BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
of Edmund Deane and others in relation to the English Spa.
The present reprint of "Spadacrene Anglica" should arouse a keen literary interest in its author, Edmund Deane, and in the early history of Harrogate. As one who had the privilege of reading the original edition of this work, belonging to Dr. Rutherford, I was struck by the marked contrast between Deane's account of the history of the medicinal waters of Harrogate, and that which is to be found in more recent writings on that subject.
These modern accounts cannot be better or more authoritatively exemplified than by taking a short extract from the article "Harrogate" in the "Encyclopædia Britannica."[1]
"The principal chalybeate Springs are the Tewitt well called by Dr.
Bright, who wrote the first account of it, the English Spaw,
discovered by Captain William Slingsby of Bilton Hall, near the
close of the 16th. Century...."
This paragraph, as a statement of facts, accurately sets out what is to be found in more or less detail in the accessible literature of to-day and will be referred to afterwards as the recognised history of Harrogate. It has received the express or tacit sanction of the Corporation of Harrogate and is embodied in its publications. Further a memorial has been erected to Sir William Slingsby, the Captain William Slingsby of Bilton Hall referred to in the above quotation, as the discoverer of the Tuewhit Well.
Notwithstanding the complete credence that has been given to this account for many years, I think there can be no doubt that it is entirely erroneous, and that unmerited fame has been given to Sir William Slingsby as the discoverer of the medicinal qualities of the Tuewhit Well, and to Dr. Bright as the author who first wrote an account of it.
Deane's history of the medicinal springs of Harrogate in the Elizabethan period is to be found in the earlier chapters of his book. It is therefore only necessary to mention here that, according to "Spadacrene Anglica" the Tuewhit Well was not discovered by Captain (or Sir) William Slingsby, it was not discovered near the close of the 16th Century, and Dr. Bright did not write an account of it. It is hardly credible that the history as given in the extract from the "Encyclopædia Britannica" is actually derived from "Spadacrene Anglica." Yet such is the case. Owing to the great rarity of the first edition of that book, and the fact that the later editions were all, more or less, abridged or incomplete, a series of plausible conjectures by later writers founded on these imperfect editions has evolved a history of Harrogate in this period which is, as regards the main facts, largely fictitious. The object of the following biographical notes is, briefly, to restate the history of Harrogate during the Elizabethan period, in terms of the only reliable source for such a purpose, and to trace the accumulated errors, as far as possible, to their origin and source, an inquiry which the reprint of "Spadacrene Anglica" at the present time makes not inopportune.
No history of Harrogate should be written, unless preceded by a biographical note of the author of "Spadacrene Anglica," to whom and to whose work Harrogate doubtless owes its position as the premier Spa of this country; and it is with no little sense of the fickleness of fame that one finds his name so little known, and his worth as a writer unrecognized. As far as I know, no biography has been written heretofore, nor is his life given in the various collective records of the lives of British medical men, such as Aikin, etc.[2] The same neglect of him occurs in the "Dictionary of National Biography," where in view of the national importance of the Spas of this country, a biography of Deane might not unreasonably be expected. Here and there one is able to glean some small scraps of information about him, but the result of all the gleanings from contemporary records, so far, can be condensed in a very small compass. It does not seem amiss therefore to record here what is known of the "father of Harrogate" albeit at present unrecognized by his off-spring.