Captain, Dec. 19, 1822; Brevet-Major, Jan. 10, 1837; Lieut.-Colonel, April 26, 1838; and Colonel, Dec. 7, 1846.

A lamentable casualty occurred in connection with the death of Colonel Peebles. At the moment when he was suddenly seized with fatal illness, his son, Capt. Peebles, of the 59th regiment, who was at home on a visit to his parents, rushed out of the house to procure immediate medical assistance for his father; on passing hastily out of the gate of the Royal Marine Barracks he was challenged by the sentry, and in his excitement paid no heed to the challenge, but passed on through the gate. The sentry, imagining it was some soldier who wanted to get out of barracks, struck at him with his bayonet, which pierced the back of Mr. Peebles's neck, inflicting a very serious wound, but of which he has since recovered.

The funeral took place on Saturday, Jan. 8, in Charlton churchyard.

LIEUT.-COL. JOHN BABINGTON. Jan. 1. In Gloucester-road, Regent'spark, Lieut.-Colonel John Babington, late of the 14th Light Dragoons.

He had served with that regiment throughout his whole career, at first as a private in the unfortunate expedition to Quiberon-bay, and the occupation of the Isle of Dieu, on the coast of La Vendée, in 1795. He was subsequently engaged for two years in St. Domingo, after its celebrated revolt from the French. On the 25th June, 1802, he received the commission of Cornet and Adjutant; he became Lieutenant in 1804, and Captain in 1809. He served in the Peninsula and South of France from 1809 to March 1814, including the different affairs with the enemy on the 10th, 11th, and 12th of March, 1809; the crossing of the Douro; the battle of Talavera; the affairs with the enemy's advanced posts on the 11th of July, 1810, in front of Ciudad Rodrigo, when Colonel Talbot, commanding the regiment, was killed; the passage of the Coa; and varied actions covering the retreat from Almeida to Torres Vedras; the battle of Busaco; and in all the actions with the enemy in their retreat from Santarem to the frontiers of Spain, the Pass of Maya, the Lines of Ainhoa, the passage of the Nive and Nivelle, Cambo, Hasparen, Hallette, Garris Sauveterre, St. Gladi, and the battle of Orthes. He was wounded (horse killed) and taken prisoner on the 14th of March, 1814, in a cavalry outpost affair at Clarac, between Aire and Pau. After the conclusion of peace in the same year, he had arrived at Bermuda with two squadrons of his regiment en route for the United States, when he was re-called, in

consequence of the escape of Napoleon from Elba, to join the army under the Duke of Wellington in Belgium, but only reached Europe after the war had been happily brought to an end by the battle of Waterloo.

He attained the brevet rank of Major in 1817, and that of Lieut.-Colonel in 1837, but had retired on half-pay in 1822.

H. B. CURTEIS, ESQ. M.P.

Dec. 13. Aged 54, at Cox's Hotel, Jermyn-street, greatly respected, and much and deeply lamented, Herbert Barrett Curteis, esq. M.P. of Windmill Hill, Hurstmonceux, and Peasmarsh Place, Sussex, M.P. for Rye, and magistrate and deputylieutenant for the county of Sussex.

He was the eldest son of the late Edward Jeremiah Curteis, esq. of Windmill Hill, formerly M.P. for Sussex (vide Gent. Mag. New Series, vol. 1. p. 543,) by Mary his wife, only daughter and heiress of the Rev. Stephen Barrett, Rector of Hothfield, Kent, great-nephew of Archbishop Sharpe, and the last male descendant of the ancient family of Barrett, of The Bent upon Sutton, Kildwick, Yorkshire, (vide Gent. Mag. New Series, vol. XVI. p. 209; and vol. LXXI. p. 1152.)

Mr. Curteis was born in London, 19th June, 1793. In 1805 he went to Westminster school, entered St. Peter's college, 1807, and was elected student of Christ church, Oxford, 1812, where he took his Master of Arts degree. In 1816 he left England for the Continent, where he spent more than four years, visiting not only France and Italy, but the more distant countries of Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt, &c. then not so much the resort of travellers as at the present day. In 1820 he returned to England, and in the following year he married, at St. George's, Hanover-sq. June 28, 1821, his cousin, Caroline-Sarah, daughter and coheiress of Robert Mascall, esq. of Ashford, Kent, and PeasmarshPlace, Sussex, by Martha, eldest sister of his father, E. J. Curteis, esq. M.P. After his marriage he immediately re-visited the Continent, where, at Florence, January 8, 1823, was born his only son and heir, Herbert Mascall Curteis, the present member for Rye. In the same year he returned to England with his wife, whom he had the misfortune to lose, May 15, 1825, the day before she completed her 23rd year, a loss he long and deeply lamented, and from which, indeed, he may be said never to have completely recovered, (vide Gent. Mag. vol. xcv. ii. 88.)

