Ackland and Littlewood families

The items in this collection can broadly be categorised as follows: day-books and a diary recording visits to patients and medicines prescribed; patient accounts ledgers; apprenticeship indentures of William Ackland; recipe books and medical notebooks; casebook, medical notes and correspondence of Charles Kingsley Ackland; memoirs, correspondence, photographs, diplomas and miscellaneous papers of the Ackland family.

1809-1970

9 volumes, 14 files and 1 large folder

Within each block of manuscripts, items relating to the administration of the practice are generally followed by personal papers.

Presented by Dr. Mark J. Littlewood in 1986 (MSS.5410-5419) and 1996 (MSS.7205-7216) (both groups of papers acc.347617).

William Ackland (c.1791-1867), William Henry Ackland (c.1825-1898), Charles Kingsley Ackland (1859-1940) and the latter’s nephew Martin Wentworth Littlewood (1888-1972) were four generations of general practitioners who had a practice in Bideford, Devon.

At Wellcome Collection: MS.5420 comprises letters by Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) to Dr. William Henry Ackland. Kingsley was the godfather of Ackland’s son, Charles Kingsley Ackland.

Database description taken from that in: Richard Palmer, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Wellcome Library for the History & Understanding of Medicine: Western Manuscripts 5120-6244 (London: The Wellcome Library for the History & Understanding of Medicine, 1999) and subsequent typescript supplementary finding aids by Richard Aspin, Christopher Hilton, Keith Moore and Richard Palmer.