Dr Roderick Henderson

Roderick Henderson was born in London in 1841, and became a medical student at Guys Hospital in 1860. He married Maria French in 1866 (their two sons and a daughter were all born in Rickmansworth), and they moved to Rickmansworth in 1869 to take up the medical practice in the town. Initially living at 191 High Street, they moved to Basing House after a few years: in 1881 he was described simply as ‘General Practitioner’, but in 1891 he was a JP as well as ‘Surgeon’.

As a local doctor he oversaw the health of the children (both boys and girls) of the National Schools in Rickmansworth, and was also the medical officer for the Watford Union Workhouse, of which Rickmansworth was part.

But he did much more. Reputed (we have no real evidence) to have owned the first motor-car in the town, he was also a magistrate for over twenty years, and was responsible for the removal in 1912 of the licences of twelve premises in Rickmansworth, including the Bell and George inns. In this he was acting in accordance with the policy of the Government since about 1900, concerned at the proliferation of licenced premises in small local populations - although the Licensing Bill of 1908 failed to pass in parliament, the direction of travel will have been clear to magistrates, and Rickmansworth certainly had many pubs.

He was President of the cricket club, a major shareholder and last Chairman of the Town Hall Company, and served for many years as a Churchwarden of St Mary’s, taking an active part in its rebuilding in 1890 as a colleague of the farmer John White.

Dr Henderson’s main claim to fame nowadays relates to his role in modernising the parish fire brigade, and you can find that story here.

Maria died in 1919, but the doctor remarried Muriel Woodward and remained in the town. He died in 1929. His funeral was conducted with some pomp, with his coffin borne through the town behind the new fire engine. He had been central to much of the life of the town for sixty years, and should be remembered with respect.