Dr William Eggeling

Having written previously about both Dr George Lumgair and Dr Stuart Palm, I would like to turn attention now to the next in the succession of long-serving Largo doctors, namely Dr William Eggeling.  He was in practice in Largo from soon after the death of Dr Palm in March 1908 until his own death in 1946.  It's possible that some people living today may remember Dr Eggeling or at least recall parents or older relatives speaking of him.  If you have any information about him at all, please get in touch by commenting on this post or by using the 'Contact' button - his descendants would love to learn more about him!  

Julius Franz Wilhelm Eggeling was born in London to German parents on 28 October 1873.  When his family moved to Scotland, he was educated at George Watson's College and Edinburgh University.  He obtained an M.A. before going on to study Medicine and Surgery - being awarded his M.B. Ch. B. in 1901.  Seven years later, William filled the gap left by the death of Dr Palm and was living and practising at the Palms' former residence, St Leonard's, on South Feus, Upper Largo. In 1908, at the age of 35, he married Ellis Mitchell Wood.  The photograph above, shows Dr Eggeling probably not long after that on his motorcycle. The couple had four children: William Julius (born 1909), Minnie Anne Annandale (1911), Alfred Homann (1914) and Thomas Frederick (1916).  The family can be seen together in the photograph below. The Doctor had a distinctive car (a British-made G.W.K. - see below) which became well-known in the area and even featured on a popular postcard of Upper Largo at the time.

Dr Eggeling had a challenging time during the First World War, when some highlighted his German descent.  However, his work seems to have been tireless through this period and beyond.  During the Second World War the Eggelings, like many others, took in evacuees from cities threatened by air raids.  In fact, they took a family of five, who stayed longest of all the locally hosted evacuees. Their oldest son would later comment that in all the decades that his father worked in Largo, he only took two holidays that he can recall. 

Sometimes patients could not afford to pay the medical fees but Dr Eggeling would not turn them away.  He was often given gifts instead, for example books.  His daughter-in-law recalled one particular case...

"On one occasion, a motorist crashed his car at the bad corner on the main road between Upper Largo and Lundin Links" and in the resultant accident, bit off the end of his tongue.  He "walked up to the surgery at St Leonard's with the tip of his tongue in his hands.  Dr William Eggeling simply sewed it back on again" and once healed, the tongue was apparently "as good as new"!

There was another story about a man who had an accident near Peat Inn during a severe winter and whose leg was so badly injured that Dr Eggeling had to amputate it back at Largo without anaesthetic (only whisky). Do you know more about these stories or others?

Dr Eggeling died on 23 May 1946, aged 73, while his wife passed only weeks later on 11 July.  The pair are shown in the photograph below in their garden at Upper Largo.

If this information and these photographs stir any recollections of the Eggeling family, please do get in touch.

[With thanks to David Eggeling for sharing the information and images]