Receipt for medical treatment
Among the
variety of receipts saved by the late Maud Ashmore's family is
one issued by Dr Caley in1925 after attending Maud's mother
while she was awaiting the births of Maud and Eunice. The fee,
£2/5/-, was well above the average weekly wage in the 1920s and
is a reminder of the cost of health care in the years before the
National Health Service. Several of the receipts saved by Maud's family
had a postage stamp attached (such as receipts for the payment
of fees for the Misses
Goodwin's school and the payment of tax to the Urban District
Council), stamp duty being one of
the government's ways of raising income on relatively
small amounts compared to the way
stamp duty is now levied. The reference to c/o Close is
because Mr and Mrs Ashmore lived with
Mrs Ashmore's parents called Close. By 1925 it was
possible to contact the Doctor by telephone, his
number being 6 Tickhill, although the majority of Tickhill's
inhabitants would have had to use the telephone in the Post
Office in the Market Place if they chose to make telephone
contact. We know from
Betty Hill's memories about growing up in Tickhill that Dr Caley
chose to call his house on
Westgate 'Renong' after a Malaysian rubber producer in
whom Dr Caley invested, the profits enabling him to build 'Renong'.
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