Sir Charles Locock, 1st Baronet

Sir Charles Locock, 1st Baronet (1799–1875) was an obstetrician to Queen Victoria. He is also credited with the introduction of potassium bromide as a treatment for epilepsy.

Locock was born on 21 April 1799 to Henry Locock and his wife Susannah Smyth in Northampton. He studied under Benjamin Brodie and Andrew Duncan, graduating from medical school at Edinburgh University in 1821. Locock became a licensed doctor of the Royal College of Physicians in 1823 and a fellow in 1836. He opened his own obstetrical practice, which became the largest in London. In 1840 he became the first obstetrician to Queen Victoria, and was the attending doctor for the births of her children. He published an 1857 paper in The Lancet outlining the use of potassium bromide as a treatment for epilepsy.^[1]

In 1860 Locock had a key role in the sensational judicial case known as The Eastbourne manslaughter. It was Locock who conducted the autopsy establishing that the 15-year-old Reginald Cancellor had died as the result of corporal punishment at the hands of his teacher, Thomas Hopley - which led to Hopley being eventually sent to four years in prison on charges of manslaughter.

Locock married Amelia Lewis on 5 August 1826; the couple had five sons. He retired from medicine in 1857 and was created a baronet. He also became the 26th president of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. Locock became involved in politics, acting as a justice of the peace for Kent and running as a Conservative candidate for the Isle of Wight in the 1864 election (he lost). He died on 23 July 1875.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Bettany, GT (2004). "Locock, Sir Charles". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16915. Retrieved 28 March 2011.