Memoranda book of Daniel Mitford, apothecary, of Northallerton

Memoranda book of Daniel Mitford, apothecary, of Northallerton, and his successors, 1763-1796

Contains medicinal recipes and remedies (for both beasts
and people) with index at front, notes of Ripon and Northallerton area deaths and burials, and general commonplace memoranda, including note of prodigous size of 11 month old boy living at Enfield Mills, 1779; verses of poems; a prayer for an old person, 1776; account of events in Boston, America, 1775; note that a comet will be visible in May 1780.
Includes note that Daniel Mitford, apothecary, aged 51, died 4 July 1764; Elizabeth Mitford his wife died 4 November 1756 aged 26.

Book subsequently used by William Carver, whose name appears on the flyleaf, 31 August 1764.

Loose inside: letter from M.Brookes of Bradford, sending the book to Dr Walton, coroner for Yorkshire, c.1880

[Former ref: Box 62/6]

There are images of several openings of this volume, showing the range of the remedies which Daniel Mitford and his colleagues will have used on a daily basis:

P42-43: Recipes for the bite of a mad dog, for a dye for gloves, for shoe black; and for treating splint and spavin (bony enlargements on a horse’s leg).

P62: Cure for stone from the West Indies, involving taking a dried part of a green turtle or tortoise in alcohol. [not illustrated]

P120-121: A most excellent wound drink by Sarrah Jackson
Various buds and herbs are gathered and carefully dried and then stored in canvas or paper bags. When the drink is needed, the dried herbs are to be boiled in spring water, then boiled again after adding white wine and honey. The mixture is to be strained and stored in glass bottles for up to four weeks.
It is good for all kinds of sores and old wounds. Wounds should not be ‘tented’ that is, kept open with a soft wad of cloth (a ‘tent’) and the patient is to keep to a scanty diet,
At the end of the instructions is space to slip in a memorandum about a marriage in Ripon.

P146-147: Report of the visit to Boroughbridge of Mr O’Burn, an Irish giant some 8 feet tall; with recipes and local memoranda

P152-153: Remedies for garget (an inflammation of the throat or udder of cows and swine), and murrain (cattle plague)

P168-169: Blackberry remedy for stone in gentlemen; and memorandum of a poem uttered by a young man of Winteringham just before his death.

P170-171: Remedies for ague and whooping cough; note of the success of Rodney during the American War of Independence, and of local events

P192: Recipe for green ointment, made from various herbs – the method includes burying it for ten days – but there’s no indication of what it’s good to cure! Also on this page is a note of the death of Daniel Mitford who had started keeping this recipe book. [not illustrated]

P262-263: Note about the coming of a comet, local memoranda and a poem