Reminiscences of Lawson Tait / [Christopher Martin].

  • Martin, Christopher, 1866-1933.
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Reminiscences of Lawson Tait / [Christopher Martin]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    kept them there for four to six weeks, and operated on them for nothing-. He made no difference in treatment or food between these patients and those who were paying- him handsome fees. His consultations over, he would rush out perhaps to see out¬ patients at the Women’s Hospital, perhaps to a Committee meeting at Mason College, the Medical Institute, or elsewhere. Then may be, he would drive out to a consultation in the country and be back for dinner at 7 p.m. After dinner, he might read a paper at a medical society, or take part in a debate. On returning home he would perhaps sit down and sketch out a medical article or indite to his secretary a scathing letter to be sent to the British Medical Journal in reply to some antagonist. He revelled in such wordy warfare and “ drank delight of battle with his peers.” My brother Charles was his private secretary for over a year, and was often successful in toning down some of his most fiery letters. Mr. Tait would rush into the library, fling down a letter and say : “ Write to this man and tell him I’ll see him damned before I’ll do what he wants.” The letter when typed would perhaps read : “ Mr. Lawson Tait deeply regrets that he is unable to accede to Mr. B’s request.” “ But that is not what I said, Charlie,” Mr. Tait would exclaim when he came to read the letter. “ No, but it means the same thing and reads better,” my brother would reply; and the amended letter would be sent. He was very clean in his person, dressed for comfort rather than appearance, and did not care what people thought or said about him. In the house and in his consulting room he usually wore a black velvet lounge coat. He never played cards, chess, billiards, or golf. He enjoyed the good things of this life, but he was neither a gormandiser nor a drunkard. He was. however, a heavy smoker and consumed innumerable strong cigars. He was fond of the theatre, and numbered many leading actors, such as Irving and Toole, among his intimate friends. He had many hobbies and took keen pleasure in pursuing them. His house was full of curios, especially Chinese and Japanese. I remember one evening when the Honourable Hugh Fraser (the British Minister to Japan) dined with him, and I was asked to join the small party. The conversation turned to Japanese curios and incidentally ladies’ combs. Mr. Tait left the room and brought down several drawers full of these articles—there were scores of them—which he had picked up, arranged, put away, and almost forgotten. He had in his house many beautiful Catholic emblems, crucifixes, triptychs, and pictures. He once told me that he was brought up as a Catholic and, as a boy, sang in the choir