Lot Essay
The inscription reads: "PRESENTED BY Napolean III Emperor of the French AND THE Empress Eugenie To CHARLES LOCOCK M.D. BUCKINGHAM PALACE, April 21st 1855."
Sir Charles Locock, Bt., (1799-1875), the eminent obstetric surgeon, was first appointed First Physician Accoucheur to Queen Victoria in 1840 and was present at the birth of all her children. His most valuable contribution to medicine was his discovery of the efficacy of bromide of potassium in treating epilepsy. As an obstetrician though he was best known and most of his patients were part of the fashionable world. As Sir James Paget noted, he was not learned, and had little scientific power, but was genial in society and a good storyteller. He was created a baronet in 1857.
In 1855 Louis Napolean and Eugenie paid a state vist to England. England and France were allies against Russia in the war in the Crimea and the French Emperor was enjoying a brief spell of almost hysterical popularity among the English. Arriving at Dover on April 16, they travelled by special train to Windsor, where they were greeted by Victoria and Albert. The young Queen was totally captivated by the Emperor and Empress and remarked in her journal how strange it was 'to think of a granddaughter of George III dancing with the nephew of our great enemy, the Emperor Napoleon, now my most firm ally, in the Waterloo Gallery.' (Jasper Ridley, Napoleon III and Eugenie, 1979, p. 379) On April 19 both Royal couples travelled to Buckingham Palace, where they were entertained at the Guildhall and attended a special performance at Covent Garden.
A German diplomat, Count Vitzthum von Eckstaedt, writing in his memoirs, recorded: 'The cordial reception that (Napoleon III) had found at the English Court encouraged him so far as to confide to the Queen the sorrow he felt at the Empress's being childless. He begged Her Majesty, as the mother of eight children, to persuade the Empress to consult a physician. Sir Charles Locock, the Queen's physician and accoucheur, was accordingly summoned; and so successful was the treatment he prescribed, that nine months afterwards the Prince Imperial was born' (St. Petersburg and London, 1887, p. 156). In fact, their son was born on March 16, 1856.
Sir Charles Locock, Bt., (1799-1875), the eminent obstetric surgeon, was first appointed First Physician Accoucheur to Queen Victoria in 1840 and was present at the birth of all her children. His most valuable contribution to medicine was his discovery of the efficacy of bromide of potassium in treating epilepsy. As an obstetrician though he was best known and most of his patients were part of the fashionable world. As Sir James Paget noted, he was not learned, and had little scientific power, but was genial in society and a good storyteller. He was created a baronet in 1857.
In 1855 Louis Napolean and Eugenie paid a state vist to England. England and France were allies against Russia in the war in the Crimea and the French Emperor was enjoying a brief spell of almost hysterical popularity among the English. Arriving at Dover on April 16, they travelled by special train to Windsor, where they were greeted by Victoria and Albert. The young Queen was totally captivated by the Emperor and Empress and remarked in her journal how strange it was 'to think of a granddaughter of George III dancing with the nephew of our great enemy, the Emperor Napoleon, now my most firm ally, in the Waterloo Gallery.' (Jasper Ridley, Napoleon III and Eugenie, 1979, p. 379) On April 19 both Royal couples travelled to Buckingham Palace, where they were entertained at the Guildhall and attended a special performance at Covent Garden.
A German diplomat, Count Vitzthum von Eckstaedt, writing in his memoirs, recorded: 'The cordial reception that (Napoleon III) had found at the English Court encouraged him so far as to confide to the Queen the sorrow he felt at the Empress's being childless. He begged Her Majesty, as the mother of eight children, to persuade the Empress to consult a physician. Sir Charles Locock, the Queen's physician and accoucheur, was accordingly summoned; and so successful was the treatment he prescribed, that nine months afterwards the Prince Imperial was born' (St. Petersburg and London, 1887, p. 156). In fact, their son was born on March 16, 1856.