author
Paul Q. (Paul Quick) Karkeek
Best known for Devonshire Witches, this Victorian doctor wrote with the curiosity of a local historian, turning old trials, superstitions, and landscapes into vivid reading. His work blends medical precision, antiquarian interest, and a real fascination with Devonshire life.
1 Audiobook
Devonshire Witches
by Paul Q. (Paul Quick) Karkeek
About the author
Born in Truro in September 1843, he was educated at Probus School and in Germany before studying medicine at St Bartholomew's. After qualifying, he served at the Chester Infirmary and the Seamen's Hospital in Greenwich, continued his studies in France and Germany, and later settled in medical practice at Torquay.
Alongside his medical career, he became a frequent contributor to the Transactions of the Devonshire Association. His best-known work, Devonshire Witches, revisits seventeenth-century witchcraft trials in Devon, and he also wrote on local superstition and travel, including Notes Made During a Visit to Exmoor and Neighbourhood.
He was elected Torquay's Medical Officer of Health in 1878 and remained deeply involved in learned societies, serving as president of the Torquay Natural History Society in 1894 and of the Torquay Medical Society in 1900. Obituaries described him as a lifelong student and avid reader, and noted that he left his collection of books to the Torquay Natural History Society.