Electro Homoepathy is not related to homeopathy at all, and at the time, homeopaths were quite upset that these remedies were distributed by the Geneva Electro Homeopathic Institute headed by the pharmacist Albert Sauter (1846-1896), a former collaborator and representative of Mattei.

Nonetheless, these remedies were widely distributed throughout Europe, though true homeopathic pharmacies refused to stock them, and many homeopaths wrote articles condeming them.

Such tactics never work with the public, even when homeopaths try them!

Many books on Electro Homoepathy were sold throughout Europe at this time, and Electro Homoepathy enjoyed wide public attention during the years 1875 - 1916, such was the demand for homeopathy and for domestic manuals, and despite all the homeopaths denouncing Electro Homoepathy as pseudo homeopathy, the public continued to clamour for it.

Mattei believed that his remedies contained vegetable electricity (he only used plant remedies), hence the name Electro Homoepathy. Though Mattei only developed 38 remedies in his lifetime, his student Theodore Krauss (1864-1924) continued to develop Mattei’s ideas after World War I, and Theodore Krauss added another 22 remedies to the list of Electro Homoepathic remedies that Theodore Krauss continued to produce.

Theodore Krauss established a pharmacy of Electro Homeopathy in Germany, and this method then became known as the Spagyric method of Krauss. Today, Theodore Krauss’s Spagyric remedies continue to be sold, and practitioners still study this method, and though historians, Spagyric practitioners and the public often confuse these two methods, Electro Homoepathy is completely unrelated to homeopathy, and still widely enjoyed today as Spagyric medicine.

Electro Homoepathy is the name given to a new system of medicine discovered by a famous Italian scientist Count Cesare Mattei in the later part of the 1800’s.

Count Mattei, the founder of Electro Homoeopathy, was born on the 11th January in the year of 1809 in Bologna City in Italy. He belongs to one of the noblest families of learned town of Bologna.

After having studied natural science, he gave himself up to anatomy, physiology and pathology. Then more exclusively to chemistry and botany, after long and patients research following a method of his own, he discovered how to extract from certain plants the active principles which, alone or combine, form the agent in the new materia medica.

Numerous and prolonged experiments upon the animal economy, experiments made first of all upon the dogs, have demonstrated the curative power of his remedies upon the organism, and at the same time have proved that they can never produce the slightest morbid alteration either in the organs or their functions.

He believed in the famous Paracelsus who introduced law of similar. Thus convinced simultaneously of their immense utility and of their perfectly innocuous character, the Count has applied to them with all confidence to all of the human beings. Further, in order to observe closely in numerable cases of disease, and the better to study the effect of these remedies, he held in his mention at Bologna, for more than ten years, public and private consultations in the presence of physician and surgeons who had attached themselves to him the purpose of being present at the sitting. It may be added of high person ages of all nations, physicians and even large medical bodies.

But undoubtedly the German founder of Homeopathy Samuel Hahnemann and his doctrine have nonetheless influenced Mattei’s mind in his patients researches, leading principle trying to investigate the immediate effects of remedies and bring them into practical service according to the familiar rule.

On the other hand, he borrowed from Paracelsus the process of preparing the vegetable substances by means of a more or less complicated mode of fermentation, called “cohobation”, and also the final combination of a number of ingredients with similar or supplementary effect to form a complex medicinal unity.

Mattei had written his first book in 1874 in Italian language, which was then published in other languages. When the Count Mattei aged in 1887 he had handed over all his work to his adopted son Mario Venturoli.

Mattei has applied himself in his lifetime to the discovery of Materia Medica capable of modifying; not only the manifestation or symptoms of disease, but also their principle, or to speak better their first cause. It is by means of a theory the simple, with curative agents which he called Electricity in the remedies (Electro-Homeopathy), so elementary that everyone may cure himself and his medicine is certainly the medicine of the future.

He died on 3rd of April 1896 at the magnificent castle of La Rochetta, situated in the heart of the Apennines. If there are but few honest hearts in this world, there is still enough remaining to bless his memory.

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Emma Hardinge Britten 1823 - 1899 was a British advocate for the early Modern Spiritualist Movement.

Britten was a patient of John Franklin Gray, and Abram D Wilson, and she was a friend of Thomas Henry Burgoyne, Peter Davidson, 

In 1879, Britten claivoyantly wrote homeopathic prescriptions for many people using automatic writing.

Due to the publication of her speeches and writing on the spiritual movement, and an incomplete autobiography which was edited by her sister, much of Emma’s life and work is publicly recorded. She is remembered as a writer, orator, and practitioner of the movement.

Her books, Modern American Spiritualism (1870) and Nineteenth Century Miracles (1884), are some of the greatest records of the history of early modern spiritualism movement in America.

Ms. Hardinge was born in London, England in 1823 under the name Emma Floyd. She developed a reputation for apparent abilities as a spiritual medium during her early years. As a child, Emma had a habit of predicting the futures of people she encountered, relating to them what she had seen in visions, along with information about their deceased relatives of whom she had no prior knowledge.

According to her autobiography, Emma’s clairvoyant tendencies drew her into participation with a secret London occult society which used magnetics and clairvoyant techniques for experimental purposes. During this period, she was also exposed to sexism and economic discrimination through her involvement with a manipulative member of the society whom she later termed “a baffled sensualist.” Although there is little reliable information on this London occult group, it is suspected that Emma received the name Hardinge from this society, the surname she kept throughout her adult life.

In 1855, Emma moved to New York to pursue a career in acting. One year later, she was launched to fame as a psychic medium, having accurately predicted the disappearance of the steamship Pacific. Emma had been haunted by feeling of cold and wetness, and a visit from a supposed passenger on the steamship.

After the New York Times published an article describing the incident, Emma was invited by the famous Spiritualist, Horace H Day (who was himself a supporter of homeopathy), to host spiritualist séances in the Society for the Diffusion of Spiritual Knowledge. She deepened her involvement in the Spiritualist movement as a “trance lecturer” and delivered speeches across the country.

