade any publishing of reports concerning the history, conduct, or conversation of any patient confined at the Asylum. “The duty of all the officials employed in the care and treatment of the insane is to observe silence concerning their peculiarities.” 46 The lack of such consideration for the privacy of the patients before this is possibly why so much information had entered the newspapers in 1870 to do with the unfortunate Mr Wetherall. A Commission of Enquiry into the Asylum in 1872 found that Dr. Aickin was “in a position of difficulty, having no authority to engage, suspend or dismiss an attendant.” They felt that it was impossible for him to enforce his authority, and stated that the attendants were therefore “encouraged to become negligent and disrespectful.” They recommended an increase in the position’s responsibilities. 47 It is unlikely that this ever took place. 40

NZ Herald, 23 April 1870 NZ Herald, 27 August 1877 42 H. D. Morpeth, “Report by the Inspector on the State of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, Auckland, up to the 31st December, 1874”, published in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, H2, p. 3, 1875 43 H. Hanson Turton, “Provincial Lunatic Asylum, Auckland – Inspector’s Annual Report”, Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1872, G 27 p. 2 44 ibid 45 Rules and Regulations, 1872, YCAA 1083 5a, Archives New Zealand 46 ibid 47 “Report on the Provincial Lunatic Asylum”, published in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1873, H 23, p. 4 41

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Around this time, Central Government employed Dr. E. Paley from Victoria to report on the colony’s lunatic asylums. Among his recommendations in his 1873 report was that a qualified medical practitioner, “having knowledge and experience in the treatment of the insane and the management of Asylums” be appointed as Inspector-General of all New Zealand’s asylums. 48 From proposals coming from the Legislative Council that New Zealand should have a Central Asylum working in tandem with well-managed provincial asylums in 1870-1871, the policies now shifted towards preparation for the coming abolition of the provinces (which came about on 1 November 1876) 49 and the centralisation of the management of the colony’s asylums. Many of the glowing testimonials to Dr. Aickin’s abilities ceased from early 1877. On 1 January that year, the asylum came under the direct control of the Colonial Government. Former Auckland Provincial Superintendent, then Attorney General and Resident Minister at Auckland Frederick Whittaker appointed a Commission two days later to enquire into “the present state” of the asylum, as well as the gaol at Mt Eden and the provincial hospital, tasked to “make suggestions as to their future control and management.” The thenMayor of Auckland, two members of parliament and a local businessman were appointed. None had any medical qualifications or experience with the administration of lunatic asylums. 50 It’s difficult to see why this commission was to include the asylum at all, when Dr. Skae was on the point of beginning his own work as Inspector for the Colonial Government. Dr. Skae accompanied the Commissioners during their investigation, and compiled his own, separate report, later published in April that year. 51 Just a month later however, Dr Aickin and the asylum Matron, Margaret Hamilton, had both tendered their resignations. The Herald said they understood that Dr. Aickin’s resignation came about as he felt strongly “on the matter respecting which the Commissioners appointed to examine onto the condition of the Asylum … have acted in carrying out their duties.” 52 The Commission’s report itself was completed by the end of March, and attracted complaints to the Herald regarding statements made in the report, along with “the un-English manner” in which the evidence was taken “ … in secret and apparently under promise that neither the names of the witnesses nor their evidence should be made public … the whole business was conducted in an inquisitorial style, and that those implicated in any charges … had really no opportunity of defending their conduct or justifying themselves.” 53 Margaret Hamilton was replaced; Dr Aickin on the other hand was convinced by the then-Colonial Secretary, Dr. Daniel Pollen, to reconsider his resignation and stay on as Resident Surgeon at the asylum, 54 possibly as much because of 48

“Report on the Provincial Lunatic Asylum”, published in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1874, H 1, p. 9 49 “Superintendents of Auckland”, Cyclopedia of New Zealand, Vol. 2, 1902, p. 37 50 NZ Herald, 5 January 1877 51 NZ Herald, 7 April 1877 52 NZ Herald, 8 February 1877 53 NZ Herald, 26 March 1877 54 NZ Herald, 26 September 1878

