Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet

Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet studied at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is surgery. Positions recorded include rector. Distinctions recorded are Companion of the Order of the Bath, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order and Knight of Grace of the Order of Saint John.

• Honorific Prefix — Sir • Name — Frederick Treves, Bt • Born — 15 February 1853 • Birthplace — Dorchester, Dorset, England • Died — 7 December 1923 • Place of death — Lausanne, Switzerland • Fields — Medicine, surgery • Education — London Hospital Medical College • Known for — Friendship with Joseph Merrick and saving the life of Edward VII • Awards — Hunterian Professorship

Frederick Treves was born on 15 February 1853 in Dorchester, Dorset, the son of William Treves, an upholsterer, of a family of Dorset yeomen, and his wife, Jane (née Knight). As a small boy, he attended the school run by the Dorset dialect poet William Barnes, and later the Merchant Taylors' School and London Hospital Medical College. He passed the membership examinations for the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1875, and in 1878 those for the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS). He was a Knight of Grace of the Order of St John.

• Illustration — Painting of Treves by Luke Fildes in 1896 Treves began his medical career as a general practitioner, becoming a partner in a medical practice in Wirksworth, Derbyshire. His daughter was born in Wirksworth in 1878. The house he lived in on Coldwell Street is called Treves House. He moved to London where he became a surgeon, specialising in abdominal surgery, at the London Hospital in the late 19th and early 20th century. On 29 June 1888, he performed the first appendicectomy in England. In 1884, Treves first saw Joseph Merrick, known as the Elephant Man, being exhibited by showman Tom Norman in a shop across the road from the London Hospital. Treves brought Merrick to the London Hospital in about 1886, having him live there until his death in April 1890. Treves' reminiscences mistakenly name Joseph Merrick as "John Merrick", an error widely recirculated by biographers of Merrick including the account rendered in the 1980 film. In 1885, Treves was awarded the Hunterian Professorship. During the Second Boer War (1899–1902), Treves volunteered to work at a field hospital in South Africa, treating the wounded. He later published an account of his experiences in The Tale of a Field Hospital, based on articles written at the time for the British Medical Journal. Treves was also Medical Officer to the Suffolk Yeomanry until he resigned in May 1902, and he accepted the appointment as Honorary Colonel of the Royal Army Medical Corps (Militia) on 30 August 1902. • Illustration — Vanity Fair caricature of Treves by "Spy" (1900) In March 1900, Treves was appointed one of the Surgeons Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, and after her death the following year, he was appointed one of several Honorary Serjeants Surgeon to her successor, Edward VII. In May 1901 he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO). The King's Achilles tendon was treated in January 1902, and then in June he found a "hard swelling in the abdomen". Treves did not remove the abscess, which was perityphlitis, an inflammation around the appendix which required draining. The coronation of the new king was scheduled for 26 June 1902, but on 24 June, Edward was diagnosed with appendicitis. Treves, with the support of the leading surgical authority, Lord Lister, performed a then-radical operation of draining the infected appendiceal abscess through a small incision and leaving the appendix intact. This was at a time when appendicitis was generally not treated operatively and carried a high mortality rate. The operation was carried out on a table in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace. Treves requested that London Hospital nurses Georgina Haines and Nurse Tarr should assist him; Haines nursed the King after his operation. The King had opposed surgery because of the upcoming coronation, but Treves insisted, stating that if he was not permitted to operate, there would instead be a funeral. The next day, Edward was sitting up in bed, smoking a cigar. Treves was honoured with a baronetcy on 24 July 1902 (which Edward had arranged before the operation), and appendix surgery entered the medical mainstream in the UK. He was granted the use of Thatched House Lodge in Richmond Park and was subsequently able to take early retirement. He published a book about his experiences of the king's illnesses shortly after the coronation. Treves continued to serve the royal family as Serjeant Surgeon to the King and to the Royal Household from July 1902 until 1910. Treves received the Freedom of the Borough from his native town of Dorchester in July 1902.

In 1877, Treves married Ann Elizabeth, daughter of Alfred Samuel Mason, of Dorchester. They had two daughters, Enid Margery Treves – who married in 1902 Lt-Col Charles Delmé-Radcliffe, CMG, MVO – and Hetty Marion Treves (1882–1900).

Treves is one of the main characters in The Elephant Man, Bernard Pomerance's 1977 play about Joseph Merrick's life, as well as David Lynch's 1980 film, in which he was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins. In that film, the English actor Frederick Treves, Sir Frederick's great-nephew, plays an alderman. Working at the London Hospital and coming into contact with criminal cases, he is also depicted by Paul Ready in the BBC historical crime drama Ripper Street, set in the East End in the 1890s. A fictional version of The Tale of a Field Hospital and Treves are featured in an episode of horror fiction podcast The Magnus Archives by Jonathan Sims. In real life, Sir Frederick Treves appeared as himself amongst other society Britons helping out with the war effort in D. W. Griffith's lost silent film The Great Love (1918).