Lecture topics included The Discovering of Spirits,  The Philosophy of the Spirit Circle, Hades, and What Is the Basis of the Connection of the Natural and Spiritual Worlds?

Hardinge also became involved in the campaign efforts of 1864 in support of Abraham Lincoln’s re-election. After delivering a highly successful lecture titled, The Coming Man; or the Next President of the United States, Emma was invited to continue her political work on a thirty two lecture tour.

Perhaps the culmination of her oratorical career was a speech delivered on April 14, 1865, as a response to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination only thirty six hours prior. Her speech was widely acclaimed by the journalists of the age as her greatest achievement.

Still, not all of her spiritual lectures were so well received. In 1866, The Saturday Review wrote a satirical critique of Ms. Hardinge’s speeches, describing her style as “bloated eloquence” and her content as “bunkum.”

As a chronicle of her active religious participation, Hardinge published the book Modern American Spiritualism (1870), a huge “encyclopedia” of the people and events associated with the early days of the movement.

That same year, Emma married an ardent spiritualist, William Britten, from Boston. Emma continued to publish under the surname Hardinge, however, since her professional career was well developed before this late life marriage.

In 1872, Emma attempted to start a magazine, The Western Star, however, after a series of devastating fires in Boston, her impoverished clients dropped their subscriptions. The magazine failed after only six issues.

Emma then moved back to New York, where she became involved in theosophy. She was also one of six founding members of the Theosophical Society with Helena Blavatsky until they had a falling out.

She also edited a book called Art Magic or Mundane, Sub-Mundane and Super-Mundane Spiritism: A Treatise in Three parts and Twenty Three Sections on the subject of Theosophy. It was written anonymously and published in 1898 by Progressive Thinker Publishing House, Chicago. There remains a strange mystery regarding its authorship. In addition, in 1887 she founded The Two Worlds, a weekly Spiritualist newspaper.

From 1878 to 1879, Emma and her husband worked as Spiritualist missionaries in Australia and New Zealand. After returning to New York, she wrote her greatest chronicle of the spiritualist age - Nineteenth Century Miracles (1884).

Emma Hardinge died in Manchester, England in 1899.

She is credited with defining the seven principles of Spiritualism which, with minor changes, are still in use today by the Spiritualists’ National Union in the United Kingdom. They are:

1. The Fatherhood of God.
2. The Brotherhood of Man.
3. The Communion of Spirits and the Ministry of Angels.
4. The Continuous Existence of the Human Soul.
5. Personal Responsibility.
6. Compensation and Retribution hereafter for all the good and evil deeds done on earth.
7. Eternal Progress open to every human soul.

(In the Spiritualist tradition, it is also proper to acknowledge the “Motherhood of God and the Sisterhood of Man”.)

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William Percy Purdom 1880? - 1940? MB, BS London, MRCS England, LRCP London 1906, was a British orthodox physician, at Guy’s Hospital in 1909, who converted to homeopathy to become Physician for Diseases of Children, and Consultant Anaesthetist at the London Homeopathic Hospital,

In 1908, William Percy Purdom was a student of James Tyler Kent, and he was a colleague of Douglas Morris Borland, Dorothy Shepherd, Margaret Lucy Tyler, John Weir, Harold Fergie Woods,

William Percy Purdom also practiced at Brighton Road, Sutton.

William Percy Purdom submitted cases and articles to various homeopathic publications, and he wrote Diseases of children published in the British Homeopathic Journal 1913; 4: 3. 13, and in the Homeopathic World 1921.

Of interest:

E Purdom MD was also a homeopath in Croydon 1905.

Harold Neish Purdom LDS, a Dentist at Guy’s Hospital in 1910, was also a homeopath, who practiced in Clevedon in 1911.

Thomas Eadie Purdom, father of William Percy Purdom, MD Edinburgh 1878, CM Edinburgh, LRCP, LRCS Edinburgh, was the Senior Physician at the Croydon Homeopathic Dispensary at Ellerslie, 25 Park Hill Road, and 40 George Street, Croydon, Surrey in 1925.

Thomas Eadie Purdom was also a Physician at the at the London Homeopathic Hospital, and a sponsor of the Anglo French Hospital at Neuilly sur Seine.

Thomas Eadie Purdom was a member of the British Homeopathic Society in 1887, and was a fellow student at Edinburgh with Alfred Midgley Cash, .

Thomas Eadie Purdom submitted cases and articles to various homeopathic publications,

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Carl Steigentesch was a student of Samuel Hahnemann, and a colleague of Caspar Hoze, Gottlieb Heinrich Georg Jahr, Benoit Jules Mure, Johann Joseph Roth, Leon Francois Adolphe Simon, and many others.

Carl Steigentesch and Caspar Hoze may have had family connections through Carl Steigentesch’s ?father, August Ernst Freiherr von Steigentesch, who was a Captain under Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg, and who was a friend of Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, as was Major General Johann Friedrich Konrad Freiherr von Hotze, who may have been a ?relative of Caspar Hoze. Major General Johann Friedrich Konrad Freiherr von Hotze’s brother was the famous doctor Johannes Hotze.

These Napoleonic connections, and the Europe wide fame of the homeopathic cure of Johann Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz by Christophe Hartung, and the fact that Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg became a patient of Samuel Hahnemann when he was referred to homeopathy by Matthias Marenzeller, plus the possible close family connections between Carl Steigentesch and Caspar Hoze, could explain their excitement, when in 1820 they left to visit the famous Samuel Hahnemann in Paris.

In 1820, Caspar Hoze, and Carl Steigentesch from the Moravian town of Brno (today part of the Czech Republic) travelled to Paris together in order to visit their great role model (Samuel Hahnemann) and to take part in the yearly celebrations of the 10th August (anniversary of Samuel Hahnemann’s doctorate).

