Godfrey Howitt
| Godfrey Howitt | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 8 October 1800 Heanor in Derbyshire |
| Died | 4 December 1873 (aged 73) Caulfield |
| Education | Edinburgh University |
| Occupation | Doctor |
| Spouse(s) | Phoebe Bakewell |
| Children | three sons and a daughter |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Howitt and Phoebe Tantum |
Godfrey Howitt (8 October 1800 – 4 December 1873), entomologist, was born in Heanor in Derbyshire to Thomas Howitt. Thomas had farmed a few acres of land at Heanor and joined the Society of Friends on his marriage with Phoebe Tantum, a member of the same society, with whom he acquired a considerable fortune.
Godfrey was educated at Mansfield and tutored by his brother William before graduating from Edinburgh University Medical School with an MD in 1830. He married Phoebe Bakewell the following year, on 6 April 1831, at the Friends' Meeting House in Castle Donington. He practised medicine in Leicester and in Nottingham was honorary physician at both the City Infirmary and the General Hospital.
In 1839, he migrated to improve the health of his eldest child, John Henry. Howitt and his family, a nephew and his wife's brothers, arriving at Port Phillip on the Lord Goderich in April 1840. Howitt erected a prefabricated wooden house he had brought with him and shortly after arriving began work at the Melbourne Hospital.
In 1842 Godfrey and his wife lost their youngest son, baby Charles, whose death was recorded in the letter of the eldest child, John Henry to his cousin Alfred, still in England at the time. John Henry, whose health had always been precarious, survived his youngest sibling by less than a year and in 1843 he also died.
Howitt continued to work and by 1845 he had extensive lands which covered a number of streets, a large garden, fields near Yea and a farm in Caulfield.
Howitt was made president and honorary physician of the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum in 1847. In June 1852, he was visited by his brother William and his sons Alfred William Howitt and Charlton Howitt accompanied by the Pre-Raphaelite Edward La Trobe Bateman. In the October he also played host to two other Pre-Raphaelites, Thomas Woolner and Bernard Smith, before they set out to the gold-rush diggings.
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