Percy and Minnie Roden had one
child, Keith Serjeant Roden in 1893.
When Keith
Roden qualified he worked as a houseman at Worcester Royal
Infirmary and then joined the family practice in 1922, living at 64, Friar
Street. At that time the practice was
known as ‘Roden and Wilkinson’. Meanwhile,
P A Roden purchased the ‘Hollies’ on Worcester Road (now a nursery) in 1922
from the estate of the late Samuel Tombs.
Miss Evelyn Tombs, the unmarried daughter, moved to Friar Street to act
as housekeeper to Keith Roden.
Keith Roden
met his wife, Evelyn Adams, during his time at Worcester Royal Infirmary; she
was a sister at the hospital. A long
engagement ensued and they married in 1926. After his marriage, Evelyn Tombs left to
reside in Ombersley. Keith and Evelyn
had two children – Ann in 1927 and Martin in 1929.
Ann Roden married Gerald Shirley Jones.
Keith’s
priority was general practice although he did have numerous patients who came
to Droitwich for the saline treatment.
Many large hotels were built and others extended to cater for the
visitors. St John’s Hospital situated in
the Holloway, catered for the less fortunate and Keith was paid an honorarium
to attend on a regular basis, which he did throughout his life.
He
was also Medical Officer of the 8th Battalion of the Worcestershire
Regiment, an association which had formed during the First World War. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he
returned to active service. He
was stationed eventually in Northern Command, which covered Durham and North
Riding Coastal area. 64 Friar Street was
requisitioned by the War Office. Ann
and Martin were sent away to boarding school – Alice Ottley and Worcester
Cathedral School respectively.
Evelyn
Roden joined her husband in the
north. During school holidays, the
children stayed with Evelyn Tombs at her house (Cubbold House) in Ombersley,
joined by their mother.
Keith returned
to Droitwich in 1942, when the practice eventually became
known as ‘ Roden, MacKenna and Jones’, having previously been joined by Dr F S
MacKenna and Dr Eric Shirley Jones. Apart from the surgery at 29, St Andrew’s
Street, opposite the church, there was also the Dispensary adjacent to the
school in Sagebury Terrace, Stoke Works.
The Stoke Surgery continued until 1969 when the workload in Droitwich
was such that it had to be terminated, thus ending an association with Stoke of
approximately 100 years.
Dr Roden concentrated on his patients to the
exclusion of all other matters; his total priority was healing the sick. The mundane day-to-day problems of running a
practice were left to other people to handle – the issues were of no interest,
particularly if they were financial matters.
He was a
very private person, his main interests being his family, his patients and
friends. He had a robust sense of humour and enjoyed a good tale, but hated any
form of pretentiousness. One of Keith’s great friends was the Worcester
surgeon, George Marshall, whose clinical judgement he respected and would ask
to visit a patient whenever he was in serious doubt about a diagnosis.
Keith
enjoyed most sports but particularly cricket and became a member of the Droitwich Cricket Club where
he kept wicket. Dr and Mrs Roden were
regular communicants at St Andrew’s Church, regardless of how many times he had
been called out in the night. All the
priests at the Sacred Heart College were his patients and he formed a close
relationship with many of them. They
were all keen followers of soccer and he sometimes attended a match with them. He became very interested in gardening and
established a kitchen garden behind the garages at Friar Street, which had previously been used to keep chickens. He gained much pleasure from the advice
provided by his patients and frequently brought home plant cuttings. He was a prolific reader and was a frequent
visitor to the local library. He had
very neat handwriting, unusual for a doctor.
Almost every visitor to 64 Friar Street came
through the gates opposite the church in St Andrew’s Street and then to the
back door. This was much easier than the
front because of the problems with
parking in Friar Street. There was ample
parking space in what had once been a coach house and stable.
Behind
the wall on the left hand side ran a number of terraced houses, now demolished owing
to redevelopment. Mr and Mrs William
Foukes lived in one of them; he was a well-known cabinet maker.
64
Friar Street was a large family home with a stone flagged hallway and the main
stairway also being in stone. At the
front, looking out onto Friar Street, was a lofty dining room and consulting
room. Behind the consulting room was a bathroom, part of which had a glass
roof. The large kitchen looked onto the
garden and was connected to the dining room by a dark passage with a baize
door. On the first floor, overlooking
Friar Street, were the bedrooms of Dr & Mrs
Roden and their daughter, Ann. The lounge was a large sunny room which
overlooked the garden. Also at the back
was Martin’s room, adjacent to the surgery, which had also been a nursery and
in earlier days, the breakfast room.
Behind this was the maid’s bedroom.
There was an upper storey consisting of three rooms and these were
occupied by a Mrs Fox. She came to live
at Friar Street after the war, to help Evelyn run the house. Previously, she had lived next door to the
drive, opposite to St Andrew’s Church, where she ran a bakery and confectionery
shop called ‘Compton’s’. Prior to 1939,
there had been two permanent maids in 64 Friar Street and they occupied the
bedroom adjacent to the nursery.
The surgery was originally the coachman’s cottage. It was the home of William Sharp and his family.William had been coachman for Serjeant Samuel Roden as well as P A Roden. His daughters Ellen, Betsy and Jessie had all worked for the Roden family. William’s previous employment had been a coachman for Mr Percy Pond, the proprietor of the Raven Hotel. After the death of William Sharp, William Bunce occupied the house and the old cottage was demolished in 1932 and a new surgery built, by local builder George Crump.
In early
1970 three doctors came together to consolidate their surgeries and were based
at what had formerly been the Royal Hotel on the Hanbury crossroads. The arrangement worked well.Soon after Christmas 1972, Keith went to his
surgery at the Royal Hotel where he suffered a heart attack later in the
morning, while examining a patient and died within minutes. By 19th January, Evelyn, his wife,
died after suffering a stroke. The double funeral was conducted at St Andrew’s
Church on 21st January, the church being packed to capacity.Cremation followed at Astwood Crematorium,
Worcester.
The following
week, a Compulsory Purchase Order was served on 64 Friar Street as part of the
Droitwich Redevelopment Plan and subsequently sold. This brought to an end one
hundred and twenty years of medicine, practised by one family, living in the
same house since 1851.
Sources
Thanks are
extended to Mrs Rosemary Roden, widow of Martin Roden, who kindly made
available the family history information which her husband had produced in 2012.She alsoallowed us to use some valuable family photographs.
Thanks to Dr
Roger Peberdy for the photograph of the surgery, 29 St Andrew’s Street, prior
to its demolition in 1970s.
Copyright Dodderhill Parish Survey Project 2016
Website Design by Design Jazz Limited