On their journey and also during their stay in Paris they became acquainted with homeopaths from other countries, among them Gottlieb Heinrich Georg Jahr, Johann Joseph Roth, and Leon Francois Adolphe Simon, who were in Paris at the time, as well as Benoit Jules Mure, who had come from Palermo.

There were also a number of other physicians who are not known by name but who are known to have come from Montpellier, Dijon, Bordeaux and Madrid. At this point in time, three years before Samuel Hahnemann’s death, homeopathy had already grown into a World movement and had become established in South and North America, in India and in most European countries….

In 1856, Carl Steigentesch is mentioned in Populäre homöopathische Zeitung zur Aufklärung des Volkes über Wirksamkeit, and in 1863, he is mentioned again in Geschichte der Homöopathie.

Of interest:

August Ernst Freiherr von Steigentesch 1774 - 1826 was an Austrian poet, writer and diplomat.

During the Napoleonic War, Auguste von Steigentesch was a Captain under Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg, and he was a friend of Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

On August 9th, 1810, Baron von Steigentesch purchased the castle Birkenstein (in Moravia) from Sebastian Rosenkart. The castle was thoroughly renovated. In 1820, the castle was acquired by Ludwig Gabriel Comte de Manneville, who married the daughter of the Bavarian General Clemens Wenzel Baron von Raglovich.

After the war, Auguste von Steigentesch became a poet and a writer, whose works were performed by  Giacomo Meyerbeer

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Caspar Hoze was a student of Samuel Hahnemann, and a colleague of Gottlieb Heinrich Georg Jahr, Benoit Jules Mure, Johann Joseph Roth, Leon Francois Adolphe Simon, Carl Steigentesch, and many others.

Hoze is listed in the Allgemeine homöopathische Zeitung in 1859 (also listed as Hotze) (also listed as Caspar Hotz).

in 1872, Hoze practiced in Brunn, Moravia alongside Fischer, Haas, Kollisch, Lury, Waldmann,

In 1820, Hoze, whose Christian name is unfortunately not known, and Carl Steigentesch from the Moravian town of Brno (today part of the Czech Republic) travelled to Paris together in order to visit their great role model (Samuel Hahnemann) and to take part in the yearly celebrations of the 10th August (anniversary of Samuel Hahnemann’s doctorate).

On their journey and also during their stay in Paris they became acquainted with homeopaths from other countries, among them Gottlieb Heinrich Georg Jahr, Johann Joseph Roth, and Leon Francois Adolphe Simon, who were in Paris at the time, as well as Benoit Jules Mure, who had come from Palermo.

There were also a number of other physicians who are not known by name but who are known to have come from Montpellier, Dijon, Bordeaux and Madrid. At this point in time, three years before Samuel Hahnemann’s death, homeopathy had already grown into a World movement and had become established in South and North America, in India and in most European countries….

Hoze wrote Materialien zur Geschichte der Homeopathie in 1856.

Of interest:

Johann Friedrich Konrad Freiherr von Hotze 1739 -1799, brother of Johannes Konrad Hotze 1734 - 1801, was an Austrian General of Swiss origin. He came from a reformed Richterswil family from Lake Zurich. His father was John Hotze his mother was Juditha, born Gessner.

Johann Friedrich Konrad Freiherr von Hotze was a much decorated hero and General during the Napoleonic War, where he fought with Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg, and Johann Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz. The the Europe wide fame of the homeopathic cure of Johann Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz by Christophe Hartung would have made quite an impression at this time.

Johann Friedrich Konrad Freiherr von Hotze remained unmarried all his life and attended the 1754 Carolinum in Zurich and studied at the University of Tübingen.

Johannes Konrad Hotze 1734 - 1801 MD, brother of Johann Friedrich Konrad Freiherr von Hotze 1739 -1799 (who gave up his medical studies to join the army), practiced at Richterswyl in Switzerland. Johannes Hotze was a friend of Johann Kaspar Lavater, Johannes Hozt added an ‘e’ to his name during his student days in Liepsig, and he suspended his medical studies for a while to join the army. Johannes Hotze was the cousin of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.

When Johannes Hotze lived in Richerswyl, his friends and patients, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the Duke of Weimar, the Prince of Dessau, Charlotte von Lengefeld (later to become Friedrich Schiller’s wife), Caspar Schweizer, Babe Schulthess, would often come to stay for while in his house in the mountains.

Johannes Hotze was a friend of William Robert Spencer (who was related to the Spencers at Blenheim), and he was a friend of Johann Kaspar Lavater, Johann Georg Zimmermann, (Johann Kaspar Lavater’s son John Henry Lavater entered into partnership with Johannes Hotze)

It was due to his friendship with William Robert Spencer that Hotze became the physician of *Stephanie Felicite, Countess of Genlis, *Louise Marie Adelaide Eugenie d’Orleans, Mademoiselle d’Orleans, and Hotze and in 1795, Hotze also acted as an agent to both of these women by obtaining them false passports, a servant and other documentation, which enabled them to leave Bremgarten in Switzerland to take up residence in Berlin.

Hotze was also the physician of *Elizabeth (Betsy) Wynne, the wife of *Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle, so it would appear that he had access to information on both sides of the Napoleonic War.

Johann Georg Zimmermann described his friend Johannes Hotze as follows:

“At the village of Richterswyl, situated a few leagues from Zurich, and surrounded by every object the most smiling, beautiful, and romantic, that Switzerland presents, dwells a celebrated physician.

From the windows of the house, and from every part of the gardens, you behold, towards the south, at a distance of about a league, the majestic Ezelberg rear its lofty head, which is concealed in forests of deep green firs; while on its declivity hands a neat little village, with a handsome church, upon the steeple of which the sun suspends his departing rays.

