A NUTTY doctor who lived in Marlow is believed to have given rise to the phrase "going batty".

Dr William Battie was born in Devonshire in the early 18th century. He studied law at Cambridge but after failing to complete his Bar exams decided to become a physician.

The son of a vicar was always considered a little eccentric and after being made physician to St Luke's Hospital in London he went on to establish a private asylum for the insane in Clerkenwell.

Dr Battie became a leading doctor of his time specialising in mental and nervous disorders but consolidated his reputation for being a bit batty' during the building of his riverside home at Court Garden in Marlow.

The three storey house was built to the doctor's specification, but in a fit of forgetfulness he designed it without any stairs.

He died in his sleep on June 13, 1776 and his various estates in Cookham, Eton and London were left to his daughter Anne and his granddaughters.

His Court Garden home came up for sale in the early 1920s. The people of Marlow launched an appeal to buy the house in trust for the town as they feared it would be bought by developers and demolished.

Marlow's famous Crimean War general, Sir George Higginson, led the appeal and gave the biggest single donation of £1,400. He got his personal friend Princess Mary to officially present the town with Court Garden house and grounds in 1926.

He died the following year aged 101 but his name lives on in Higginson Park and the General Higginson room in Court Garden.

This 1905 view of Court Garden is taken from an old postcard and is one of the earliest to be produced in colour.

It is from the collection of Michael Eagleton who provides the "Marlow Memories" column every Friday in The Marlow Free Press.

Back in those days, and surrounded by far more trees than today, Court Garden was a private residence, and the surrounding walled and fenced estate extended down to the riverbank and across to The Causeway.