Dr George Lumgair

The above simple notice, placed in the Fife Herald on 16 February 1837, marked the beginning of a remarkable career and a lasting legacy of medical care in Largo Parish.  Yet, at the time, who could have imagined that the nineteen-year-old medical graduate, originally from Arbroath, would have become, by the time of his death, the oldest of his profession in Fife. Born in 1818, son of linen manufacturer David Lumgair, George left for Edinburgh at a very young age to study medicine at the University and the College of Surgeons.  He seems to have also undertaken some study in St Andrews before settling into a country practice at Upper Largo.  

Initially, Dr Lumgair lodged with Mary Thom and the census of 1841 shows him still lodging with her four years later, living in between George Simpson the tailor and John Marr the grocer on what appears to have been the Main Street. One of the incidents that Dr Lumgair attended during this period was the fatal accident at Lundin Pier when the flory boat carrying people ashore from the St George steamer went down in January 1843. On 14 Nov 1848, George married Frances Hart Beveridge, daughter of the town clerk of Dunfermline, William Beveridge. By this time George was living in 'Largo Cottage' on South Feus, Upper Largo.  The couple are pictured standing outside this house below c1870 (an image which appears in the book 'Seatoun of Largo' by Ivy Jardine).  Here they would live out the rest of their lives.

George and Frances had two daughters - Anna Simpson Beveridge (1849) and Agnes Crawford (1851).  The younger daughter would go on to marry Stuart Palm, who became her father's partner in medical practice before succeeding him. The Palms settled just a few doors along the street at 'St Leonard's'. The photograph above hints at the Lumgairs' interest in horticulture, with their well-tended garden.  Their names crop up in newspaper archives in relation to floral fetes. Dr Lumgair was involved in the Largo Field Naturalists' Society and was at one time president.  Dr Lumgair had to keep horses and had a coachman that worked for him for 23 years - James Cunningham who died in 1877. The advert below shows the doctor advertising a pony for sale.

In 1882 George Lumgair was unanimously elected as the first President of the Fifeshire Medical Association, when it was constituted. He also became a Justice of the Peace around that time. However, on 1 November 1884 Dr Lumgair passed away aged 67 after several months of illness. The Fife Herald quoted the Edinburgh Medical Journal's tribute to his memory the following month...

"For the long period of forty seven years he laboured [in Largo], hardly ever a day off duty, though a great martyr to bronchial asthma....In his practice, his name was indeed a household word, and his bright smile and kindly hopeful manner, won the affection of all classes of his patients as his skillful care commanded their confidence. His professional brethren in this and the neighbouring counties recognised his many-sided ability, and gladly sought his help in consultation....An accurate physician, an able surgeon, and an accomplished accoucheur, his wonderful experience and his extensive knowledge of human nature made him a power far beyond his immediate neighbourhood; and his enthusiasm in this work, and his interest in the welfare of the people amongst whom he spent his life, will not be soon forgotten."