Dr. Silverwood
“Silverwood, Dr: At Angledool. Would look at the sun for an instant and close his eyes. Then made drawings of what he saw. He called the objects so discerned, brain cells. He wrote a scientific article on this. A terrible man to drink whisky. He also dipped arrowroot biscuits in whisky at morning and afternoon tea. Nevertheless a clever doctor.”
“Dr. Silverwood” mixed-media artwork inspired by the description of Dr. Silverwood in The Lightning Ridge Book. Image courtesy of Elizabeth T. Smith, “The Old Fields”, 2019.
Dr. William Bedford Silverwood was born 1 June 1862 in Shelley, Yorkshire, England to parents Henry and Hannah. Silverwood came to Australia in 1906 aboard the Ayrshire.
He was a medical professional, listed in Manchester in 1895. He was practicing at White Cliffs in 1910, and in 1911 he was stationed at Angledool as doctor.
Silverwood was an alcoholic, as suggested in the Stuart Lloyd quote above. He was admonished by the medical community for prescribing incorrect medications and suggesting incorrect medical procedures to patients.
On 28 February 1912, Dr. Silverwood drowned in the surf on a Sydney beach, while out with his friend Dr. Hatfield. Hatfield had swum out to try to rescue Silverwood, but unfortunately did not succeed.
Dr. Silverwood is buried at Rookwood Necropolis.
Signature of William Bedford Silverwood, sourced from the birthday book of Robert Waterworth. Image: waggam8s, ancestry.com.au.
Article: Research by Russell Gawthorpe and Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. Sources: ‘White Cliffs Hospital’, Barrier Miner, 15 August 1910, p. 8; ‘Hebel’, Balonne Beacon, 9 March 1912, p. 5; ‘Family Notices’, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 February 1912, p. 7; The Lightning Ridge Book, Stuart Lloyd, 1967, pp. 54-55, The Old Fields, Elizabeth T. Smith, 2019, p. 5.