William Perry Briggs

In early life he gained considerable practical experience, when serving as a medical officer in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), where he was involved in the siege of Plevna.

He also had a responsibility for ensuring the health of the water supply which originally came from a series of wells and Pumps in the district; the sewerage system, the slaughterhouses and the ash tips.

[6] He also proposed the laying of sewers within Aspatria; thus eliminating a major source of the prevailing insanitary conditions that directly led to the epidemic killer diseases, Cholera and Typhoid.

On one occasion he had the satisfaction of reporting the lowest death rate of any other urban district in England and Wales, upon which he received many congratulations from the medical fraternity.

Briggs practiced medicine at a time when the country doctor was expected to be a ‘master of all trades’; he was not a GP in the modern sense, hospitalisation in rural communities was rare, if not unheard of.

[7] In politics he was a liberal and a true champion for the welfare of the common people; he took a great interest in the church and was the chairman of the war memorial committee; for an extensive period he was also a commissioner for income tax for the Allerdale Below Derwent Division.

In sport he took a keen interest in Cricket; first playing for the Aspatria and Brayton club before taking on the administrative role of president, a position he held for over thirty years.