#atozchallenge: W is for William Harrington

by Lillian Csernica on April 26, 2018

William Henry Harrington was born in London to a well-to-do family living in Grosvenor Square. His father is a banker and his mother the type of woman who rules the social scene with an iron if genteel hand.

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A solid education led him to Cambridge, and from there he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. His mild, cheerful manner and sincere interest in his patients’ health quickly gained him a reputation as a reliable, reassuring, and competent physician.

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Given a choice between law and medicine, Dr. Harrington chose medicine for two important reasons. First, he finds the human body a fascinating subject. Second, studying vast tomes of legal precedent and going through the complex ritual of the courtroom hold no appeal for him. Relieving the suffering of the sick is a more rewarding pursuit than dealing with abstract legal squabbles.

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Dr. Harrington is not totally altruistic in his motivations. He accepted the position in Kyoto because he knew the Far East to have a long tradition of effective if peculiar remedies based largely on herbal preparations. In London during the 1800s cholera epidemics and the prevalence of tuberculosis make a trip abroad, even as far as Japan, highly attractive. Dr. Harrington will do anything to preserve the health and well-being of his wife and daughter, Constance and Madelaine.