In the front is the lake of Zurich, whose peaceful water is secured from the violence of tempests, and whose transparent surface reflects the beauties of its radiant banks. During the silence of the night, if you repair to the chamber windows of this enchanting mansion, or walk through its gardens, to taste the exhaling fragrance of the shrubs and flowers, while the moon rising in unclouded majesty over the summit of the mountains, reflects on the smooth surface of the water a broad beam of light, you hear, during this awful sleep of Nature, the sound of the village clocks echoing from the opposite shores; and on the Richterswyl side, the shrill proclaimation of the watchmen, blended occasionally with the barkings of the faithful house dogs.

At a distance you hear the little boats gliding gently along the stream, dividing the waters with their oars, and perceive them, as they cross the moons translucent beams, playing among the sparkiling waves.

Riches and luxury are nowhere to be seen in this happy habitation of this wise philanthropist. His charis are made of straw; his tables are worked from the wood of the country; and the plates and dishes on which he entertains his friends, are all of earthenware. Drawings, paintings, and engravings, are his sole expense.

The first hour of the morning, and the last at night, are sacred to himself; but he devotes all the intermediate hours of every day to a sick multitude, who daily attend him for advice and assistance, The benevolent exercise of his professional skill, indeed engrosses almost every moment of his life, but it constitutes its highest happiness and joy.

The inhabitants of the mountains of Switzerland, and of the vallies of the Alps, flock to his house, and endeavour in vain to find language capable of expressing to him the grateful feelings of their hearts for the favours they receive from him… of this description is the country of Switzerland, where Dr. Hotze, the ablest physician of the present age, resides; a physician and philosopher, whose variety of knowledge, profound judgement, and great experience, have raised him to an equal eminence with Tissot and Hirtzel, the dearest friend of my heart”. Zimmerman On Solitude.

Stephanie Felicite, Countess of Genlis 1746 - 1830

Madame de Genlis (1746-1831) was exceptionally well educated in her childhood; her intelligence and musical talents were much encouraged; by the age of ten she could play several instruments.

She made a financially brillant marriage to Alexis Brulart, Comte de Genlis in 1783 at the age of sixteen. Clever, charming and very ambitious, Madame de Genlis soon managed to become the mistress of the Duc de Chartres, in spite of his recent marriage to the daughter of the Duc de Penthièvre.

Madame de Genlis wished and obtained the position of instructress for the Princesse d’Orléans, and together with her own daughters, removed them all to the Convent of the Dames de Bellechasse for their education. her educational methods were highly respected and quite advanced, and were inspired by the ideas of Madame de Maintenon and of Rousseau.

At the time of the Revolution, Madame de Genlis embraced the new ideas with enthusiasm; she also attended meetings of the Jacobins club and Cordeliers, renouncing her noble titles, and calling herself “la citoyenne Brulart”.

She went to England in 1791, one year after this portrait was painted, and except for the briefest visits was forced to remain in exile. Napoleon Bonaparte used her for his secret service and after the Restorations, she wrote several books.

She died shortly after the enthronement of her former pupil, Louis Philippe I on January 1831.

Louise Marie Adelaide Eugenie d’Orleans, Mademoiselle d’Orleans 1777 - 1847

was one of the twin daughters of Louis Philippe II d’Orléans, known as Philippe Égalité during the French Revolution, and his wife, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon Penthièvre.

She was titled Mademoiselle de Chartres at birth, Mademoiselle d’Orléans at the death of her twin sister in 1782, Mademoiselle (1783-1812), Madame Adélaïde (1830). As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, she was a princesse du sang.

During the French Revolution, she left France. It has been said she went to America for a while and married and had children with a Prussian whose last name was von Schoeppel, though this has not been proven yet.

In 1814, when her brother Louis Philippe came back to France after Napoleon Bonaparte’s abdication, she returned to live in his household.

When Louis Philippe became King of the French in the reign known as the July Monarchy (1830-1848), she was known as Madame Adélaïde. All her life, she was his loyal advisor (or in 19th century parlance, his “Egeria”).

Adélaïde d’Orléans died on 31 December 1847, two months before Louis Philippe’s abdication on 24 February 1848. She is buried in the d’Orléans necropolis in the Chapelle Royale de Dreux.

Two months ago, M. Hoze, a famous doctor, came here whom I consulted about my health, asking him at the same time if he knew any one in Fribourg to whom he could send a letter that would be delivered to my Aunt.

M. Hoze replied that he knew nobody at Fribourg, but would endeavour to find some one, and would undertake my commission; that is why, my dear Aunt, in application I take the liberty of making today has been so long deferred. . . . ” . . . It will of course be a very great trouble to me to be separated from a person (Madame de Genlis) whom I have never left since infancy, who has taught me all I know…

Elizabeth (Betsy) Wynne 1778 - 1857

Betsy is famed for her  diaries prepared for publication by Anne Fremantle in 1930s. The diaries begin on 17 August 1789 and end in 1820. Her sisters Eugenia and Harriet also kept diaries.

Betsy and Eugenia began keeping their diaries on the same day in 1789 in exercise books; Betsy was 10 and Eugenia 9. With the growing threat from Napoleon Bonaparte’s army, they fled Florence on 23 June 1796 to Leghorn, seeking the protection of the English fleet. The Wynnes were evacuated in The Inconstant, whose captain was Thomas Fremantle.

Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Francis Fremantle 1765-1819

Third son of John Fremantle, of Aston Abbots, Buckinghamshire and brother of Sir William Fremantle. See family tree. He was a consummate navy officer, with only a brief sojourn into politics…

Horatio Nelson was wounded at Tenerife on 24 July 1797 and Fremantle a day later. They both returned to England on the Seahorse under the care of Fremantle’s wife of six months, Elizabeth (Betsy) Wynne.

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In 1954, Baudemprez was teaching at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital alongside Marc Cassette, Fournon, Pol Henry, Edouard Schepens, where he taught Herman Leduc amongst many others.

Baudemprez practiced at 2 Avenue Julien, Honssens, Brussels.

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Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld

Lola Montez was a staunch supporter of homeopathy, and Ludwig I of Bavaria granted an annual award of 4000 florins for the Homeopathic Hospital of Munich on her behalf.

