Matthew John Tierney 1776-1845

Sir Matthew John Tierney is well known for his work as Royal Physician, and locally for his introduction of a smallpox vaccination scheme for Brighton. This post looks at some aspects of his life that are not well known, but reflect interesting aspects of life in Brighton in the early 19^th century. Tierney was born in County Limerick in 1776, to parents of modest means. He and his brother, Edward, were ambitious, and both achieved early success. Matthew undertook medical training, initially at the United Borough Hospitals in Southwark, followed by university education at Edinburgh and Glasgow. Matthew’s brother, Edward became a lawyer, who by clever, and sometimes questionable exploitation of clients, gathered considerable wealth and land in Ireland.

Matthew Tierney was married in 1808 to Harriet Mary Jones, daughter of Henry Jones of Bloomsbury Square, a wealthy businessman owning considerable amounts of land in the London area. Edward Tierney married Anna Maria Jones, Harriet’s sister in 1812. Pairs of brothers marrying pairs of sisters is not uncommon, especially where the retention of family wealth and resources are important.

Henry Jones had left his daughters £15,000 (purchasing power of £1.2m in 2022) each in his will of 1801, and Edward Tierney found a means to invest the fortune of his wife and his sister in law. A mortgage loan was granted to two ailing plantation estates in the Caribbean. As a result, in the 1837 list of claimants for compensation for the loss of emancipated slaves, Matthew, Harriet, Edward and Maria claimed a total of £6,460 (£800,000 in 2022) as default owners of 357 enslaved people.Profits from plantations run on slave labour were not the preserve of a handful of Caribbean resident individuals, but supported the economics of English society in general. The financial gains from this vile system could be found in many English households, and those in Brighton and Hove are no exception. Further information on individuals and families who claimed compensation on the cessation of slavery in 1837 can be accessed in The Legacies of British Slavery database. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs.

Matthew’s life in Brighton began in 1802, when at the recommendation of Frederick, 5th Earl of Berkeley, he obtained the post of physician to the Prince of Wales. He continued to serve the royal household, and was rewarded with a baronetcy in 1818. By his own admission, Matthew Tierney was financially ambitious. J.G.Bishop ^[i] J.G.Bishop. A Peep into the Past: Brighton in the Olden Time. Brighton, 1880 told the tale of his conversation with Hine, the stage coach driver, on his journey from London. He rode on the box with Hine and ‘kept the passengers in good humour from morn til noon’ , but on entering Brighton, he suddenly exclaimed ‘Now Hine, I must put on a long face, for I am come here to make my fortune’. As a result of his royal appointment, he certainly did that, but also took a professional direction that contributed to the public health of the town.

Matthew had made the acquaintance of Dr. Jenner in Gloucestershire in 1798, when he was surgeon to Lord Berkeley’s regiment of militia, and he carried a practical knowledge of vaccination to Edinburgh, where he obtained the notice of Dr. James Gregory, whose eldest son he vaccinated.^[ii]Munk,W. Inspiring Physicians. 2^nd edition 1878 Vol 3 page 44.

Matthew set up and financed a Vaccine Institution in Brighton serving the town and the surrounding area, enabling the poor to access smallpox vaccination from local physicians at no charge.

Then as now, it was necessary to convince the vaccine-sceptics of the necessity of vaccination, and he produced a short work to do just that, explaining how he had first observed immunity to smallpox in those men in the South Gloucestershire Militia, who had been dairy workers, and had been previously exposed to cow-pox. ^[iii]Matthew John Tierney. Observations on Variola Vaccina or Cow Pox, Brighton 1845 Matthew Tierney vaccinated and treated smallpox victims at his own medical practice at 3 Pavilion Parade, and the Vaccine Institution proved a success. Smallpox however remained a threat to Brighton, and it was not until 1950 that the last major outbreak occurred. Tierney’s lasting legacy to Brighton also includes his work in the setting up of the Brighthelmston Dispensary and eventually his presiding over the founding committee of the new Sussex County Hospital which opened in 1828. Although this building, being no longer fit for purpose, will not survive for much longer, it has, with various additions, served Brighton for almost 200 years.

Tierney, a widower since 1842, died at 3 Pavilion Parade on 28^th October 1845.

The Brighton Gazette printed a gushing obituary^[iv]Gentleman’s Magazine Feb 1846

“Never do we remember to have seen the inhabitants of Brighton plunged into a more profound and universal grief than when the melancholy intelligence was circulated through the town that this eminent physician who had commanded the respect and affectionate attachment of all classes, not less by his great professional talents, than by his private virtues and general philanthropy, had been suddenly snatched away from his family and friends. To his more immediate connections, to the wide circle of his acquaintance, to the poor whom he was ever ready to assist, to the public charities of Brighton, most of which were deeply indebted to his munificent patronage, his loss is deeply irreparable.”

Tierney left everything to his family. Having no children, his property and wealth were bequeathed to his brothers Edward and Thomas and their families. There is no indication in the will of any bequests to the town of Brighton. He also managed to pass his Baronetcy to Edward by ‘patent of Baronetcy’.

So how do we view this man, who used his professional expertise and royal influence to provide health benefits to poor people in Brighton, but also invested in the abhorrent system of slave labour in the Caribbean? Sathnam Sanghera warns against an unhelpful ‘balance sheet view of history’, in which deeds seen to be ‘good’ are balanced against a list of ‘evil’ ones. It would be more constructive to admit that the acceptance of slavery was commonly seen as an economic necessity, and such acceptance has subsequently been erased from family histories. ^[v]Sathnam Sangheera. Empireland: How imperialism has shaped modern Britain. Penguin 2021. Since the publication of the Legacies of British Slavery database, it is possible to reinstate a record of such acceptance in family histories. There is more work to be done!