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the difficulties the Colonial Government would have finding anyone to take on such an onerous position for the level of remuneration that was offered to Dr. Aickin at the time as anything else. 55 I have yet to find a copy of the Commissioners’ report on the asylum, although two others on the gaol and hospital were later published. All that has surfaced is one complaint used by the inquiry and taken from its veil of secrecy to be published in the Herald. The father of a young boy had accused Dr. Aickin and his staff of allowing the boy to have his nose broken and collect bruises and sores during his time at the asylum. The charges were duly answered, through earlier responses to Benjamin McLean (previous Inspector of the Asylum) by Dr. Aickin and attendant Job Humphries, pointing out the pre-condition of the boy and that he’d picked a fight with another inmate, who then retaliated. 56 Nothing further has come to light. In 1876 Dr. Frederick William Adolphus Skae had been appointed in England by the Governor of New Zealand on behalf of the central government in Wellington, 57 and was formally appointed as Inspector of Lunatic Asylums for the colony of New Zealand on 16 November 1876, two weeks after the abolition of the provincial councils. 58 The situation between the attendants and the Resident Surgeon was highlighted by examples Dr. Skae referred to in his report:59 patients placed under restraint without Dr. Aickin or the Keeper being advised, and therefore without the asylum’s medical journal being noted. The attendants merely relied on Dr. Aickin noticing as he made his rounds. The register of discharges had not been updated for nearly two years. The doctor’s office at the time of Dr. Skae’s report had also been commandeered as a sleeping place for male patients in the critically overcrowded asylum. As Dr. Skae went on to remark, the overcrowding, defective appliances and inadequate staff of attendants made conducting the management of the asylum “in an entirely satisfactory manner” impossible. Dr. Skae did not suggest that Dr. Aickin should be replaced, however. He recommended that the asylum be enlarged, to make the job of managing it easier for the Resident Surgeon. 60 “When the crowded state of this Asylum, its defective appliances and inadequate staff of attendants are taken into consideration, it must be freely conceded that to conduct its management in an entirely satisfactory manner is not possible for anyone. These things being held in view, the mortality appears very low, the proportion of recoveries high; and the rarity of serious accidents, and the small extent to which seclusion and retirement are resorted to, is very creditable to the medical officer and his staff.” 61

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NZ Herald, 8 February 1877 NZ Herald, 10 April 1877 57 Enclosures 4 and 5 in No. 4, published in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1875, H 4C, pp. 4-5 58 Daily Southern Cross, 28 November 1876, p. 2 59 Report published in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1877, H 8, pp. 21-25 60 ibid, p. 2 61 NZ Herald, 7 April 1877 56

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The Herald began to make its own enquiries into the running of the asylum. It looked at the issues of the register of admissions being kept up to date, 62 and the discharging of patients on trial. 63 In July they reported that on “further changes taking place” at the asylum, with some of the attendants receiving “notice to quit the Institution” after the end of the month, and other during August. 64 Dr. Aickin telegraphed Dr. Skae in early September, asking whether the promised additional wing to the building would be proceeded with, after a violent incident broke out in the asylum during which “it was found impossible to separate violent patients”. Dr. Skae’s response was to instruct Dr. Aickin to investigate accommodating some of the inmates in the old former asylum on the Domain.65 The cost of adding the wing, which should have remained on the drawing board back in the days of the Provincial Government in 1864-1867, was at that point still going through estimates in Parliament. Then, on 20 September 1877, came the first of the two major fires at the Lunatic Asylum that century. A patient, Mary Ann Fortune, had been found burned to death in her cell once the fire had been extinguished, with little left of her remains except charred bones. While the coroner’s inquest later found that the origins of the fire remained unknown, it was stated that Mrs Fortune took some matches off a shelf in the matron’s room the afternoon before, where some friends were visiting her. Despite having her clothes removed later for sleep, it was thought she may still have successfully hidden the matches. As well as this, the keys to unlock the cells were mixed up at the height of the blaze. Dr. Aickin, with the aid of two other men, rescued one patient, but they were too late to save Mrs. Fortune. He advised the jury that he “thought it a most improper thing for visitors to give matches to patients. Yet they did so … It was an imperative rule that no matches should be given to patients. Had always given the strictest orders on that subject.” The jury, however added a rider to their verdict: “That the discipline carried out in the Auckland Asylum is of the most defective character …” 66 After the fire, the Colonial Government appointed architect Philip Herapath to plan and undertake repairs to the building so the male patients, removed to the Albert Barracks, could return in the shortest possible time. 67 By the middle of October, the repairs were sufficient that the male patients were able to be shifted back to the asylum. 68 Herapath was also called upon to draw up plans for the long asked-for extensions to the building, as well as the setting up of a supply connection with the Auckland City mains. Meanwhile, Dr. Skae was tasked to undertake an inquiry for the government into the circumstances of the fire. 69