Lola Montez also sought out homeopath James John Garth Wilkinson, as he was a Swedenborgian, and she was also a patient of James John Garth Wilkinson, and a friend of Marie, Comtesse d’Agoult, Alexandre Dumas, Emile de Girardin, Franz Liszt, George Sand,

Like many other aspects of her life, discrepant reports of her birth have been published. She was born in Grange, County Sligo in 1821, She was baptised at St Peter’s Church in Liverpool on February 16, 1823. Lola’s mother was Eliza (or Elizabeth) Oliver, an illegitimate daughter of Charles Silver Oliver, of Castle Oliver in County Limerick, Ireland. Lola’s mother was 15 when she gave birth to her, a year after she married Lola’s father, Ensign Edward Gilbert of the 25th Regiment.

In 1823 the Gilberts moved to India, where Edward’s regiment had been dispatched. But, shortly after arrival, he died of cholera. Her mother, who was now 19, married another officer, Lieutenant Patrick Craigie, the following year. Craigie quickly came to care for Lola, but her spoilt and half wild ways concerned him greatly.

Eventually, it was agreed she would be sent back to Britain to attend school, staying with Craigie’s father in Montrose, Scotland, at first. But the “queer, wayward little Indian girl” quickly became known as a mischief maker. On one occasion, she stuck flowers into the wig of an elderly man during a church service, on another, she ran through the streets naked.

At the age of ten, Lola was moved on again – this time to Sunderland. When her stepfather’s older sister, Catherine Rae, set up a boarding school in Monkwearmouth with her husband, Lola joined them to continue her education.

Lola obviously made an impression on her teachers, as a Mr Grant, who taught art at the little school, was later to recall her as “an elegant and graceful child.” He described her as having eyes of “excessive beauty”, an “orientally dark” complexion and an air of “haughty ease”. But he also revealed: “The violence and obstinacy of her temper gave too frequent cause of painful anxiety to her good kind aunt.”

Lola’s determination and temper were to become her trademarks. The little girl’s stay in Sunderland lasted only a year, as she was then transferred to Bath for a more “sophisticated” education.

In 1837 sixteen year old Lola eloped with Lieutenant Thomas James. The couple separated five years later, in Calcutta, and Lola became a professional dancer under a stage name. Her London debut as “Lola Montez, the Spanish dancer” in June 1843 was successful, but she had been recognized as Mrs. James and a scandal arose over the imposture.

The resulting notoriety hampered her career in England and she departed for the Continent, where she became famous more for her beauty and quick temper than for her dancing. At this time she was almost certainly accepting favours from a few wealthy men, and was regarded by many as a courtesan.

She met and had an affair with Franz Liszt, who introduced her to the circle of George Sand, which was one of the most sophisticated and advanced in European society. After performing in various European capitals, she settled in Paris, where she was accepted in the rather Bohemian literary society of the time, being acquainted with the elder Alexandre Dumas, with whom she was rumoured to have had a dalliance.

After the 1845 death of her lover, newspaperman Alexandre Dujarier, in a duel (unrelated to her), she left Paris.

In 1846, she arrived in Munich, where she was discovered by, and became the mistress of, Ludwig I of Bavaria. She soon began to use her influence on the king and this, coupled with her arrogant manner and outbursts of temper, made her unpopular with the local population, particularly after documents were made public showing that she was hoping to become a naturalized Bavarian citizen and be elevated to the nobility.

Despite the opposition, Ludwig made her Countess of Landsfeld on his next birthday, August 25, 1847. The entertaining rumour that at the time they met Ludwig had asked her in public if her bosom was real, to which her response was to tear off enough of her garments and prove it is entirely unfounded, and the story only first appeared many decades after Lola’s death.

It seems likely that Ludwig’s relationship with her contributed greatly to the fall from grace of the previously popular king. In 1848 under pressure from a growing revolutionary movement Ludwig abdicated, and Lola fled Bavaria, her career as a power behind the throne at an end.

After a sojourn in Switzerland, where she waited in vain for Ludwig to join her, she made one brief excursion to France and then removed to London in late 1848. There she met and quickly married George Trafford Heald, a young army cornet (cavalry officer) with a recent inheritance. But the terms of Lola’s divorce from George Trafford Heald did not permit of either spouse’s remarriage while the other was living, and the beleaguered newlyweds were forced to flee the country to escape a bigamy action brought by George Trafford Heald’s scandalized maiden aunt.

Mr. and Mrs. Heald resided for a time in France and in Spain, but within two years the tempestuous relationship was in tatters, and in 1851 Lola set off to make a new start in the United States, where she was surprisingly successful at first in rehabilitating her image.

From 1851 to 1853 she performed as a dancer and actress in the eastern United States, then arrived at San Francisco in May 1853. There she married Patrick Hull, a local newspaperman, in July and moved to Grass Valley, California, in August.

This marriage failed shortly after, and Montez remained in Grass Valley at her little house for nearly two years. The restored Home of Lola Montez went on to become California Historical Landmark No. 292.

Lola served as an inspiration to another aspiring young entertainer, Lotta Crabtree. Lotta Crabtree’s parents ran a boarding house in Grass Valley, and Lotta Crabtree soon attracted the attention of a neighbor, Lola Montez, who encouraged Lotta Crabtree’s enthusiasm for performance.

In June 1855, she departed for a tour of Australia to resume her career by entertaining miners at the gold diggings during the gold rush of the 1850s arriving at Sydney on August 16, 1855.

Historian Michael Cannon claims that “In September 1855 she performed her erotic Spider Dance at the Theatre Royal in Melbourne, raising her skirts so high that the audience could see she wore no underclothing at all (actually a salacious rumour). Next day the Argus thundered that her performance was ‘utterly subversive to all ideas of public morality’”. Respectable families ceased to attend the theatre, which began to show heavy losses.”

At Castlemaine in April 1856, she was “rapturously encored” after her Spider Dance in front of 400 diggers (including members of the Municipal Council who had adjourned their meeting early to attend the performance), but drew the wrath of the audience by insulting them following some mild heckling.

