John Darby Charles M.R.C.S. (1812 – 30 April 1846) was a British orthodox surgeon who converted to homeopathy. He began practicing in Gloucestershire but, “after becoming convinced of the truthfulness of homeopathy,” he moved to London and set up at Orchard Street, Portman Square.

In 1845, just a few months before his death, John D. Charles became a member of the British Homeopathic Society. He was also one of the subscribers for the proposed monument to Samuel Hahnemann in Meissen, Saxony.

John Darby Charles was born in Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, the son of Victoria Brewery owner John Darby Charles (1782 – 1847) and his wife Joanna (1784 – 1873).

Charles’ early life and education is unrecorded. However, he determined on a career in medicine and in May 1835 he was awarded the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons, followed in January 1836 with him being granted the Licence of The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. He then set up in practice in Gloucestershire as an orthodox medical man, becoming a member of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association.

In June 1840, John D. Charles married Theresa Martha Price (1820 – 1885) in the parish church of St Matthew, Brixton Hill, London. They had two sons and a daughter: John Darby Price Charles (1842 – 1888), Thomas Moore Charles (b. 1843), and Theresa Fanny Joanna Charles (1845 – 1849).

It is not clear exactly when or why J. D. Charles converted to homeopathy but, by early 1845, he had joined the British Homeopathic Society.

In March of that year, John Darby Charles was one of the signatories to a letter sent to the London Morning Post newspaper that sought to distance British homeopathy from the dietetic treatment used by Dr. Paul Francois Curie in a case that had resulted in the death of the patient. The other homeopaths who signed the letter repudiating Curie’s methods were: Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, Hugh Cameron, J. Chapman, Alfred Day, John James Drysdale, Harris Dunsford, Thomas Engall, Joseph Gilioli, James Walter Goodshaw, William Hering, Claudius B. Ker, Charles Joseph Berry King, William Hamilton Kittoe, Henry Rider Madden, Victor Massol, William H. Mayne, George Newman, John Norton, Samuel Thomas Partridge, Edward Phillips, Robert Walker, and William Wardroper.

On 3 June, 1845, Charles read a paper at a meeting of the British Homeopathic Society, “A Glance at Symptomatology.”

Shortly after, John Darby Charles and his family relocated to his home town of Stow-on-the-Wold, where he died on 30 April 1846, aged just 34.

Of Interest:

On the evening of Wednesday 15 November 1904, a John D. Charles presented a bouquet at the annual fund-raising concert on behalf of the Phillips Memorial Homeopathic Hospital, held at the Lyric Theatre in Bromley, Kent.