At the dissolution of Parliament on the death of George IV. in 1830, and on the retirement of his father, E. J. Curteis,

esq. M.P. from the representation of the county of Sussex, Mr. Curteis offered himself, and, together with the late Walter Burrell, esq. was elected without opposition for that county, as was again the case in 1831. After the passing of the Reform Bill, he was returned, with the Hon. C. C. Cavendish, for East Sussex, after a contest with George Darby, esq.; and in 1834 he was again re-elected without opposition.

In 1837 he announced his intention of not again offering himself for the representation of East Sussex, but he was induced to come forward notwithstanding, in consequence of a very strong requisition, numerously and respectably signed, being sent to him, requesting him to stand. He was then, however, too late in the field, the Hon. C. C. Cavendish and George Darby, esq. being returned for the division, after a very sharp contest.

In 1841 Ma. Curteis was returned for Rye, after a contest with Captain Moneypenny, and again in 1847, after one with Mr. Williams. He had been in London but a few days for the purpose of attending the opening session of the present Parliament, when he was attacked with influenza, from which, however, his friends considered him to be recovering, when, on the 12th December, an apoplectic seizure suddenly came on, and on the following day he breathed his last.

In his political sentiments Mr. Curteis was a decided Whig, but, though always fearless and uncompromising in the assestion of his opinions, he was perfectly independent of party, never asking and never receiving any personal favour from Government.

He warmly supported the Reform Bill, and most other Liberal measures, though, at the same time, he invariably advocated everything he considered tending to support the agricultural interest. He was one of the very first to suggest and to propose the repeal of the malt duty, which he firmly and strenuously supported upon all occasions.

Though belonging to the Church of England, Mr. Curteis was always candid and courteous to Dissenters. He contributed largely, though unostentatiously, to numerous charities, and both as a landlord and master he was much beloved and respected. So good an understanding existed between himself and his numerous tenants, that in many instances, even where no written agreement existed, the grandchildren are still holding the very farms formerly held by their grandfathers. He was an active and judicious magistrate, and ever warmly advocated and supported the cause of the poor, the oppressed, and GENT. MAG. VOL. XXIX.

the afflicted, by whom, as well as by his family and friends, his loss will be long and deeply regretted. His mortal remains were deposited in the family-vault in Wartling church, Sussex, and he was followed to the grave by an immense concourse of real mourners, all eager to pay the last tribute of respect to one so justly honoured and beloved.

Mr. Curteis was descended from the family of Curteis, which has resided and possessed landed property in Kent for more than five centuries, at and near Tenterden, Otterden, Wrotham, &c. He was the head of that branch which some generations ago settled in Sussex,--in which, as well as in his large landed estates, and in the representation for Rye, he is succeeded by his only son, Herbert Mascall Curteis, who, as a tribute of respect to the memory of his deceased father, was immediately requested to allow himself to be put into nomination for that borough, and was elected without opposition, Dec. 23, 1847.

SIR JAMES ANNESLEY, F.R.S., F.S.A. Dec. 14. At Florence, aged 67, Sir James Annesley, Knt. F.R.S., F.S.A., &c. &c.

He was the son of the late Hon. Marcus Annesley, of the county Down; and having been educated under the most eminent teachers of Dublin and London, received, through the interest of the late Sir W. Farquhar, Bart., an appointment to India. He was appointed Assistant Surgeon in April, 1799, and reached Madras in the year 1800. He served as surgeon of various corps in Trichinopoly and elsewhere; and in Southern India he joined the field force under Major Macaulay, and was present during the whole of the campaign of 1801. At several stations he was actively employed, until, by his great personal exertions, his health suffered, and he was obliged to return to England on sick certificate, in 1805, attaining the rank of surgeon in Sept. that year.

