Death
" The world wants one true man since he was taken away"(2) . Dr Sidney Ringer
Joseph Clover died in 1882 after a long illness. Chronically ill for much of his life with respiratory disease, probably tuberculosis, it was renal failure and uraemia that eventually led to his demise. Obituaries expressed genuine sadness at his passing (1-4) and his wife received many letters of condolence, such as the one below from his friend, the Norfolk surgeon, William Cadge.(5) He is buried in Brompton cemetery, with his wife and their first child who died in infancy. His grave is quite hard to locate as it is flat in the ground. It is situated about 200m from the large gravestone belonging to John Snow.(6)
"Dear Mrs Clover, The sad news has reached me today that my dear friend has ended his long course of weakness and ill health. When I remember that forty years ago he came up to his studies in London bringing me a note from Dr Lubbock of this city begging me to do my best to prevent his overworking his weakly & delicate frame I can but wonder, not that his life is ended, but that it has been prevented so long. No one knows better that I do, by recent sad experience, how useless words of sympathy are to you, who must bear this great loss as best you can. Time alone can soften &mitigate the immediate sense of loneliness & grief & surely the recollection of this pure life, of duty & daily work nobly done, &all his good and wordly qualities will be a source of comfort.
Accept my true regard & Believe me Yours faithfully, W Cadge."
1. Obituary. J.T.Clover, F.R.C.S., L.S.A. British Medical Journal.656.
2. Obituary. J.T.Clover, F.R.C.S. Eng. The Lancet. 1882:597.
3. Obituary. British Journal of Dental Science. 1882;LXXV:1021-3.
4. Obituary Notice. Joseph Thomas Clover, F.R.C.S. The Journal of the British Dental Association. 1882;III(10):555-7.
5. Cadge W. Letter to Mrs Clover. Clover-Snow Collection IV Woodward Biomedical Library; 1882.
6. Macintosh R. The graves of John Snow and Joseph Thomas Clover. Anaesthesia. 1969;24(2):269-70.
"Dear Mrs Clover, The sad news has reached me today that my dear friend has ended his long course of weakness and ill health. When I remember that forty years ago he came up to his studies in London bringing me a note from Dr Lubbock of this city begging me to do my best to prevent his overworking his weakly & delicate frame I can but wonder, not that his life is ended, but that it has been prevented so long. No one knows better that I do, by recent sad experience, how useless words of sympathy are to you, who must bear this great loss as best you can. Time alone can soften &mitigate the immediate sense of loneliness & grief & surely the recollection of this pure life, of duty & daily work nobly done, &all his good and wordly qualities will be a source of comfort.
Accept my true regard & Believe me Yours faithfully, W Cadge."
1. Obituary. J.T.Clover, F.R.C.S., L.S.A. British Medical Journal.656.
2. Obituary. J.T.Clover, F.R.C.S. Eng. The Lancet. 1882:597.
3. Obituary. British Journal of Dental Science. 1882;LXXV:1021-3.
4. Obituary Notice. Joseph Thomas Clover, F.R.C.S. The Journal of the British Dental Association. 1882;III(10):555-7.
5. Cadge W. Letter to Mrs Clover. Clover-Snow Collection IV Woodward Biomedical Library; 1882.
6. Macintosh R. The graves of John Snow and Joseph Thomas Clover. Anaesthesia. 1969;24(2):269-70.