She earned further notoriety in Ballarat when, after reading a bad review in The Ballarat Times, she attacked the editor, Henry Seekamp with a whip. The “Lola Montes Polka” composed by Albert Denning was later rumoured to have been inspired by this event, but as the song was published in 1855 and the incident with Henry Seekamp occurred months later in February 1856, this is scarcely probable.

She departed for San Francisco on May 22, 1856, having had her fill of the turbulent Antipodes.

In America, she did some acting and lectured on gallantry. She finally moved to New York, where she lived out her last days visiting outcasts of her own sex. On June 30, 1860, she suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed for some time. In mid December she had recovered enough to walk with a slight limp and went out for a stroll in the cold weather. She contracted pneumonia, lingering for nearly a month before dying one month short of her fortieth birthday. She is buried in Green Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New York where her tombstone states: “Mrs. Eliza Gilbert, Died Jan. 17, 1861″. It also reads that she was 42 at time of death.

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Carfrae was a colleague of John Galley Blackley, Allan Broman, Matthew James Chapman, John Henry Clarke, John Roberson Day, Robert Ellis Dudgeon, Robert Douglas Hale, Richard Hughes, Joseph Kidd, William Burnett Douglas Miller, John Moorhead Byres Moir, Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, George Wyld, Stephen Yeldham, and many others.

Carfrae practiced in Adelaide Road, Surbiton and at  4 Hertford Street, Mayfair.

Carfrae’s Obituary is in International Homeopathic Medical Directory, and in The British Homeopathic Review and the The Journal of the British Homeopathic Society in 1900.

Carfrae submitted cases and articles to various homeopathic publications,

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Broman was the assistant of Jonas Henrik Kellgren, and he often lectured at the London Homeopathic Hospital, and he was a colleague of David Dyce Brown, George Mann Carfrae, John Henry Clarke, John Roberson Day, Washington Epps, John Moorhead Byres Moir, Edwin Awdas Neatby, Charles Thomas Knox Shaw, Thomas George Stonham,

Broman’s Attendance Book, 1885-1901, and his casebooks, including some correspondence, 1905-1911, of his private practice in London (partly in Swedish) is held at the Wellcome Library, and the list of his patients contained therein is quite remarkable.

They include: the Duke of Abercorn, the Hon Rowland Baring (later Lord Cromer) (treated for typhoid), Lady Norah Brassey, Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman (later Prime Minister), Rt Hon (later Viscount) Henry Chaplin M P, Prince Christian of Schleswig Holstein (Treated at Buckingham Palace), Lady Spencer Churchill (wife of Randolph), De Bile (the Danish Ambassador), Baron and Baroness Frederick D’erlangen, Baroness G. De Menase, Count Hierschel De Minerbi (the Italian Embassy), Lord Derbu (1908 17th Earl?), Lord De Saumarez, J Duhamel (French master at Harrow School), Lord Dunraven, Washington Epps, Sir Daniel F Goddard M P, Sir Reginald Graham (described as ‘old patient’ - Broman must have treated him before commencement of notebook 1884/5, possibly while assistant to Jonas Henrik Kellgren), the Marquis of Granby, Lord Hamilton of Dalzell, George A Hard M P, Baron de Herckeren, Dr L S Jameson (of ‘Jameson raid’ fame - ‘run down’ after typhoid), Sir Alfred Jephson, Joseph Joachim (violinist and friend of Johannes Brahms?- rheumatism in arms), Lord Leconfield, Duchess of Leeds and family (example of continuing faith in Broman), Sir Frederick Leighton (painter -  treated 1895-6, came to Broman for exercises 3 days before death), Charles Leveson Gower (Cricketer), Sir George Lewis (Solicitor - associated with James Manby Gully/Bravo at earlier date), the Duke of Marlborough, Claude Montefiore and family, Lord Morely (Statesman), Edwin Roscoe Mullins (Sculptor), Lillian Nordica Mme Dome (spelt BOME by Broman - American prima donna), Sir Lionel Phillips (South African millionaire), Dr Austin E Reynolds, Lord Rowton, Sir Cecil Spring Rice (diplomat), Dr Starling (the physiologist?), Donald Tovey (musician and composer, then a 24 yr old student of piano, for hand and back trouble - see letter from Sophie Weisse, his mentor and piano teacher), Sir Edward Wingfield (Colonial Office), Lord Wolverton, Count and Countess Wrangel, Robert Leaman Bowles, Stanley Boyd, Dr Julia Maria Brinck, Sir William Broadbent, Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton, Mortimer Granville, Donald William Charles Hood, Thomas Ridge Jones, Kumlien (of Paris), Thomas John Maclagen, William Frederick Hoyle Newbery, Parser, Sydenham Teast Gifford Ransfield, Edward Reynolds Ray, Edward Tait Robinson, Dr Stapfer (or Stopfer - not traced in Medical Directory but evidently in practice in 1900, he sent several patients to Broman and he and his wife treated by Broman), Charles James Symonds, Westbin, Benjamin Mower White, the Staff of London Homeopathic Hospital (with which Broman seems to have had close association), David Dyce Brown, George Mann Carfrae, John Henry Clarke, John Roberson Day, Charles Thomas Knox Shaw (Broman treated his 11 year old son, 1896-98, and the surgeon himself, 1911), John Moorhead Byres Moir (sent many patients to Broman 1895-1901; himself received treatment 1908-10), Edwin Awdas Neatby, Gerald Smith (Surgeon. A letter from Smith shows that Broman conducted gymnastic classes for men at his gymnasium 1898 - presumably refers to the Institute for the Manual Treatment of Diseases, since his Central Institute did not come into existence until 1911), Thomas George Stonham,

Allan Broman obtained a Diploma from Central Institute of Gymnastics, Stockholm. In 1883, he was  Assistant [in England?] to Jonas Henrik Kellgren (1837-1916), exponent of Ling system and pioneer of medical gymnastics.