Upon his return to India in 1807, he was appointed garrison surgeon in Masulipatam; where he enjoyed the greatest opportunities of observing Indian diseases, both among Europeans and natives. In 1811 he was placed upon the Staff, and accompanied the expedition to Java, having the medical charge of the 78th Regiment. This corps was 1100 strong, and he had the satisfaction of seeing 1070 men fit for duty land upon the beach of Java, on the 4th of August. In no part of his arduous career was he perhaps so incessantly or so laboriously occupied as at this period, but his abilities were duly appreciated; and, although the junior on the 2 D

medical staff, the charge of the hospital was intrusted to his care and management. Every officer under whom he has served has testified in the strongest manner to his talents and real, and the acknowledgments from public functionaries of the Government have been repeatedly awarded to him. He was especially admired by the late Sir Thomas Hislop, who always regarded him as the preserver of his life. Sir James Annesley was superintending surgeon of the Dekkan army, with which he served until the end of 118. He was afterwards made garrison surgeon of Fort George, and had the charge of the general hospital at Madras, and in the exercise of those duties he remained in India until 1824, when the state of his health compelled him again to return to England. Whilst at Fort St. George, he rendered great service to the officers and men of His Majesty's ships stationed in Madras-roads, and the Admiralty presented to him a piece of plate of the value of 100 guineas, to mark the sense they entertained of his services to the navy. Returning to India in 1829 he was appointed superintendent surgeon, and in 1832 a member of the medical board, of which he was president on his retirement in Jan. 1838.

Sir James Annesley made a Digest of the Medical Reports of Madras, from the year 1786 to 1-29, and was the first to originate statistical tables relative to tropical diseases. He published "Sketches on the most Prevalent Diseases of India," 8vo. 1-25, 2nd edition, 1228. For the information contained in this work upon the subject of cholera, the Institute of France voted, in 1833, a gold medal of the value of 1000 francs, as being the most original and important upon the subject of which it treats.

"Researches into the Causes, Nature, and Treatment of the more Prevalent Diseases of India, and of Warm Climates generally, vols., imp. 4to., (forty coloured plates,) 1828. The expense of this work, amounting to not less than 10007., was defrayed by the Hon. East India Company. Although space is required by the Company to be reserved for the carriage of this work along with the baggage of every army in India, yet its bulk renders it difficult of ready use, and Sir James Annesley, therefore, in accordance with a suggestion made by his friend, Mr. Pettigrew, in a notice of this work in the

Medical Portrait Gallery," published in 1841 an abridged and condensed edition, with additional topographical matters, which now offers the best manual on tro. pical diseases.

Sir James Annesley was knighted by her Majesty, in 1844. He was a Fellow of

the Royal, Antiquarian, Asiatic, Horticultural, Zoological, Historical, Geographical, and many other learned Societies. He was also a member of the Council of the British Archæological Association, and an attendant at all its congresses, from that of Canterbury, in 1843, to that of Warwick last year. He married in 1809 a daughter of William Oliver, esq. of the co. Limerick. In private life no man was ever more esteemed-high-minded and of a generous nature, he commanded the respect of all who knew him. He has bequeathed his property to his grandchildren, and MSS. and correspondence, together with his collection of anatomical and pathological drawings, to Mr. Pettigrew, who will, it is to be hoped, favour the public with an extended biography of his old and very sincere friend.—(Literary Gazette.)

ROBERT LISTON, ESQ., F.R.S.

Dec. 7. In Clifford-street, aged 53, Robert Liston, esq., F.R.S., Member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, and Professor of Clinical Surgery in University College, London.

He

Robert Liston was the son of a clergyman of the Established Church of Scotland, the Rev. Henry Liston, minister of Ecclesmachan, in the county of Linlithgow. He was born on the 28th of October, 1794. After completing the usual academical and professional course of education, he became a graduate of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and London, and established himself in the former city in the year 1817. He delivered lectures, first on anatomy and afterwards on surgery, from 1822 to 1834. speedily rose into eminence, both as a lecturer and an operator, and in this latter capacity he has had few rivals and no superior. He was a most ardent, anxious, and indefatigable student of anatomy-he attained a knowledge of that science which rendered his operations safe, and gave him full assurance that he was intimately acquainted with the wonderful mechanism of the various regions which formed the scene of his labours. Nor when he had attained the highest eminence in his profession did his zeal or assiduity in the study of this department of science in any degree relax. On this head he considered the education of a surgeon could never be complete.

