Flowers Final 28:02:25 - Flipbook - Page 149
Scutari in January and eventually reached England in February 1855. William9s mother Celina nursed his
frostbite but somehow managed to develop an abscess in her own arm from William9s infection. By May of that
year, William had recovered sufficiently to travel with Charles and Sarah through Europe, but he avoided any
walks in the snow.
In early 1856, William became engaged to Georgiana Rosetta Smyth and they married on 15 April 1858 at the
church in Stone, near Aylesbury. Rosetta (as she was known) was the daughter of Admiral William Henry Smyth
KFM DCL FRS FSA FRAS FRGS, a Royal Naval hydrographer who also dabbled in astronomy and
numismatics and wrote many books. Rosetta9s mother was Eliza Anne (Annarella) Warington, a gifted artist and
daughter of Thomas Warington who had been the British Consul in Naples. William and Rosetta spent their
honeymoon in Flanders and France and visited these same places many times in the following years. Born in
May 1860, Arthur Smyth was the first of William and Rosetta9s seven children. Their second child, Caroline
Mary (named after Rosetta9s late sister) was born in September 1861, followed by Vera Josephine in January
1863, Geraldine Rose in March 1867, Stanley Smyth in August 1871 (named after William9s good friend Dean
Stanley, the Dean of Westminster), Victor Augustine in November 1875, and Augusta Ellen Frances in May
1881 (named after Dean Stanley9s late wife).
In 1857 William was awarded the Diploma of Fellowship of the R.C.S. and in 1859 was appointed to the
position of Assistant-Surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital, along with additional duties as Lecturer upon Anatomy
and additionally Curator of the Anatomical Museum of the Hospital. He became known for being a very skilled
surgeon, particularly in matters pertaining to the eye. Whilst William knew he could make more money as a
surgeon than as a man of science, he knew from his own experience that military surgery was poorly taught in the
United Kingdom and he wanted this to improve. He published observations and diagrams concerning shoulder
injuries which soon became standard illustrations in medical textbooks. He also published a book entitled