Samuel Stretton, his son Lionel and grandson John headed up medical services in Kidderminster from 1856–1952. Their legacy remains to this day, especially that of Lionel who has a siginifcant place in medical history having pioneered the use of tincture of iodine for sterilisation of the skin, used widely in surgery, first aid and veterinary practice. This has undoubtedly saved many thousands of peoples’ lives over the years, some of whom may be your ancestors thus ensuring that you are here to read this today!
Kate Mary Stretton, always know as Katie, was Lionel’s close sister and is a key character in the 27 Church Street series of novels. She left a wealth of personal memorabilia that has been compiled into a 20 minute video to give a flavour of her life and character. Please visit the Gallery page to view this.
In the Sunday Despatch, a national newspaper, published on 23rd February 1943 a week after Lionel died, his importance was allied to that of Joseph Lister, yet Lionel’s name is not widely known.
Chris Stretton, Lionel’s great-grandson, undertook to remedy this shortfall. Funded from the John Weston Stretton of Kidderminster Charity, set up with Stretton family money from Chris’s uncle, Antony on his death in 2010, the charity’s core function is to support local medical students in their training. Additionally, a small proportion of the investments is used to promote the history of the three doctors. Chris first commissioned an exhibition, entitled A Century of Surgeons, at the Museum of Carpet in Kidderminster in 2015. This is still available to view as a virtual tour here. The second major initiative was to commission an outline script for a six-part TV series based on the lives of the doctors and written by Rob Gittins, one of the UK’s leading screenwriters and novelists.
Following completion of this a decision was taken by the charity to first develop a series of historical drama-based novels, based on the storylines from Rob’s scripts and written by Adrian (A.J.) Hobart. It is an ambition of the charity that future success from the novels will generate interest and opportunities from television production companies.
The series is named 27 Church Street after the property in Kidderminster where Lionel lived and from where he practised for 56 years from 1882 to 1938.
This first novel in the series is entitled The Gathering Storm and is based on the first one-and-a-half episodes of the TV series. The second book has been commissioned, entitled The Price of Honour, due for publication in April 2027.
If you want to learn more about the family story, Chris suggests that you go to his website, which includes a large archive of historical material from the family and a 50-minute narrated slidshow that tells the real life story of the three doctors throughout their lives.
27 Church Street: The Gathering Storm uses much of the historical material available from the family, weaving storylines around the real-life characters and adding fictional material to enhance your read.
In addition to the website, much of the history of the doctors can be found in the two books, published in 2012 and pictured opposite, that are available on this website here.
Memoirs of the Iodine Surgeon is Lionel’s autobiography, extended and published by Chris Stretton.
Dr Stretton, I Presume records the lives fo the three doctors, written by Nigel Gilbert and commissioned by Antony’s Executors to inform the designers of the celebratory stained glass windows that were installed in St John the Baptist church in 2016.