At the termination of his professional studies in 1815 he became connected, as ordinary house-surgeon, with the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and when a very what he considered defects in the manageyoung man he set about the remedy of ment of that institution. This was un

fortunately not done in a manner tending to conciliate the managers; and, perhaps, he did not exercise in the fervour of his zeal for improvement that forbearance either towards them or towards his professional brethren which a more prudent and less justly confident medical reformer might have thought expedient. But his views were rightly directed, and at last, by the force of his talent and unwearied exertions, he attained the fullest confidence of the management, on whose records are left the strongest testimonials of his important services and it is believed that they deeply regretted the somewhat harsh and certainly unjust opposition offered to his suggestions. Notwithstanding his rising reputation he failed in attaining the Professorship of Surgery in the university of Edinburgh, which was at one time the object of his ambition, and the success in which might have insured the services of his life to the metropolis of his native country.

In the year 1833 he published his "Principles of Surgery," and that work underwent frequent revision, and several editions; more latterly his lectures on various subjects, and especially on lithotomy, were published in the Lancet. He contended strongly and successfully for the simplicity of surgical practice, and for the annihilation of the old complicated system of accumulated bandages and copious use of unguents. His style, both in writing and speaking, was clear, simple, and homely. He disdained ornament, and was not prodigal in illustration, but always intent on the main point of his subject, and more anxious to add to prac tical information and to come to a substantial and efficient conclusion than to theorise or beautify.

In the year 1834 Mr. Liston, having been appointed surgeon to the North London Hospital, removed to this higher sphere of duty. He subsequently became Professor of Clinical Surgery in University College, and continued until his death one of the brightest ornaments of that important institution. On his leaving Edinburgh, in the month of November 1834, a public entertainment was given to him, at which the chief magistrate of the city presided, and where many of the most eminent of his professional brethren bore testimony to his merits, and especially to his transcendent talents as an operator. For excellence in this department he possessed every qualification-great physical strength and activity, coolness, promptitude, energy and unflinching courage, a steady hand and a quick eye, a resolution which rose with the difficulties he encountered, and rested on a just reliance on his

complete knowledge of anatomy and pathology. But, though potent to wield, he was by no means rash to recommend the use of, the knife. On the contrary, he was a remarkably cautious practitioner. As he was dauntless in operation, however dangerous, he was deliberate in forming the resolution, and forbore where he could.

In London his practice soon became extensive, and steadily increased. In the year 1846 he was appointed one of the Examiners of the Royal College of Surgeons; and there can be little doubt that, had he survived a few years, he would have been put in nomination as President, with the unanimous approbation of the profession and the public. His reputation was now established and unchallengeable

his name familiar in every medical school of Europe and America. A rich harvest of honour and wealth lay before him; but, alas! the sickle has fallen from the hand of the reaper, and in the zenith of his manhood and vigour of his practice he has been stricken down by sudden death.

Nor let it be imagined, although the calls for his aid were incessant by those who were entitled to command his services, that he forgot or overlooked the poor and needy. His nature abhorred everything sordid, and no man ever was more strongly impressed with the feelings of an honourable, generous, and independent practitioner. In whatever rank of life the "case" occurred, if it was one of difficulty or interest, this master of his art was ready with the potent spell of his unerring bistoury, and his reward was in the consciousness of his own power, and in the noble pride of having been ministrant to the relief of suffering humanity. His manner in ordinary society was sometimes complained of as harsh or abrupt, and he certainly was occasionally neglectful of the mere trifling courtesies of life, and sometimes careless of refinement or punctilio. He was a man of thought more than of show. He could not bear triflers, and he did not always avoid showing his distaste. He was a fervid lover of truth and sincerity, and sometimes, perhaps, expressed himself too strongly where he thought there lurked either meanness, or deceit, or affectation. But in the proper and trying scene of the labours of the medical man-in the chamber of the sick -he was gentle as he was resolute. He never had a patient who was not anxious to become a friend, and the voice which was sometimes discordant amid the petty annoyances of daily life was music to the sick man's ear. Into the scene of suffering he never brought a harsh word or an unkind look, and the hand which was hard as iron and true as steel in the theatre of