Information
As a teenager, the poet, critic and editor W.E.Henley had his left leg amputated below the knee as a result of tuberculosis. In 1872 the fear of losing his right foot brought him to Margate, to the Royal Sea-Bathing Infirmary, founded in 1791 for the ‘Relief of the Poor whose Diseases require Sea-Bathing’ and recommended by ‘the extreme Salubrity of that part of the Coast and the ready and cheap Conveyance hither’. It later specialised in the treatment of bone and joint tuberculosis. The Infirmary made a depressing impression on Henley, reminding him of a workhouse,'so gaunt and cheap and business-like it looked’. Nonetheless, he received dedicated treatment, but by the summer of 1873, the condition of his right foot had deteriorated so much that amputation was felt to be the only possibility. Ever optimistic, Henley left Margate for Edinburgh, to put himself in the hands of Joseph Lister, whose revolutionary use of antiseptics was the subject of controversy. Here his foot was saved and he met and formed a productive friendship with R.L.Stevenson, who is said to have used Henley as the model for Long John Silver in ‘Treasure Island’.
Quotations
The resilient Henley was not long downcast by the initially dismal aspect of the Royal Sea-Bathing Infirmary. In March 1873 he wrote to a friend: 'Here I am and I intend making the best of it.’
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He also enlisted the aid of a fellow patient, a ‘bold and athletic young bricklayer’ with a tubercular hip, and paints an almost farcical picture of their attempts to evade the strict regime of the wards: ‘He had hoisted me over walls, to the end that we might sit in daring and in state in unlawful gin parlours’.
Place | Extract |
| Margate | Ever optimistic, Henley left Margate for Edinburgh, to put himself in the hands of Joseph Lister, whose revolutionary use of antiseptics was the subject of controversy... |
