About this objectPen drawing of Doctor Mansell the quack in brown ink over a pencil sketch on white paper. Full length standing man facing right holding a stick with his right hand. Wears damaged tall tapered hat and tailcoat. His left arm is outstretched. By Samuel Lucas, senior. Undated, but before 1841, when a version of this drawing was incorporated into Lucas’s large oil painting of Hitchin Market Place.
‘Doctor’ William Mansell (1782-1867) was a former ship’s surgeon who arrived in Hitchin in 1820. People visited him at Hitchin Market, where he sold prescriptions and homemade herbal remedies. He also pulled teeth and delivered babies. Mansell fell on hard times, drinking alcohol to feel better and recommending strong drink to patients as a cure, hoping that he would get a share. In his last years, he made some money by showing off his party trick to children: grasping a penny between his nose and his chin.
MakerSamuel Lucas senior
Maker RoleArtist
Period19th Century (1801-1900)
Medium and MaterialsOrganic | Wood | Paper
Ink
Place MadeUnited Kingdom, England, Hertfordshire, Hitchin
Inscription and Marksidentification written bottom Mansell - MD
