Skip to main content

News

The Water Doctor’s Daughters talk

  • 22nd March 2013

On Wed 3rd April author Pauline Conolly will be talking about her newly published book, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, about a true event in Victorian Malvern. This was partly researched through the resources of Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service

“A true story of injustice, ignorance and misguided religious zeal. In 1852, Great Malvern water-cure practitioner Dr James Loftus Marsden sent his five daughters to Paris with their governess Mlle Doudet.

Two girls died and Doudet stood trial for manslaughter and cruelty. But who was more culpable; the governess or the autocratic, blindly ambitious Dr Marsden?

And what became of the surviving siblings? Twenty years later another suspicious death occurred”

www.paulineconnolly.com

Pauline will give an introduction to the book and talk about some of the research. You will be able to purchase copies of the book on the day. The talk begins at 3pm in The Studio in The Hive.

Comments are closed.

Related news


  • 27th August 2025
The 1921 census and its insight into rural life

In our latest blog about the 1921 census, the story of Alvie’s family gives a fascinating insight into life in rural Lincolnshire. Both sides of my family have lived in rural Lincolnshire for centuries. In 1921 most of my relatives were living around the villages of Benington and Leverton in South Lincolnshire, which is about...

  • 26th August 2025
Women, War and Bankruptcy

Amongst the Magistrate Court records held with us on behalf of Worcestershire County Council as part of The Public Records Act are Bankruptcy records from the early 20th century. Whilst they detail the financial situation of individuals and businesses, individual case files which are outside the 100-year closure period can provide insight into the circumstances...

  • 21st August 2025
Newspapers online

Excellent News! Your wait is nearly over – our newspaper collections is set to return! Not only that but, thanks to our partnership with Ancestry.com, our  collection has been digitised and there is free access to it from The Hive via newspapers.com. Unless you want to, gone are the days of having to search date...