Cholera Notebooks of Dr Thomas Prestwood Lucas

(B/D/BM/A7)

Thomas Prestwood Lucas was born in Carmarthen in 1801.  After qualifying as a doctor in Edinburgh in 1825, he went to Paris for two years and attended the clinics of the pioneering doctors, Trousseau and Laennec. 

Laennec had invented the stethoscope in 1816 which revolutionised the diagnosis of various chest conditions, and in appreciation for his service, Laennec gave Lucas one of his stethoscopes, which is now kept in the Brecon War Memorial Hospital.

After leaving Paris, Thomas Prestwood Lucas was appointed assistant surgeon to the Royal Artillery and served in Canada, Malta, Gibraltar and countries along the Mediterranean coast. In 1839 he became physician to the Swansea Infirmary. Henry Lucas, his father, who was the first physician to the Brecon Infirmary, died in 1840 and Thomas then left Swansea to take over the practice in Brecon.

In 1854 Lucas was involved in controlling the Brecon cholera outbreak, which claimed 57 lives. His notebooks provide an excellent contemporary record.  The outbreak was eventually traced to a stream being used as a sewer, and which fed a nearby well that provided drinking water.

Thomas Prestwood Lucas was prominent in the community, becoming a town councillor in 1866 and an alderman the following year. He was also a governor of Christ's College and Deputy Lieutenant of the County. He died in May 1871 and is buried in Brecon Cemetery.