Stories about people

Do you remember seeing Dr Cyril Francis in his horse and cart around Hereford? Leave your memories here for us and send photos to: hereford@bbc.co.uk

Paul Hartland
My aunt was his nurse in the fifties, and we used to go visit a lot. To me, his wife, Mitzi, was my "aunt". She was, I believe from Vienna, and they were both very nice to us as kids. The stuffed horse he used to say, was a gift, when it was alive, to his father from king (George). He also had his pet dogs stuffed, or tanned, with skins over the banisters, with the horse alongside the staircase. Not forgetting the stuffed tarantula in the dining room. They also had a very old tortoise in the small back garden. They also had two daughters, Thelma and Marylin. It was a wonderful place to visit as a kid. Another detail is that he had what he called the "first" privately owned X-Ray machine, glass globes, coils, wires. Probably very dangerous, it glowed in the dark.

Dr Michael Heinz Piper
I knew him as a little child. He was the husband of the sister of my grandmouther Martha from Germany. His son Ronald Francis a consultant for gynaecology (Lieutenant colonel)had always been an ideal for me (Cyril, I don`t remember so much because I was to young). Therefore I became a doctor as well and work in Germany and in the UK. Maybe I find some old pictures.

Dr Michael Heinz Piper
I don`t know whether the stuffed horse once pulled Dr Francis cart, but the hourse I know is in Bradford. I saw it last year. Dr M H Piper.

James H. JENKINS.
I have a black and white photo of the Doctor outside Holy Trinity Church Vicerage on Animal Blessing Day in the 1950's.My Grandad is also in the picture driving a tub with a small horse pulling it.The horse pulling the Doctor is a grey.My grandad when retired looked after the Doctors horses for a while.

JOHN BARNEY
I can remember Dr Francis and his horse and cart in fact he was my fathers doctor in the 50s. I remember the cart being parked outside my home in Breinton Road when he visited my dad. I remember visiting the surgery and seeing the stuffed horse in the hallway, it was a large brown horse definately not a shetland pony which his relation in Bradford said it was.!

Julia Taylor
I remember seeing Dr.Francis with his horse and cart & I used to love to go out to see the horse whenever they visited our home. The groom would stay with the horse with the Doctor visited. I also remember the stuffed horse in the hallway of his surgery. It was brown and seemed very large to me (a very small person!)

Jill Hales
I was very interested to hear about Dr Francis, my mother was his Children's nurse and told me many stories about how particular he was. He insisted on having a fresh carnation on his breakfast table to wear in his button hole each day. Mum also used to take his children out in a pram around the castle green, but was not allowed to speak to anyone on his (German) wife's instruction. On one occasion my mother was out with the children and was annoyed to see Mrs Francis hiding behind some bushes watching her. My mother was so annoyed as she had worked in London for several important families and was a very experienced Nurse. She gave her notice in as she found it hard to deal with the lady's escentricities. Later in the 1940's when I was young she paid for me to visit Dr Francis privately and he said I needed Bananas !! which were not available soon after the war, he gave us a special note to go down to the Geest Warehouse to get them, I suppose this was really a prescription ! I well remember the stuffed horse which seemed enormous to me when I was so small. I also remember on his desk he had two silver mounted horses hooves made into inkwells. I remember after his death they were given to the Oxfam Shop which was just around the corner in St Owens Street. They were for sale in the window I was tempted, but thought them a bit macabre. Sad to see where they ended up. Maybe someone in Herefordshire still has them.

bjc.smith@btinternet.com
I like many other can remember Dr Francis, and his carriage. Listening to this morning's report. The horse has been found in Bradford. I believe that the report said it was a Shetland Pony. From my recollection the horse that I saw in the hallway of his St Ethelbert home was much larger. I think that the story that it has been found in Bradford is not quite true. I believe that the horse in his hallway was one that he had owned. This may be a red herring, but surely the Hereford Times may be able to assist.Regards,Brian Smith,Maisemore,Gloucester

Irene Lloyd
My husband, when a schoolboy in the 40's, had to deliver a letter to the Doctor and was amazed to see a full sized stuffed horse standing in the hallway of his house. Later, when I moved to Hereford in 1967, I remember seeing Dr Francis in his trap going up Church Road, Tupsley. The horse was stabled at that time in a building at the back of the Town Hall in East Street.