  Napper
meets Sapte
The man who featured in the first chapter in
the hospital's history was John Henry Sapte, Archdeacon
and Rector of Cranleigh from 1826 to 1906.
Educated in Germany and at Emmanuel College,
Oxford, he held his first curacy in Oxfordshire
under Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, son of that Wilberforce
forever linked with the abolition of the Slave
Trade.
A man of strong character, Sapte was a force
in village life and parish records reveal details
of an agreement he made with local shopkeepers
to discontinue Sunday trading. He was also responsible
for another Cranleigh landmark, the village school
built in 1847, and along with Mr Cubitt (son of
the Cubitt who built most of Belgravia and part
of Buckingham Palace), was one of the founders
of Cranleigh Public School and among its original
governors.
Archdeacon Sapte, like the men of his time, covered
his parish on horseback and no doubt in so doing
met and became friendly with our other hero, Dr
Albert Napper, the village surgeon.
Dr Napper was a well-qualified and respected
surgeon who had walked the wards of St Thomas'
Hospital, London before qualifying. He studied
in Edinburgh, then, as now, renown for its medical
teaching and in Germany. In 1848 he opened a medical
practice in Guildford acquiring a practice in
Cranleigh in 1854 where he met up with John Sapte.
It is claimed the rector was out riding when
he heard of a serious accident, where the victim
was taken to a nearby cottage. After offering
his help he met with Dr Napper and the village
policeman poised to amputate the man's leg. Apparently
the local druggist, who was to have been the anaesthetist,
had fainted and was useless. This incident made
an impression on both Dr Napper and Archdeacon
Sapte - hence the first pages on the hospital
book opened. The Rector provided a cottage opposite
St Nicolas Church which was believed to have been
a priest's home in the Middle Ages.
Dr Napper came from a family that had lived for
generations in both Surrey and Sussex. The first
recorded Napper being in 1404 in the reign of
Henry IV, The name most likely arising from the
trade of flint-napping in the Sussex Weald. Several
descendants of the Napper family still live in
Cranleigh.
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