In 1884 (December) he established practice in London (this is the date of the first entry in his notebooks). This may have begun as a partnership since the first treatment [massage and exercises?] was given by Jonas Henrik Kellgren and his brother Arvid, while Broman interviewed and examined the patients.

Subsequently Broman took over the treatment from the Kellgrens whose names disappear [except for references to 'old patients of Kellgren's]. Mrs Broman evidently also administered treatment, though she seems to have had her own clientele.

In 1886 Broman founded National Physical Recreation Society. In 1888 he founded his own ‘medical institute’ - not named by sources but Broman used paper headed ‘Institute for the Manual Treatment of Diseases, 10 Southwick Place, Hyde Park, W’….

In 1888-93 he was the Organising Master of Physical Exercises to London School Board. His Swedish system opposed first by Thomas Chesterton (Superintendent of Physical Exercises, who had his own system, more popular with teachers) and later by anti militarist lobby.

In 1891 Broman was President of the Swedish Gymnastics Association. In 1902-1903 he was appointed to conduct first course at new Royal Navy gymnastics school of Portsmouth. In 1905 Broman was the founder member of ‘Svenska Sjukgymnastiksällskapet Ling’ (Swedish Ling School of Medical Gymnastics).

In 1911 (October) he founded the Central Institute for Swedish Gymnastics for men in Paddington Street, London, along the lines of the Stockholm Institute. In 1914, the Central Institute became a hospital, and Broman engaged in recruit training for new armies. In c.1918, the Central Institute was purchased from Broman by London County Council for ?£18,000 and renamed L C C  College of Physical Education.

Broman’s daughter was Anna B Broman MRCP, LRCP (1891-1962) also used the form of Swedish massage which Broman introduced to England, and published on the subject (Recreative Physical Training). Her aunt was Martina Sofia Helena Bergman Osterberg 1849 – 1915, who ran a college at Dartford, Kent, which had a high reputation for its methods of physical training. (Portraits of Allan Broman and Jonas Henrik Kellgren are in A Holmstrom’s Svensk Gymastik 1904-1929, 1930).

Broman’s publications include Physical Education in elementary schools (Paper read at quarterly meeting of Swedish Gymnastics Association) London 1891, Physical Education in elementary schools II (Paper read before International Congress of Hygiene and Demography) London 1891, School Gymnastics on the Swedish System London 1895 (3rd edition, London, 1902), On Physical Education Boston 1913, Physical Education (Reproduced from King Alfred School Magazine) London. 1914, A short Course of Physical Training for the Recruits of the New Armies London, 1915, Rörelselära av Hjalmar Ling [Mechanics of Hjalmar Ling], Stockholm 1949 (posthumous).

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Edwin Tomkins was a student of Percival George Quinton and Otto Leeser, and he was a colleague of J Ellis Barker, John Henry Clarke, Darnell Cooper, Edward W Cotter, John DaMonte, Donald MacDonald Foubister, Arthur Jenner, Thomas Maughan, Noel Puddephatt, Phyllis M Speight, Frank Parker Wood,

Tomkins practiced in Enfield.

Edwin Tomkins married the homeopath Phyllis M Rowntree (Speight) in 1952. She was based at Nightingale House, Du Cane Rd, London, W12, until 1964 when she took over Noel Puddephatt’s practice in Devonshire Street, W1). Phyllis married Leslie Speight in 1964.

In the 1930’s a diverse range of assorted lay therapists (mostly homeopaths, herbalists, vegetarians, antivivisectionists, bonesetters, diet therapists, hydrotherapists) became active, including probably 500+ lay homeopaths.

Most towns at that time had a herbalist and a homeopath. Leading figures of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s include Noel Puddephatt, J Ellis Barker, Harold Edgar Tyrwhitt, Leslie J Speight and Phyllis M Speight, Edward W Cotter, Arthur Jenner (born c1916), Frank Parker Wood, Eric F W Powell (c1895-1991), George Pettitt (c1890-c1965), Harry Benjamin (c1890-c1950), Darnall Cooper (c1890-c1960) and Edwin D W Tomkins (1916-92).

In the meantime John Henry Clarke encouraged and supported the study of homeopathy by those who were non medically qualified.

The nature of British Common Law is such that anyone can practice any therapy on humans, but not on animals, as long as they do not claim to be able to cure: cancer, TB, Aids (though homeopathy is used to treat these diseases in many countries around the World not governed by local legistation in the UK).

There was and still is no limitation on the practice of homeopathy or any other type of therapy  by the non medically qualified public in Britain.

Encouraged by John Henry Clarke, and later by Donald MacDonald Foubister as well as other doctor members of the Faculty of Homeopathy, lay homeopathy began to gradually grow in strength as the 20th century progressed.

Before, during, and following  WW II the primary active energy input into spreading the knowledge of homeopathic prescribing became centred  in a small but dedicated circle of non doctor homeopathic practitioners.

These committed people engaged in home study, attending lectures of doctor homeopaths, and open meetings of the British Homeopathic Association. In turn they held homeopathy classes for interested members of the public.

Among this group were Phyllis M Speight, Edwin Tompkins, John DaMonte, Thomas Maughan, and others.  It is from the germinating efforts of this group that the contemporary Society of Homeopaths ultimately emerged. The vigorous and growing Society of Homeopaths of today is the crest of a wave in an on going ebb and flow of creative development for British homeopathy.

In 1946 a meeting of 300 people interested in homeopathy met at Caxton Hall, around the corner from Buckingham Palace, to form the Incorporated Institute of Homeopaths Ltd, a non doctor organisation.

Twenty four years later on the 10th of January 1970 Thomas Maughan, John DaMonte, Edwin Tompkins and others met and formed a Society of Homeopaths. In 1978 the students of Thomas Maughan and John DaMonte, gathered together to found The Society of Homeopaths that become a major organisation for registration and standards of practice for homeopaths in Britain.

