The competitive nature of politics in Republican Rome meant that a man insulted and vilified his enemies as part of politics’ everyday cut and thrust.
Romans also continued to abuse their enemies even after their death. Cicero was a master of considered and cutting abuse.
The Tuthill brothers continued Cicero’s legacy.
Since Roman times, it has become inappropriate to criticise the dead, no matter how much you might have despised them while they were alive.
Born in 1856, John Tuthill was an Irishman from Dublin. He had been raised there in comfortable circumstances. His father, Charles Tuthill, was a barrister. John and his elder brother, Ferguson Tuthill, emigrated to Victoria sometime in John’s twenties.
Ferguson Tuthill moved in Beechworth. His home was called Chateauneuf. This might have suggested that Ferguson was fond of a glass of red, but it was actually the middle name of his father.
Ferguson was a partner in the legal firm of Tuthill and Dickson of Beechworth. In 1886, after the death of George Billson, the long-time representative for the Ovens electorate, Ferguson was elected as the liberal member for Ovens in the Victorian Parliament.
Ferguson was a fluent and plausible speaker. He was also thick-skinned and adroit in defending his constituency’s mining interests and his own.
He had earlier made his name known in a number of local controversies. In one of these, Ferguson accused Judge Skinner publicly in 1882 with being overbearing, uncouth and coarse, as well as the far more serious charge of being corrupt.
In 1896, when Ferguson made similar accusations against a magistrate, his abuse got him into trouble. The magistrate, William Leader, brought an action for libel.
John Stevenson gave evidence against Ferguson. Ferguson lost the case. The legal costs alone amounted to $700.
A later inquiry found that Mr Stevenson had lied, but it found all charges alleged against Mr Leader to be unproven or unfounded.
Later, Mr Stevenson would be convicted of perjury for his evidence, but that did not change the libel verdict.
The loss, when coupled with his speculative investments that failed in the crash of 1893, saw Ferguson’s annual income plummet from $6000 to nothing as he desperately sought to repay his debts. He failed.
Ferguson resigned from Parliament in 1897 and sought bankruptcy. He moved to Ballarat to begin again. He had learnt his lesson. He assiduously avoided insulting anyone, even when highly provoked.
After a busy second legal career, he retired to East Malvern. Ferguson died there in 1924. He was 78.
In the meantime, John Tuthill became the doctor, local health officer and vaccinator in Euroa.
When his wife, Rosetta, died in November 1886 at the age of 34, her death notice in the Euroa Advertiser was in a usual form:
On the 22nd... at Euroa, Rosetta, the beloved wife of John Tuthill, (died) aged 34 years.
Afterwards, Mr Tuthill erected a plain but traditional memorial at the head of his wife’s grave. Unusually, there was no expression of loss or love. The memorial just stated:
Sacred to the memory of Rosetta, wife of John Tuthill.
At that time, doctors and lawyers were required to be adept in Latin. It is a Latin inscription on the gravestone that makes Tuthill’s true feelings clear.
Non nimium sui amans.
The inscription is ambiguous. Its message is not. ‘Not particularly loving/loved was she.’
It is to be hoped that Mr Tuthill found his second wife more companionable. In October 1888, in St Kilda, John Tuthill married Annabel Macleod of North Brighton.
A year later, Mrs Tuthill delivered her first child, a daughter named Edith. Two more daughters, Nora and Joan, followed in quick succession.
By 1908, John Tuthill and his family left Euroa and moved to Mordialloc. He continued to practise medicine there. John Tuthill died suddenly in 1923 in Ringwood. He was 67.
– John Barry.