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  his medical studies at Paris and Berlin, graduating M.D. at the latter university in September 1837. He then began general practice in London, and wrote a paper on typhus fever in the ‘Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal’ for April 1838. But, wishing to enlarge his knowledge, he went to study midwifery in Dublin, and on his return became a member of the Royal College of Physicians, and was elected physician to the Infirmary for Children near Waterloo Bridge, London. He practised midwifery and wrote numerous papers, chiefly on diseases of children. In 1845 he became lecturer on midwifery to the Middlesex Hospital, and in 1847 gave a course of ‘Lectures on Diseases of Infancy and Childhood,’ published in 1848. The volume went through seven editions, and was translated into several European languages; it was the most elaborate work which had appeared on the subject in English, though less full than the famous French treatise of Rilliet and Barthez, on which it was based. It did much service in exciting general interest in the subject. He was appointed lecturer on midwifery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1848, and held office for twelve years. His lectures were good, and their substance is contained in ‘Lectures on Diseases of Women,’ published in 1856 and in three later editions. In 1852, largely owing to his exertions, the Hospital for Sick Children was opened in Richard Mead's house in Great Ormond Street, London [see ], and he became its senior physician, an office which he held for twenty-three years. He was much consulted on the diseases of women and children till 1880, when his health obliged him to go to Nice for the winter. In the College of Physicians he was elected a fellow in 1848, became censor in 1870 and 1882, delivered the Croomian lectures ‘On Ulceration of the Os Uteri,’ the Lumleian lectures ‘On Some Disorders of the Nervous System in Childhood’ in 1871, and the Harveian oration in 1874. He died in Paris, on his way back from Nice, on 19 March 1898. He knew several languages, and was a man of ability; but the conduct of other men so rarely satisfied him that he was not a happy colleague, and left both St. Bartholomew's and the Children's Hospital in a state of feud with the other members of the staff. About twenty years before his death he became a Roman catholic.

West was twice married: first, to Miss Cartwright, and secondly to Miss Flon, who survived him. By his first wife he left one son and one daughter.

 WEST, CHARLES RICHARD SACKVILLE-, sixth, sixth , and twelfth  (1815–1873), born on 13 Nov. 1815, in Upper Grosvenor Street, London, was the eldest surviving son of George John West, fifth earl De La Warr (1791–1869), by his wife Elizabeth, first baroness Buckhurst (d. 1870), daughter of John Frederick Sackville, third duke of Dorset [q. v.] The fifth earl and his sons took the additional name of Sackville before West on 30 Nov. 1843 by royal license. Charles Richard obtained the commission of ensign in the 43rd foot on 26 July 1833, and was promoted to a second lieutenancy on 30 Aug. On 5 June 1835 he became lieutenant in the 15th foot, and on 15 April 1842 captain in the 21st foot. In 1845 and 1846 he served as aide-de-camp and acting military secretary to Sir Hugh Gough (afterwards Viscount Gough) [q. v.] during the first Sikh war, and was several times mentioned in the despatches. On 3 April 1846 he obtained the brevet rank of major, and in the following year he received the Indian medal with three clasps. On 2 Aug. 1850 he attained the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel, and on 23 April 1852 the regimental rank of major.

West was sent to the Crimea in 1854, was present at the battle of Inkerman in command of a wing of the 21st fusiliers, and initiated the attack on the battery on Shelf Hill which is believed to have led to General Dannenberg's retreat. On 28 Nov. 1854 he received the army rank of colonel. On 18 June 1855 he commanded the reserve in the unsuccessful assault made against the west flank of the Redan, and after the death of Sir John Campbell (1816–1855) [q. v.] he assumed the command of the attack. In the same year he received the Crimean medal with four clasps, and on 27 July was made C.B. On 24 July 1856 he obtained the local rank of major-general. On 2 Aug. 1856 he was made an officer of the Legion of Honour. He also received the military medal of Sardinia, and was made a knight of the third class of the Medjidie on 2 March 1858. On 29 Oct. 1864 he became a major-general; on 24 Feb. 1869 he succeeded his father as sixth Earl De La Warr; and on 20 May 1871 he was created K.C.B. On 30 Sept. 1871 he was appointed a commissioner to carry out the abolition of purchase