Theodore Meredith
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| Portrayed by Llorenç González | |
| Full Name | Theodore Eugene Meredith |
|---|---|
| Title | Dr Meredith |
| Associated Noble House(s) | N/A |
| Date of Birth | 21 February, 1788 |
| Father | unknown |
| Father's Rank | unknown |
| Mother | Ellen Meredith |
| Mother's Rank | Baronet's daughter |
| Town Residence | 48 Harley Street |
| School | ? |
| University | Oriel College, Oxford |
| Profession | Physician |
| Income | £200 |
Theodore 'Teddy' Meredith is a doctor who is slowly taking over his uncle's medical practice. He is played by Emily.
Family
- Mother: Ellen Meredith, born 1771, presumed dead 1790
- Father: unknown
- Uncle & Guardian: Doctor Cadwallader Meredith , born 1759 (m. Mrs. Lucy Meredith, nee Squires*) *Name easily changed depending on possible connection to established family?
- Uncle: Sir Evelyn Meredith, born 1755
- Aunt: Lady Mary Greenwell, nee Meredith, born 1767
Background
Theodore was born on an icy winter night, in a snug cottage in the wilds of Wales. A joyous occasion, however, it was not, though the baby boy was healthy and the birth unremarkable. The disaster was that he had ever been conceived at all. His mother, a baronet's daughter, had been seduced and abandoned during her Season in London. Her family, upon learning of her pregnancy, hastily had her secreted away in the country before rumours could do any worse damage than they already had. There was Theo born, his and his mother's future wholly uncertain. Maddened by her seclusion and shame, as soon as Ellen had recovered from the birth, she disappeared into the snowy night. She was traced as far as London, where any sign of her vanished.
Her family presumed the worst, and though her favoured brother Caddy diligently toured the cities' morgues for many months, he could never say for certain if any of the poor souls found expired in the streets of the slums or bloating in the river were his sister. Instead, he vowed he would raise her son, himself. As his own wife was childless, it was thought best they take the boy for their own. Theo has always known the truth, when it was right that he should know, told by inches that his mother was gone, his loving guardians his uncle and aunt, and by and by, the awful truth of his parentage--though no one will give him the name of the man who is his father, though Theo suspects someone must know.
Despite the inauspicious beginning, Theo had a quiet and cheerful childhood, though always feeling the odd one out at family gatherings. Though he played nicely with his cousins, he had a sense that he was always being watched. He studied hard and performed well at school, despite some teasing due to his sweet (some would say gullible or easily-led) nature, and his eagerness to please his peers. He went on to study medicine at Oriel College, Oxford, as his uncle had done before him, and now comes to London, to help his uncle in his practice and gain experience in seeing to some of his patients.
Theo naturally has some curiosity about his father's identity, though does not imagine the man to be anything to admire, given his behaviour towards Ellen. If Theo did know his father, he does not know what he would say or do to the man. His sense of quiet, abstract outrage on behalf of the mother he never knew has hardly transmuted itself into a thirst for bloody satisfaction. If anything, he would much rather find his mother in London, and see her restored to comfort and some happiness, though he knows this to be unlikely. He is courteous to all he meets, but there is an especial tenderness in how he treats the shabby women who keep to the shadows in the streets, knowing all too well that any one of them might be his mother, or mother to a boy like himself. As a child he brought stray, sick animals to his uncle for help. As a young man, he seems set to continue this trend with women and children he encounters in the alleys, asylums and hospitals he sometimes visits in order to offer his help, and gain more experience. A very different experience from his uncle's practice in the chambers of the rich and important of society.
Though his uncle has lived and worked in London all his life, the family seat and his other relatives all live in Wales. When not in school, Theo would often spend his holidays there, and so knows little of London, though he is familiar with his uncle's house and its immediate environs. As a young man eager to practice his profession, he is thrilled and awed by city life.
His patients
Dr Meredith's patients include:
- Robert Fitzgerald (a broken femur)
- Nathaniel Scarborough (an injured shoulder)
- Georgiana Haworth (pregnant)
- Rosamond Booth (blind)
- Elizabeth Dunford (sent hangover remedy)
- Elise Hampton (emotional shock & hangover)
- Charles Delafield (an acute attack related to his chronic illness)
- Blanche Carey (headache)