Born in London on November 23rd, 1811, and was the son of a native of Neufchatel in Switzerland. He was educated in Brompton and was then apprenticed to John Nussey at Cleveland Row, St James's, and also entered as a student at St George's Hospital, to which, after qualifying, he was appointed Assistant Apothecary. He held this position for two or three years and then entered into partnership with Nussey. He practised at 62 Pall Mall, and held in the Royal Household the appointments of Apothecary in Ordinary, Apothecary to the Prince Consort, Surgeon-Apothecary to Queen Victoria (after 1862), and at a later date Surgeon-Apothecary to the Household of the Prince of Wales. He was for some years on the Court of the Society of Apothecaries, but declined the Mastership. He retired from the profession and went to reside at Norwood after forty years' practice. There he busied himself with his microscope and his roses. In early years he had been a keen collector of butterflies and ferns, and to the last he was very clever with his fingers. For about a year before his death he failed greatly and became very feeble. His death from gout occurred at his residence, Clifton House, Church Road, Upper Norwood, on August 20th, 1897. He was survived by Mrs Du Pasquier, who was the youngest daughter of John Bidwell, of the Foreign Office.