I. In memoriam, Sir Rutherford Alcock, K.C.B., D.C.L. II. Sturges lecture for 1897 / by George Cowell.

  • Cowell, George, 1836-1927.
Date:
[1897]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: I. In memoriam, Sir Rutherford Alcock, K.C.B., D.C.L. II. Sturges lecture for 1897 / by George Cowell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    in which he offered himself for the post of Lecturer on Surgery in the Medical School that was being formed in connection with Westminster Hospital. Had he succeeded in this candidature Alcock’s career might have been very different to what it was. There was, however, coining on a more potent cause for his early retirement from the active practice of surgery. From repeated exposure during the latter part of the Peninsular campaign, he was laid up for many months at San Sebastian with an acute attack of rheumatic fever. His hands suffered especially from the severe affection, and after his return home they gradually became more and more crippled, until at last it became evident that they ceased to be fitted for the precise manipu- lations of surgery. This forced retirement from the profession he loved so well left Alcock free to accept in 1844, amongst the first batch of consuls appointed, the post of British Consul at Amoy, in China, one of the ports which the Treaty of Nan- king of 1842 had thrown open to foreign commerce. This was a new field for his energies, and it has been well said that Alcock’s medical training and educated powers of obser- vation, as well as the experience in dealing with men which he had gained in the Peninsula, well fitted him, like that other great medical diplomatist, Sir John Kirk, to preside over and direct the opening up of new countries for the development of commerce. Amoy was soon exchanged for Foochow, and his success there led to his promotion to the post of Consul at Shanghai in 184G, and to the still more important post at Canton in 1858. Alcock possessed a vigorous energy and a somewhat belli- cose individuality, which served him in good stead in every post that he occupied, and well fitted him to deal with and overcome the turbulent elements which surrounded him. Whilst at Shanghai he was brought face to lace with the Taeping Rebellion. This came to a head in 1853, and the European settlement was for some time m considerable danger. The energy and resource of Alcock was of great service in organising measures of defence, and though the Chinese city fell into the hands of the rebels, all attack on the European quarter ceased. During Ins residence at