Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham: A History and Guide, Arranged AlphabeticallyHarman, Thomas T.
History
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham: A History and Guide, Arranged Alphabetically
Harman, Thomas T.
Birmingham (England) -- History -- Dictionaries
_Davies_, Dr. Birt.--By birth a Hampshire man, by descent a Welshman,
coming to Birmingham in 1823, Dr. Davies soon became a man of local
note. As a politician in the pre-Reform days, as a physician of
eminence, and as Borough Coroner for three dozen years, he occupied a
prominent position, well justified by his capacity and force of
character. He took an active part in the founding of the Birmingham
School of Medicine, the forerunner of the Queen's College, and was
elected one of the three first physicians to the Queen's Hospital, being
its senior physician for sixteen years. When the Charter of
Incorporation was granted, Dr. Davies was chosen by the Town Council as
the first Coroner, which office he held until June 8th, 1875, when he
resigned, having, as he wrote to the Council, on the 29th of May
terminated his 36th year of office, and 76th year of his age. Though an
ardent politician, it is from his Coronership that he will be remembered
most, having held about 30,000 inquests in his long term of office,
during the whole of which time, it has been said, he never took a
holiday, appointed a deputy, or slept out of the borough. His official
dignity sat heavily upon him, his temper of late years often led him
into conflict with jurors and medical witnesses, but he was well
respected by all who knew the quiet unpretending benevolence of his
character, never better exhibited than at the time of the cholera panic
in 1832. The doctor had established a Fever Hospital in Bath Row, and
here he received and treated, by himself, the only cases of Asiatic
cholera imported into the town. He died December 11th, 1878.
_De Lys_, Dr.--One of the physicians to the General Hospital, and the
proposer of the Deaf and Dumb Institution. A native of Brittany, and one
of several French refugees who settled here when driven from their own
country, at the time of the Revolution, Dr. De Lys remained with us till
his death, August 24th, 1831, being then in his 48th year.
_Digby_, John, made Lord Digby in 1618, and Earl of Bristol in 1622, was
born at Coleshill in 1580. He was sent Ambassador to Spain by James I.
to negotiate a marriage between Prince Charles and the Infanta. He went
abroad when the Civil War broke out, and died at Paris in 1653.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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