Percy Austin Roden 1859 - 1932


Serjeant’s work was continued by his son Percy Austin, who had graduated in Aberdeen in 1888 and then joined the practice in 1889, after Dr Stevens had left.   Percy married Minnie Abercrombie Jopp in 1891 at Aberdeen and lived at 64, Friar Street.  They had one child, Keith Serjeant Roden in 1893.

According to a pocket history from the Droitwich Guardian in 1902, Percy’s appointments were: ‘ A Fellow of the Gynaecological Society of London, Hon. Physician Brine Baths Hospital, Medical Officer Coventry Charity, Medical Officer of Health Droitwich, Surgeon Great Western Railway Provident Society, Medical Officer Hanbury District Union, Certifying Factory Surgeon, Surgeon Stoke Works Dispensary, Medical Officer Union Workhouse, Contributions: ‘Droitwich and Its Brine Baths’. As Medical Officer of Health, Percy took part in the Mayoral procession when Droitwich Brine Baths were opened and remained in post for 27 years.

Percy Roden was one of the chief promoters of Droitwich Golf Club.  He was one of the seven subscribers when Droitwich Golf Club Ltd was established in 1923.  Minnie Roden was a leading member of the ladies’ section, having been elected to the General Committee in 1899, being the first lady ever to be elected to the committee of a golf club.

In 1914 he established a Red Cross hospital in his father’s old house at West Ford.  P A Roden was the Commandant, the Quartermaster was Mrs Roden and Miss Evelyn Tombs was a nurse. 

P A Roden was elected to the Town Council in 1917 and served as Mayor of Droitwich from 1918 until 1920.

When Keith Roden, Percy’s son, 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.

Percy was re-elected as President of the Spa Bowling Club in 1926 where the Roden Cup is presented to this day. He was already a member of Hadley Bowling Club, like his father, having joined in 1916 and made President in 1917.

In April 1932, Percy Austin went to his Consulting Room in Friar Street to play his viola and died sometime later, of a heart attack – he was 64.  Mrs Minnie Roden eventually settled at the ‘Larches’, (demolished in 2002), not far from the ‘Hollies’ along the A38 Worcester Road.