William Flexman

For a short period of time a surgeon by the name of Flexman was responsible for the sick poor of Bow Parish. He started in March 1831, and was replaced by Francis Street just a few months later in midsummer that year.

This was William Flexman, from South Molton. He was born in North Molton in 1777, where his father James was a clergyman; his mother, Rebecca Radford, was a daughter of Rev William Radford of Nymet Rowland and Lapford – and great aunt of “Parson Jack” Radford. (Rev James Flexman had been a curate in Bow in about 1772.)

Surgeon William Flexman mainly worked in South Molton, where he later became mayor. He died in 1862. His eldest daughter Charlotte married Charles Baylis who had been the surgeon in Bow in 1829, and a son James also became a surgeon in South Molton.

South Molton is about 15 miles from Bow.