Coleshill House

The practice at Coleshill House was opened in 1931 by Paul Jay, who became a pillar of both the Chiropractic Profession and also his home community.

Paul Jay was adopted by a blind widow, a Mrs Jay, at the age of six years. A strict upbringing ensued but with an excellent educational grounding at St Paul’s school London, and the Berkhamsted Boys Public School. At the age of sixteen Paul Jay boarded ship with his adoptive mother for a new life in New Zealand.

Paul Jay decided on a career in medicine. About that time his mother was being treated by a Chiropractor for injuries sustained from a riding accident. So successful was that treatment and so impressed was Paul Jay, that it decided him to become a Chiropractor himself. Paul Jay sailed from New Zealand to America where he enrolled in the Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1928.

After graduating in 1931 Paul Jay returned to the town of his old school, Berkhamsted, and started his practice from scratch. He rented Coleshill House in the High Street which interestingly had been a GP’s surgery and before that a surgeons consulting rooms. His practice soon mushroomed, so he took on another in Harrow as well. He became involved in the infant British Chiropractic Associations affairs. With the coming of the war Paul Jay was given charge of the First Aid stations in the area for the duration.

It was in 1947 that Paul Jay entered local politics as part of his philosophy of trying to serve his local community. In fact his administrative abilities proved very strong and he became chairman of every town council in succession, culminating in Mayor of Berkhamsted from 1959-1961.

Chiropractic of course was far from neglected and Paul Jay was Chairman of the Council of the Anglo European College of Chiropractic in the infancy of the College, having to put his hand deep in his own pocket on more than one occasion to keep it afloat. He went on to become President of the British Chiropractic Association (1967-1970) and Vice President of the European Chiropractors Union.

In the meantime, demand for Paul’s gentle Chiropractic Techniques continued to boom and a waiting list of 2-3 months for a new patient was not uncommon. Starting with Geoff Thompson in 1966, followed by Darry Tribe in 1970 and William Tomlin in 1973, Paul Jay gave a good start to a succession of new graduates and the practice has for many years been one of the largest in the country.

Paul Jay retired in 1989 at the age of 82, and passed away in 1996. He would certainly be gratified to know that there are now 5 Chiropractors working at Coleshill House, where he started all those years ago, together with Acupuncturists, a Hypnotherapist, experts in remedial massage and Pilates. Patients come from many miles to visit an acknowledged centre of excellence which receives many medical referrals.

Paul Jay would also be gratified to have known that his lobbying of some of his more influential patients from London including MP’s, together with similar hard work from others in the profession laid the groundwork for the passing of the Chiropractors Act in Parliament in 1999. Legislation had been boosted by a trial of Chiropractic versus Medical/Hospital low back pain treatment, which had been set up by the Medical research Council and piloted at the Harrow Chiropractic Clinic.