Before I begin this post I must apologise for the confusion about my last two posts, both of which I published on Friday. I have started looking back over my photos from last year and because I am not taking many pictures at present I thought I would write posts about last summer and autumn and use old photographs. In looking back over past posts I realised that I had started writing up my summer holiday but hadn’t finished, so I wrote two catch-up posts on Friday. I continued to use the series title I had started using last summer, but this meant the titles were virtually the same so some of you have read one post and some of you have read the other and very few of you have read both, probably thinking that I had posted the same one twice. I am also having trouble posting onto Facebook. Some of my posts get there and some don’t – heaven knows why.
Richard had a dental appointment on 2nd January. His dentist’s surgery is in Halesworth in Hooker House. Many people will think this a strange name for a house until you find out that it was named after two famous men who lived there. Sir William Jackson Hooker moved into the house in about 1809/1810 after his marriage and lived there for eleven years. His second son, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker was born there but moved with his family to Glasgow when he was four years old.
William Jackson Hooker was born in Norwich on 6th July 1785 and went to Norwich School. He was encouraged in his interest in botany by James Smith, a Norwich doctor who also founded the Linnaean Society. He inherited in trust the Jackson estate in Kent when he was eleven years old. William studied estate management and then became a partner in Halesworth Brewery. He took a quarter share for £8000 and moved into Brewery House (as Hooker House was then called) so that he could be near to his work. The house had a large garden and a heated greenhouse in which William grew exotic orchids. He also devoted himself to the formation of his herbarium – his collection of dried plants.
In fact the house then was about twice the size it is now and the gardens stretched down to the river. Probably the town park is all that remains of the magnificent garden. He was appointed Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow in 1820 where his career really developed. He retained his partnership in Halesworth Brewery but sold the house to Patrick Stead, a maltster from Halesworth whose maltings were the largest in the country.
William was dubbed a Knight of Hanover in 1836 and then in 1841 he was made the first Director of Kew Gardens. He held this post until his death in 1865, enlarging and transforming the grounds into one of the world’s leading botanical gardens. He built the Temperate and Palm Houses.
Sir Joseph’s education was more specialised than his father’s. Joseph travelled and worked as a surgeon and botanist on a voyage from Antarctica to the Himalayas. He sent home the first Rhododendron and Sarcococca Hookeriana (Sweet Christmas Box) was named after him. He was a great friend of Charles Darwin and encouraged and supported Darwin when he wrote ‘The Origin of Species’. Joseph’s work on the distribution of plants seems to be in support of Darwin’s theories. By the time his father died Sir Joseph Hooker was already Deputy Director of Kew Gardens and so succeeded him as Director.
When I first moved to Halesworth in 1988 when Alice was three years old and I was newly divorced form my first husband I used this dentist. I was very pleased to find that such eminent men had lived there and the unpleasant duty of going to the dentist was made more palatable by being able to look round the house. There are information displays on the walls in the hall.
Richard and I met and we found we attended the same dentist. As Alice got older she became unhappy with the dentist at Hooker House as he wasn’t very good at putting children at ease. I took her to a different dentist in the town but continued going to Hooker House myself and started taking Elinor as soon as her teeth came through. We both eventually left the dentist after an ‘incident’. When Elinor was about two years old she started to become very nervous about going to see doctors and dentists. During an examination Elinor became quite distressed and kicked the dentist! He was very good about it considering the discomfort he was in but I just couldn’t go back again!
Richard took these photographs on his phone.
Jill Weatherholt said:
Oh my, I guess the dentist at the Hooker House needs to stick with adult patients. Sorry to hear you had to switch dentist, Clare. Great photos!
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Fortunately, since the ‘incident’ that dentist has retired and another has taken his place. My daughters and I haven’t returned to the Hooker House surgery as we found another much more to our liking. Thank-you Jill.
LikeLiked by 1 person
tootlepedal said:
An interesting place to have your teeth drawn.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
It offers a little light relief.
LikeLike
quietsolopursuits said:
It was very interesting reading the short biographies of the Hookers and the history of the building. I can relate to your daughter, there have been a few dentists I’ve seen that I would have liked to have kicked. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
I can only agree with you! My daughter had the excuse of being only 2 years old at the time. I don’t think we’d be let off so lightly!
LikeLike
New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
I can’t believe, with all the reading I’ve done about plants and botany, that I’ve never heard of the Hookers. It makes me wonder what else I’m missing!
Thank you for the tour and the introduction. I like the orchid in the upstairs window!
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Yes, I noticed the orchid too! All the photographs are courtesy of my husband who had had a treatment free visit at the dentist and was feeling relieved. I think the Hookers are more well known in this country because of the Kew Garden association. Most people here don’t know of The elder Hooker’s beginnings and only begin to be interested in him from his time at Glasgow University.
LikeLike
lundygirl said:
thank you for the giggle I had when you talked about not using the word plaque – and for filling me in with all the lovely details about the previous owners.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
My pleasure Rachel!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Charlotte Hoather said:
I have a great dentist, my brother had overcrowding and a brace so at my next visit we asked if I was going to have the same problem, “no” he replied “you have a very big mouth” 😄.
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Just what a young girl likes to hear!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Charlotte Hoather said:
😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cynthia Reyes said:
I missed this one.
Buildings hold such fascinating stories, once you get to know about them.
But my favourite must be about your little one kicking the dentist!
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
Poor man! He really didn’t deserve what he got!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Elizabeth Melton Parsons said:
I kicked a few doctors in my childhood, so I understand her completely. 😀 Lovely photos, Clare. That stairway is awesome. xo
LikeLiked by 1 person
clarepooley33 said:
My goodness Elizabeth! I have just been re-reading this post and found this kind comment of yours which for some reason I left unacknowledged. Grovelling apologies!! Yes, the stairway is awesome and I also love the enormous wooden shutters at the window. I think there are a number of children who get frightened or angry and kick dentists, doctors, parents etc.
LikeLike