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James Peter Hill

After Dr Street left in 1838, there was a succession of doctors who covered the Bow district until Dr Warren was appointed in 1844. Henry Brutton (of Morchard Bishop) was the first, there being no suitable local applicant, although William Snow was still living in the village.

Then in 1839 for about a year, James Peter Hill (abt 1798 – 1865) who came to Bow from Harpford near Sidmouth, was appointed medical officer for the district. At that time he was married to Louisa (nee Mathie), but of their eight children only three had survived.

The following year Henry Brutton, whose tender was cheaper, was re-appointed for Bow.

James Hill returned to Honiton, where they had two more children, both of whom died under one year of age. He was appointed Medical Officer to the Stockland District of the Axminster PLU. His wife died of heart disease in 1844. Then in 1846 by separate affiliation orders he was made to support two illegitimate children in Honiton and Axminster.

He ran into financial problems and became insolvent in 1849. Then his son, a doctor in Victoria, Australia, died in 1864. James Peter Hill moved to Churchinford, on the Devon Somerset border near Taunton, where he died in 1865.