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NZ Herald, 12 April 1877 NZ Herald, 17 April 1877 64 NZ Herald, 31 July 1877 65 NZ Herald, 7 September 1877 66 NZ Herald, 27 September 1877 67 NZ Herald, 1 October 1877 68 NZ Herald, 15 October 1877 69 NZ Herald, 10 October 1877 63

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The deficiencies in the management of the Asylum as described in the Skae report from earlier in the year, along with the well-publicised conclusions of the fatal fire inquiry, were likely to be a serious blow to the public’s confidence in the once-vaunted administration of the Asylum. In July 1878, Dr. Skae issued a further report, yet again advising the government that “the Register of Admissions continues to be kept in a very unsatisfactory manner, and is full of errors. Most of the numbers affixed to each patient’s name, as the numbers in order of admission, are incorrect.” 70 Another anonymous letter-writer in the Herald in 1879, harshly critical of Dr. Skae’s own appointment as InspectorGeneral, stated that Dr. Skae had written “elaborate reports to go before the House, in which he speaks of the Auckland Asylum as being sadly mismanaged and altogether in a more deplorable condition, but winds up that same report by stating that, notwithstanding the defective state of the building, and the gross shortcomings in the management, the percentages of patients turned out as cured compared favourably with the best European lunatic asylums. So much for consistency.” 71 Dr Thomas Aickin resigned his post as Resident Surgeon at the Auckland Asylum early in September 1878. 72 Little was published in the editorials of the NZ Herald as to his reasons, apart from noting that he’d been dissuaded from resigning the year before by the Colonial Secretary. 73 The Herald was quite scathing, however. “That the management of the asylum for some time has been unfavourably spoken of is beyond doubt … After the (1877) report of Dr. Skae, and that of the Commission, it was generally believed that reforms would follow; that the resignation of the resident surgeon would be sent in and accepted, and that a new and favourable future for the patients would follow; but these expected reforms have proved a complete failure and were never carried out.” 74 Dr. Aickin’s management was further commented upon in an anonymous letter to the Herald from “One Who Knows”: “One appointment in the right direction is that of Mr George Hardy as manager … Mr Hardy has an experience of eleven years in this institution to my personal knowledge, and no doubt his practical experience will be beneficial to the welfare of the patients … the cleanliness of the institution, also the respectable dress and healthy appearance of the inmates … plainly shows we have now one in office who takes an interest, and has the welfare of this public necessity at heart.” 75 Normally, the role of a doctor in Victorian times was that of circumspection, of remaining in the background, and certainly not commenting in the local press on matters concerning duty. Dr. Aickin however perhaps felt so stung by what was being discussed about him and his management of the Asylum, he felt it 70

Report published in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1878, H 10, p. 9 71 NZ Herald, 1 July 1879 72 NZ Herald, 14 September 1878 73 NZ Herald, 26 September 1878 74 ibid 75 NZ Herald, 28 September 1878

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necessary to step briefly out of that background. In a long letter that spanned more than a column in the Herald, he made his reply. According to him, during his nearly nine-year term as Resident Surgeon: • • • • • • • •

•

• •

Two shower baths were constructed A 75-foot well was sunk at the rear of the main building, alleviating the water shortage He worked to improve the diet of the patients With H H Turton’s help, he had a first-class cooking range installed. This was added to by another range and two additional copper boilers. Male dress was changed three years before Dr. Aickin’s resignation He suggested coloured print dresses for the women (no indication this was followed) Dr. Aickin’s applications for a drying shed went unheeded Several male patients were sent to bathe in the summer “in a safe and convenient place adjacent to the Asylum”. No accidents occurred. The female patients “exercised abroad on every fine day” Monthly entertainments sanctioned by the Provincial Superintendents included a suit of theatrical scenery purchased by Dr. Aickin and erected in the dining hall Female patients enjoyed picnics on P. Dignan’s land bordering the Waitemata He’d arranged to have the deficient drainage system redesigned, moving the piggery and dead house to more suitable locations

He went on to add: “The registry of the Asylum shows the accuracy of … returns, and, although want of good management, discipline, classification, &c., have been frequently imputed to the medical officer and leading officials of the institution, by certain traducers who had formerly occupied positions therein, it must be admitted by every right-minded person that the facts above stated give a flat contradiction to such malicious statements.” 76 However, criticism continued, even after Aickin’s final resignation. On 1 January 1879, George Hardy was replaced as Acting Superintendent by Dr. J. G. Thomley, and according to that year’s report to Wellington he was “a Medical Superintendent of ample experience, gained in a large English asylum …It is hoped,” the report went on, “that recreation and, above all, useful and interesting employment, will receive a greater amount of attention than hitherto … A new register of admissions has been opened since last visit, and the entries in the old and wonderfully-confused one are being corrected and transferred into it.” 77 On 30 June 1879, however, Dr. Thomley resigned for health reasons, 78 although his successor, Dr. Alexander Young, was apparently in charge of the

