Splendid home of town’s first doctor now rotting away

Longford House is believed to have been home to the very first resident physician in St George’s.

It was built in 1709 for Doctor Roger Thomas and was worth the princely sum of one pound.

It was a prestigious and distinguished ‘mansion’ that lay at the very heart of the old St George’s and boasted a long hall, brick-lined fireplaces and a deep chasm of a cellar.

An extensive study by Michael Jarvis reports that Dr Thomas had emigrated to Bermuda 1709 and his house was one of the most expensive in the capital.

When he died of pleurisy in 1715 the property passed on to his wife Sarah.

But it is unclear who occupied the premises after she died three years later as it was probably rented out to visiting merchants and businessmen.

The Foote family occupied Longford House in the late 18th century and expanded it to its current size.

Lt John Foote had been posted to Bermuda from England with the Independent Company at the tail end of King George’s War.

And although he lived in the premises until he died in 1754 he never actually owned the property.

His family continued to live there after his death and his son, William, was appointed Clerk of the Assembly.

William was also a successful merchant as well as churchwarden and scribe and he purchased Longford in 1781 for £1,000.

In the early 19th century it was home to Jehoaddan Lagourgue — the widow of a French St Domingue sugar planter who had lost everything during the Haitian slave revolt and revolution.

But this marked the beginning of a long decline and by 1950 the house had become a ruin of no value.

Today the shell of the building remains clearly visible, as do the large fireplaces and the cellar rooms.

But the site has become overgrown with trees and plants.

The roof has long disintegrated and the interior walls of this once majestic old house have crumbled away. n