Frederic Hervey Foster Quin

Frederic Hervey Foster Quin (12 February 1799 – 24 November 1878) was the first homeopathic physician in England.

Quin was born in London, and passed his early years at a school at Putney, kept by a son of Mrs. Sarah Trimmer, the author. In 1817 he was sent to Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.D. on 1 August 1820. In December 1820 he went to Rome as travelling physician to Elizabeth Cavendish. He afterwards attended her in that city during her fatal illness in March 1824. On his return to London he was appointed physician to Napoleon I at St. Helena, but the emperor died (on 5 May 1821) before he left England. In July 1821 he commenced practice at Naples, and his social gifts made him popular with all the English residents there, who included Sir William Gell, Sir William Drummond, and the Countess of Blessington. At Naples, too, Quin met Dr. Neckar, a disciple of Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, and was favourably impressed by what he learned of the homeoopathic system of medicine. After visiting Leipzig in 1826, to study its working, Quin returned to Naples a convert. On the journey he was introduced at Rome to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, afterwards king of the Belgians, and soon left Naples to become his family physician in England. Until May 1829 he continued a member of the prince's household either at Marlborough House, London, or Claremont, Surrey, and extended his acquaintance in aristocratic circles. From May 1829 to September 1831 he practised in Paris, chiefly, but not entirely, on the principles of Hahnemann. In September 1831, after consulting with Hahnemann as to the treatment of cholera, he proceeded to Tischnowitz in Moravia, where the disease was raging. He was himself attacked, but soon recommenced work, and remained until the cholera disappeared. His treatment consisted in giving camphor in the first stage, and ipecacuanha and arsenic subsequently.

At length, in July 1832, he settled in London at 19 King Street, St. James's, re- moving in 1833 to 13 Stratford Place, and introduced the homœopathic system into this country. The medical journals denounced him as a quack, but he made numerous converts, and his practice rapidly grew, owing as much to his attractive personality as to his medical skill. But the professional opposition was obstinately prolonged. In February 1838, when Quin was a candidate for election at the Athenæum Club, he was opposed by a clique of physicians, led by John Ayrton Paris, who privately attacked Quin with a virulence for which he had to apologise. From 26 June 1845 he was medical attendant to the Duchess of Cambridge.

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