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NZ Herald, 5 October 1878 Report published in Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1879, H 4, p. 6 78 ibid 77

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Female Lunatic Asylum at Grafton before this. 79 In turn, Dr. Young died while in office in October 1885. In his obituary the Herald noted: “After the retirement of Dr. Aickin from the control of the Lunatic Asylum, a good deal of anxiety was experienced as to the appointment of his successor. At that time the Grey Ministry was in office, and the Hon. Colonel Whitmore, as Colonial Secretary, had the appointment. Backed up by the unanimous opinion of the local medical gentlemen of Auckland, and the strong certificates of competency and special skill presented to Dr. Young, ignoring the prevalent tendency to send out of the colony for a superintendent of the asylum, on the ground that the men required for such positions could not be found in New Zealand, Dr. Young was appointed.” He also served those settlers residing from the Waitakere Ranges to the City as a doctor, apparently for no fee. 80 Afterward Dr. Aickin may still have been living on his Rosebank property in 1873 when he was appointed a Public Vaccinator, but by 1877 he had an apartment on site at the Asylum. After resigning, he was living in Grafton Road for a time 81 and by 1879 he is listed as a surgeon in Cook Street. 82 This may have been where he had his practice; a Thomas Aickin, along with Casement and John Aickin, were farmers in the Whau district at the time. He leased part of his Rosebank land to another son Thomas in 1881 for a period of 10 years, 83 but this does not appear on the title drawn up for the property in November 1882. 84 His Avondale farm had been subdivided earlier, in August 1882, and fairly steady sales from 1883 to 1896 would have brought in additional income. 85 In 1882, during the sale of his Avondale farm Dr. Aickin was noted as being in both Ponsonby Road and Hobson Street, 86 but by 1886 had settled in Richmond Road, Ponsonby. 87 He died less than a year after his wife Agnes in 1897. The site of his experimental brickyard from the 1860s was in the hands of James Archibald and Percy Best at the end of Avondale Road in 1902-1903, according to J. T. Diamond. This later became known as Archibald Bros., and operated until 1926. 88 By 1906, Casement, H.C. and Leyland Aickin are listed as living in the district, after an absence of nearly 20 years. 89 When the original 1859 homestead on Avondale Road burned to the ground in September 1925, it was occupied at the time by his grandson Leyland Aickin. 90 The family sub-divided the remaining property, Lot 18 of Allots 9/10 in 1931,

79

NZ Herald report of coroner’s inquest, 26 June 1879 NZ Herald, 23 October 81 NZ Herald, 5 October 1878 82 Wises NZPO Directory 1880 83 Deed No. 71144, LINZ records 84 CT 30/157, LINZ records 85 DP 192, LINZ records 86 ibid, 1883-1884 87 ibid, 1887-1888 88 J. T Diamond collection, File Ref. 1271 BNE, Waitakere City Libraries 89 Wises Directory, 1907 90 Auckland Star 2 September 1925 80

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and operated the “Riversdale Commercial Orchard” on the remainder until 1945 when the last of the property was finally sold. 91 Descendants Dr. Thomas Aickin is the ancestor of some notables in both Auckland’s and the country’s history. His son Casement founded the timber merchant firm C. Aickin & Sons. Casement’s son, also known as Casement, helped Dr. Carrick Hay Robertson perform probably the first heart operation in New Zealand in 1927. 92 One of Dr Thomas Aickin’s daughters, Eleanor Kathleen, married Edward Coates of Matakohe. Their eldest son, Joseph Gordon Coates, became New Zealand’s twenty-first Prime Minister in 1925. In a stroke of irony, Edward Coates suffered from severe depression from the 1880s and in 1899 was committed to the same Auckland Asylum his father-in-law had been in charge of two decades before. He recovered marginally but died in 1905 at his home from “neuralgia, melancholia and asthenia.” 93

91

Valuation field sheets for Avondale Road, City Archives Speechly, p. 6; Wright-St Clair, Rex. 'Robertson, Carrick Hey 1879 - 1963'. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 7 April 2006 URL: http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/ 93 Michael Bassett, Coates of Kaipara, 1995, pp. 20-21 92

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