Dr. Joseph Stevens lived and worked as the village doctor in St Mary Bourne, Hampshire from 1845 – 1879. He then retired and moved to Reading to pursue his archaeological and natural history interests until his death in 1899. This study traces his work in a poor rural parish over a period greatly changed by the Victorian public health reformers and legislation, but during a time when the transmission of disease by germs was yet to be locally understood and medical interventions were often influenced by earlier beliefs. It argues that Stevens was remarkable not only for the improvements in the health of his patients that he was able to make with very limited resources, but also his understanding and encouragement that philanthropy in other fields, diet, housing, education and cleanliness, would also benefit his patients’ health. It ends with details of Stevens’ work in retirement and as first curator of Reading Museum.