In 1903 the Queensland government followed the example of New South Wales by introducing compulsory registration of dental practitioners Dr Victor Ratten applied to the Dental Board on July 16 that year. Ten days later he was informed that they had considered his application but were unable to register him under the Queensland Act. It was a nasty shock, as he was effectively at risk of being debarred. However, there was one other avenue. The board had the rather strange policy of referring failed applicants to the Home Minister.
Victor promptly forwarded the Board’s letter to the Minister along with an impassioned plea for favorable consideration. In an effort to establish his integrity and good character he explained that he was the son of an Anglican minister, and that he was already registered under the New South Wales Act. He said he had practiced in NSW for about five years, which was a blatant lie.
For good measure, he added a postscript;
On September 3 the Registrar of the Dental Board wrote his own letter to the Minister, explaining that Mr V.R. Ratten had not fulfilled the required period of practice in the state. He pointed out that New South Wales registration did not mean automatic qualification in Queensland. There was an additional comment that Mr Ratten was prone to making misleading and inaccurate statements in his advertisements.
In view of the Registrar’s concerns it is difficult to understand the Minister’s brief response, handwritten over the Board’s letter of protest;
In this case I decide to dispense with such of the conditions required by the Act as Mr Ratten is unable to comply with, and direct that he be registered by the Board.
The Board requested that the Minister reconsider. As a result, the Under Secretary sought legal advice as to whether an applicant could be provisionally registered, perhaps for two or three years. It was an attempt at a compromise, but the Crown Solicitor replied that there were no provisions for this under the Dental Act.
In mid November Victor sent another letter to the Minister, pressing for a quick decision. He said he wanted to visit his family in Tasmania, leaving an assistant in charge of the practice. He explained that the assistant could not be registered under the Act’s apprentice clause until he himself was registered as a qualified dentist. Finally, he made an oblique reference to the Dental Board’s charge of false advertising, ‘I have carried out your wishes re advertising’. What those wishes were is unclear. He did not publish a retraction of the outlandish claims he been making, but the advertisements for The Ideal Dentists briefly ceased The strategy worked and he was registered on December 2 1903.
Twelve months later his reputation came under threat when he was sued by a patient called Elizabeth Parker, from the rural community of Tingalpa In 1904 the woman claimed £200 damages, for unskillful treatment.
The case had its beginning two years earlier, when Mrs Parker first consulted The Ideal Dentists. Her teeth were in a very bad state and Victor removed them all. He advised the woman to use a mouth wash, and to wait as long as possible before having dentures fitted to allow her mouth to heal. She was not happy, but apparently did wait, as it was not until October 1903 that they were made.
On March 4 1904, Victor received a letter from the patient’s husband, claiming a 4.10s refund on the dentures. When he refused, the Parkers took legal action.
During the proceedings Victor testified in relation to his experience as a dentist prior to moving to Brisbane. Once again. his claims were completely untrue;
Victor R. Ratten, the defendant said that he was a dentist registered in Queensland and New South Wales, and a doctor of dental surgery. He had been practicing in Brisbane for about three years, and in Sydney before that for about seven years.
The outrageous claim of five years he had made to the Home Minister had increased by another two.
He said that when he extracted Mrs Parker’s bottom teeth he found there was necrosis of the bone caused by ‘at least two abscesses’. At the woman’s request he made a full set of dentures, explaining that he would have to adapt the bottom plate to avoid it pressing on a suppurating sinus. She was told to stop wearing the dentures immediately if they caused pain.
Whether she followed Victor’s advice would become a matter of dispute. Whatever the case, a large swelling appeared on her jaw. It was lanced on several occasions, and the treating doctor found a piece of dead bone.
Victor had gone into court supported by the evidence of two fellow dentists and two well known doctors, Dr. H. C. Garde and Dr. G.H. Hopkins.
On October 9 the tabloid Truth newspaper did a complete hatchet job on Mrs Parker, questioning her motives for bringing the action under the headline BLUFF OR BLACKMAIL?
Complainant brought expert evidence to show (1) that the plates did not fit, and (2) that the injury to her jaw was caused by the pressure of the lower plate, and it would be amusing, were it not so serious, that a very highly qualified professional man can be subjected to such annoyance, such loss of time and trouble, to note how this expert evidence went to pieces.
“Truth” congratulates Dr. Ratten, as one of our most capable dental surgeons, on escaping from a most palpable attempt at bluff, to call it nothing worse, and on completely establishing the reputation he so justly holds among all who know him for professional skill, ability, and courtesy of the highest order.
The action was more likely to have been driven by two years of pain and suffering, but it was a disastrous step for the working class Parkers. They were required to pay the costs of seven expert witnesses. When they failed to do so by mid November, Victor’s solicitors issued a warrant of execution on the judgement. The couple’s property at Tingalpa was to be sold up at the end of the month unless the execution was satisfied.
On December 17 the Registrar of Titles recorded that the title of Mrs Parker’s six acre property had been transferred to Victor Richard Ratten. Thirty years later Victor still owned the land. In 1935 his name appeared in the Brisbane Daily Telegraph as a Tilgalpa landowner in arrears for rates and taxes.
Considering how little training Victor had undergone by the time he arrived in Brisbane and his claims of painless treatment, it is surprising there were not more unsatisfied clients.
By now he was quite the dashing, man-about- town. As a bachelor, he chose to live at the Hotel Cecil in George Street, just a three minute walk from his practice in Queen Street. Remarkably, he had made a complete recovery from the complex surgery on his left arm. He played tournament tennis, and was dubbed The Tennis Dentist. He also played competition billiards.
Another interest he pursued was horseracing. In April 1905 he purchased a seven year old bay gelding called Mariner, bred by the well known New South Wales breeder Henry White. Two months later the horse won the flying handicap at Brisbane’s Albion Park by six lengths, netting Victor a purse of twenty sovereigns. His passion for the turf endured for the rest of his life.