As the profession grew in numbers so did the a number of professional registering organisations including the Homeopathic Medical Association and the Association of Registered Homeopaths.

A very important homeopath of the 40s was Edward Tomkins who still lives and practices in north London, seeing 22 patients a day.’ [Society of Homeopaths Newsletter 10, Jan 1986].       Mention was made of him in an article by Jerome Whitney in Society of Homeopaths Newsletter 10, January 1986.

He gave a talk to the Society of Homeopaths at a meeting at Friends Meeting House London WC2 on Nov. 16 1985. He is important as he ‘kept the torch burning’ for lay homeopaths throughout the years of dearth [1920-70]. He lectured and practised in a small way throughout the 1930s and 1940s in the London area.

On 7 Dec. 1946 along with 6 others [whose names are not recorded] he formed the Incorporated Institute of Homeopaths Ltd and gave a talk about homeopathy at Caxton Hall before an audience of 300-500 [Jerome Whitney 1990, Tomkins, 1990]. This organisation lapsed after c.12 years. The books were then returned to the Board of Trade and the company ‘wound up’ [Tomkins, 1990].

However, according to Tomkins, lay homeopaths were again thrown into a “state of crisis” [Jerome Whitney 1986] by the Medicines Act [1968]. As a direct result, a Society of Homeopaths was established at a meeting 10-1-70 including “And a red haired chap called Edward Tomkins” [Wilcox], John DaMonte and Thomas Maughan [plus John and Jane Wilcox] and The Hon. Rosemary Russell, plus 6 others” [Wilcox, 1990] as founding members.

Tomkins was an influential lay homeopath who lived in Enfield. Mr Tomkins was a staunch supporter of homeopathy who had fought long and hard for its expansion. When he died in 1992, he had been in practice for over 50 years and full time since 1946.

In particular he will be remembered for his efforts to establish the Incorporated Institute of Homeopaths Ltd in 1947, an entirely lay organisation of which he was a Fellow. He was also actively involved in the formation of the first Society of Homeopaths founded by Thomas Maughan and John DaMonte [amongst others] in 1970.

Born in London in June 1916, Tomkins was very keen on physics, chemistry and electricity, which remained abiding subjects of interest to him all his life. He learned homeopathy mainly from Percival George Quinton and also from Otto Leeser of the London Homeopathy Laboratories, High Wycombe.

Due to a hip injury in childhood, Tomkins was classed as handicapped and thus unsuitable for an active service life during WW2. Being a research chemist he therefore undertook government research during wartime.

However, it was this injury and over 2 years spent in hospital because of it, that fostered his first interest in medicine. Later, when 16 years old, he received successful homeopathic treatment for the hip problem from Percival George Quinton at the London Homeopathic Hospital and as a result his interest in homeopathy developed further.

Tomkins was also introduced to homeopathy through his wife’s family, who lived in Great Ormond Street in the 1920s and ran hansom cabs from just opposite the London Homeopathic Hospital. Tomkins’ wife Dorothy clearly remembers her aunts visiting homeopathic pharmacies and using Belladonna for headaches, Arnica for bruises, Nux vomica for indigestion and Calendula for cuts and grazes.

That was when she was a small child in the 1920s, and a time when homeopathic medicine chests were still commonly available from such London homeopathic pharmacies as Keene & Ashwell of New Cavendish St, Gould’s of Moorgate, Butcher Curnow of Blackheath and James Epps of 60 Jermyn Street St. James’s and 48 Threadneedle Street in the City.

Tomkins set up practice from his home on the N. Circular Road during the 1940s and later moved with his young family to Enfield. Married with 3 sons, he became a keen homeopath working at district and family level, giving remedies to mothers for their little ones, to friends, neighbours and relatives and treating all and sundry for everything.

This was grass roots homeopathy at its best, so typical of the majority of lay homeopaths of the late 40s, learning homeopathy by practicing it ‘as you go along’. In the absence of formal teaching arrangements it was the only way to learn homeopathy in those days before the homeopathic colleges. He was predominantly a low potency prescriber, though he occasionally used the more powerful higher potencies.

Tomkins was on favourable terms with many of the doctors at the Faculty Homeopathy, the British Homeopathic Association, the Hahnemann Society as well as the many homeopathic pharmacies in London at that time. He regularly attended meetings and gave talks, as well as working hard for the Hahnemann Society to promote homeopathy in every way.

He also knew very well the other important London lay prescribers of the day, including Leslie J Speight and Phyllis M Speight, Edward W Cotter, Arthur Jenner, Frank Parker Wood, Eric Powell, Noel Puddephatt and J Ellis Barker. The latter in particular, actively encouraged Mr Tomkins in his early interest in homeopathy during the 1930s and 1940s.

Something of an eclectic homeopath, he had many teachers, but was mainly taught by Otto Leeser and Mr L E W King, a homeopath in Lancaster Gate, who he described to me as ‘one of the most brilliant minds I have ever met and the best friend I ever had’ [Tomkins, 1990]. King died in 1970. His other influences came from J Ellis Barker and Percival George Quinton.

Tomkins died on the morning of 23 October from a pancreatic tumour and in a sense it was the end of a chapter of homeopathy. Like Samuel Hahnemann, and many since, who have been consumed with a burning passion for homeopathy, Eddy fought hard for it, defended it fiercely and devoted his whole life to its practice and promotion. As he said to me in interview ‘you only enter the doorway of homeopathy once, for you will never leave it.’ [Tomkins, 1990].

In 1946 Edwin Tomkins set up an Incorporated Institute of Homeopaths Ltd with a legal framework within the terms of the Companies Act [App 1]. He addressed a packed meeting of several hundred in Caxton Hall in London to establish this lay organisation for homeopaths, to devise a syllabus, begin teaching and set up a proper Register.

Edwin Tomkins Obituary is in The Homeopath, Volume  13, Number 1. March, 1993. Page 42.

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