Early life

George was born in Spitalfields in 1821, the son of a coachbuilder. He grew up in London where he learned his trade as a goldbeater.

Title page of Medical Reform book by Stevens

Herbalist career

At 18 years of age, he was inspired by a new herbalist movement founded by Samuel Thomson in America. The Botanic Treatment of Disease was brought to Britain in 1839, by a Mr Albert Isaiah Coffin, earning its followers the unfortunate title of ‘Coffinites’. Together with his brother, John, he became one of its earliest pioneers and most fervent advocates.

Its basic tenet was that all disease was caused by the loss of internal heat, which could be cured only by restoring heat, through natural remedies. The exact remedy varied according to the disease, but a common treatment was an emetic dose of lobelia, followed by stimulants such as cayenne pepper and steam vapour baths.

It had a mission to ‘rescue the poor and needy from medical bondage’ through making medicine accessible to everyone, not just those able to afford exorbitant fees for the dubious treatment offered by orthodox physicians.

Knowledge of the botanic system and its application was shared through public lectures and books. Medicinal plants were promoted over ‘mercury, opium and the lancet' with which, John claimed, physicians were ‘licenced to kill’

 In 1844, George married a coach trimmer’s daughter, Emma Sedgwick (1826-1900) Their first son was born in London in 1847 just before they moved to Bristol.

George opened an American Botanical Dispensary in Old Market, Bristol in 1847 and another in Union Passage, Bath in 1852.

He undertook public lectures and practiced throughout the 1849 cholera outbreak in Bristol, provoking some antagonism from local professionals.

As patent medicines gained momentum, George’s botanic practice in Bristol thrived alongside his successful goldbeating business. By 1861 he was able to support his mother, his father-in-law, his wife and 8 children as well as two servants.

In 1881, he published his book ‘The People’s Guide to the New Botanic Treatment of Disease. A Handbook of Domestic Medicine.’ Priced at 2s 6d, he believed it possible ‘that all would become their own doctors, and each father the physician of his family’. Ironically, by this time, his eldest son, Frederick George, had chosen to study orthodox medicine and became a surgeon in Bristol.

Sadly, two of George’s sons predeceased him. Frederick George died in 1884 and his youngest son, Edgar Garibaldi Sedgwick died in 1887.

Death

By 1891, George’s health had declined, and he was suffering from ‘paralysis and loss of nervous power’ His death notice in the Bristol Mercury in 1892 read that ‘he fell asleep after 5 years of mental suffering caused by the loss of his son. His end was perfect peace’.

Buried in the same grave as George are his son, Francis Charles, who died the year after him, his wife, Emma, who died in 1900 and his daughter Ellen Lizzie, who died in 1904. Frederick George, the surgeon, is buried in the next grave.