Dorset History Centre has a large collection of local studies books, including many rare and unusual volumes. A particular favourite is a wonderful guide to Weymouth that was published around 1799.
Royal Visits
The guidebook lacks its title page so unfortunately we do not know the author’s name, but it is one of a number of guides printed during the period that George III was visiting the town. The King’s presence had made Weymouth one of the most popular destinations in the country, and the guides were written to appeal to the upper class visitors wealthy enough to be able to purchase them. The result is that modern readers are likely to find them almost hilariously pretentious.
George’s marvellous medicine
The King had been taking holidays in Weymouth since 1789, after being advised that “taking the water” would be beneficial to his health. This had been prompted by the onset of severe mental health problems that would plague him until his death in 1820.
An astonishing survival within the collections of Dorset History Centre is the notebook of George III’s apothecary Robert Battiscombe. The small notebook actually lists the treatments the King received during one of his earliest episodes in 1788. The treatment of mental health problems at the time was often brutal, and the section shown lists cupping, bleeding and applying “blister” to the King. This was done with the aim of re-balancing “the humours” and so correcting the problem, but needless to say, would all have caused extreme pain or discomfort.
