Dr Whyte, Rotherham Road, Holbrooks

Hi, Can anyone help with the name of the Dr that was the GP at Rotherham Road prior to Dr Whyte? Cheers AW

Hi Alwaysworking Welcome to our forum The GP was Dr Purse (or) Purce.

Dr Whyte and his partner Dr St John were our family doctors from when I was five years old. When I got married and moved to Longford they were happy to keep me and my new wife - and eventually two sons - on the books. They were products of their time - totally dedicated, absolute gentlemen but if you ever went to their Beake Ave surgery it was always a bit disorganised.

Thanks Phil, very interesting site that I just happen to stumble across. I don't suppose you know what years he practiced from and to? Thanks AW

Hi AW, I am still trying to find out. Both Drs White & St.John, have been gone a long time. Stay tuned.

Herbert Alexander Purce was born in Antrim in 1902 He is listed in the Telephone Directories between 1932 and 1951 as Physician, 2 Rotherham Road, Coventry He died on 27 February 1951 He was married twice, in 1930 to Frances (died 1937) and in 1948 to Mary, his widow (died 2001) Frances bore him three children

Hi & thank you for that There you are AW. The lot!

Hello, with a special request to Midland Red. Our Coventry north special agent has thrown another name up from our enquiries about the Rotherham Rd thread. Dr Bell. Does this ring with anyone, pardon the pun! "Phil check out these dates. We have a patient who says there was a Dr Bell before Dr Purce, but the current Doctors lists Dr Purce starting in 1922 whereas I know you have found information to suggest he started in 1932. Do you remember the first names of Dr Whyte and Dr St John? Thanks" Can you Midland Red, or anyone help here?

Not seeing anything useful It seems like the only Bells in Coventry with telephones in the 20s and early 30s were the Bell Inn, Tile Hill, and Bell Green sub-post office And Dr Purce was not listed before 1932

Hi & thank you Midland Red, If anyone can throw light on this, please do. I just wonder how widespread telephones were then. It appears silly now for a doctors not to have a telephone looking at current working, but casting back to those times, who would have had a phone to have rung them then.

Just a thought, if Dr Purce was not born until 1902 would he be qualified by 1922 to practice as a doctor? Also does anyone know when the houses were built in Rotherham Road. I don't know much about Holbrooks but I would think looking on t'internet that it was developed in the 30's. Edited by member, 19th May 2014 3:54 pm

Hi Annewiggy & thank you too. Just behind the Shell garage in Holbrook Lane, adjacent to Holborn Ave, stands one of the Holbrooks farmhouses. That was still operating as a farm in 1950. The parish church was built in 1939, although a church hall had been inexistence opposite to where the Hollybush pub is now. Also, there was a primitive methodist chapel at the turn of the last century, a congregational chapel opened in 1911 which in 1947 became Holbrooks Evangelical Church in Parkgate Rd. The following quote adds something to consider. " Mrs Pauline Blackham of Rotherham Rd was born in the house that her parents built for £650 in the late 1920s" where she could view the entrance to the new parish church. The 1920s do seem to be a period of rapid growth for this end of Holbrooks. So, how do we equate this to the issue of Dr Purse 1922 or 32 & or Dr Bell?