Victor’s lucrative dental practice also provided the funds for him to purchase one of the first motor cars in the state. In May 1905 twelve of Queensland’s sixteen registered car owners gathered at the Brisbane School of Arts to form the Automobile Club of Queensland. Victor was present, and elected one of its vice-presidents. Most of founding members were doctors, including Drs Garde and Hopkins, who had testified in Victor’s defence during the action brought by Elizabeth Parker. Victor and his fellow enthusiasts from the Automobile Club gave rides at charity events such as the Hospitals’ Sports Carnival. They also took part in organized ‘runs’ culminating in afternoon tea at a chosen hotel. Sometimes there was more excitement than anticipated when a passing horse took fright at a cavalcade of noisy, metal contraptions.
Dr Henry Garde was a middle aged, Irish born doctor was to become a mentor and close friend of Victor’s. He was a graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He was well travelled, having spent considerable time as a ship’s doctor. He had been resident surgeon at Maryborough General Hospital for nearly twenty years, before entering politics and setting up in private practice in Brisbane. From 1902 -1904 Garde served as a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly.
Victor’s self-promotion was relentless. Advertisements for his Queen Street practice appeared in almost every issue of the Courier. On December 21 1905 the following ‘advertorial’ appeared
THE IDEAL DENTISTS
In October 1901, the Ideal Dentists commenced practice in Brisbane, bringing with them their new method of painless extractions. They first started in a suite of three room, but their practice increased to such an extent that they now have six rooms, including a large waiting room. Dr Ratten is the operating dental surgeon, and is kept very busy. It is a great boon to have teeth extracted without pain or evil after effects and without the risk of an anaesthetic. Dr Ratten states that they have to be very careful with the formula of the drugs they inject, in order to prevent anyone obtaining some of them in the hope of getting them analysed and so being able to use them..
But for Victor, being a dentist, even a highly successful ‘surgeon dentist’ , did not provide quite the same cache as that of a doctor. To be fair, he may also have been influenced by his admiration of Dr Henry Garde, and perhaps those skilled surgeons in Sydney who had saved his diseased arm. Whatever the case, he began to consider the possibility of a career in medicine.
Despite the dubious methods employed in his efforts to become a registered dental surgeon, he had built up a large and well regarded practice. He was equally successful in a social environment. Men considered him an agreeable companion; urbane, gregarious and a naturally talented sportsman. He was also one of Brisbane’s most eligible bachelors One young lady had already caught his eye. She was 23 year old Blanche Greaves, whose parents John and Maria were the licensees of The British Empire Hotel in Queen Street, just a short walk from Victor’s dental surgery.
Like Victor, John Greaves was a lover of horse racing. He was an original member of the Queensland Turf Club and also the Tattersalls Club, which administered the billiards tournaments Victor competed in.
The Greaves family were prominent in Brisbane society. Blanche was the fourth of their five daughters.
On March 27 1893 The Telegraph reported on a very special celebration at the Brisbane city hotel where John Greaves was then publican. Blanche was nine years old at the time. It epitomised her upbringing within a large, loving family where an appreciation for music and theatre were encouraged.
UNIQUE BIRTHDAY PARTY – Mr and Mrs John Greaves entertained a large number of ladies and gentlemen at the Australian Hotel on Tuesday evening last, on the occasion of Mrs Greave’s birthday. The large dining-room was fitted up as a temporary theatre, and a charming entertainment was given entirely by Mr. and Mrs. Greaves’s family.
Blanche in particular loved to perform, and studied drama and singing. As the Greaves sisters became young women they were mentioned regularly in write-ups of balls, concerts and other social events. In the spring of 1903 Blanche made her debut at the Governess’s Home Ball. She was presented to Lady Chermside, wife of the then Governor of Queensland; ‘Miss Blanche Greaves, pretty gown of white Roman satin and chiffon, relieved with lace insertions.’ (Courier 8 May 1903).
Blanche Greaves as a debutante in 1903
When the Stephenson Comedy Company leaves Brisbane this morning, it will be accompanied by two of Brisbane’s fairest and most charming daughters., in the persons of Mss Evie Doyle, daughter of the much respected licensee of the Ulster Hotel, Edward Street, and Miss Blanche Greaves, la fille of the equally popular host of the British Empire. The young ladies, who are both bright, handsome, and accomplished, are smitten with a passion for comedy, and having successfully passed all the usual tests, have been received into Mr. George Stephenson’s Company…….the two young ladies being firm chums expect to find much support and comfort in other’s society, and anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting either of them will wish them much success and happiness in the profession which they have decided to give a trial.
‘Of course, if we find we don’t like it, there will always be a warm welcome for us at home,’ says Miss Doyle: and looking at her bonny face and noting her frank, unaffected manner, who could doubt it? (Truth 2 March 1905) Off the girls went together on the mail train, first to Sydney and then around the country.
Dr Garde and Victor were in the audience of the successful opening night of The Skirt Dancer on March 3 1905, along with two of Blanche’s sisters.
In mid August 1906, Victor’s name appeared in the Courier as attending the Queensland Tennis Association’s annual ball It was the last mention of him for nearly twelve months. On September 3 he sailed from Sydney as a saloon passenger aboard the R.M.S. Aorangi, a passenger and cargo vessel bound for Vancouver. Despite his high profile there was no mention in the press that Dr Ratten was leaving the country. Nor was there any announcement that he would be absent from his dental practice. Advertisements for The Ideal Dentists continued as usual.
At Vancouver he disembarked and caught the train, crossing the border into the United Sates and travelling across the country from San Francisco to Chicago . He was a man on a mission; one that would change not only his life but that of a great many others.
