College by a charter of incorporation, which was granted in 1843.  The Queen’s Hospital was also founded mainly through the exertions of Mr. Sands Cox, for the education of the medical students of the College.  In 1863 Mr. Cox retired from practice, and went to reside near Tamworth, afterwards removing to Leamington and Kenilworth, at which latter place he died, December 23rd, 1875.  He was buried in the family vault at Aston, the coffin being carried to the grave by six old students at the College, funeral scarfs, hatbands, and “other such pieces of mummery” being dispensed with, according to the deceased’s wish.  He left many charitable legacies, among them being L15,000, to be dealt with in the following manner:—­L3,000 to be applied in building and endowing a church then in course of erection at Balsall Heath, and to be known as St. Thomas-in-the-Moors, and the remaining L12,000 to be devoted to the erection and endowment of three dispensaries—­one at Balsall Heath, one at Aston, and the other at Hockley.  Two sums of L3,000 were left to found dispensaries at Tamworth and Kenilworth, and a cottage hospital at Moreton-in-the-Marsh; his medical library and a number of other articles being also left for the last-named institution.

Davies, Dr. Birt.—­By birth a Hampshire man, by descent a Welshman, coming to Birmingham in 1823, Dr. Davies soon became a man of local note.  As a politician in the pre-Reform days, as a physician of eminence, and as Borough Coroner for three dozen years, he occupied a prominent position, well justified by his capacity and force of character.  He took an active part in the founding of the Birmingham School of Medicine, the forerunner of the Queen’s College, and was elected one of the three first physicians to the Queen’s Hospital, being its senior physician for sixteen years.  When the Charter of Incorporation was granted, Dr. Davies was chosen by the Town Council as the first Coroner, which office he held until June 8th, 1875, when he resigned, having, as he wrote to the Council, on the 29th of May terminated his 36th year of office, and 76th year of his age.  Though an ardent politician, it is from his Coronership that he will be remembered most, having held about 30,000 inquests in his long term of office, during the whole of which time, it has been said, he never took a holiday, appointed a deputy, or slept out of the borough.  His official dignity sat heavily upon him, his temper of late years often led him into conflict with jurors and medical witnesses, but he was well respected by all who knew the quiet unpretending benevolence of his character, never better exhibited than at the time of the cholera panic in 1832.  The doctor had established a Fever Hospital in Bath Row, and here he received and treated, by himself, the only cases of Asiatic cholera imported into the town.  He died December 11th, 1878.

De Lys, Dr.—­One of the physicians to the General Hospital, and the proposer of the Deaf and Dumb Institution.  A native of Brittany, and one of several French refugees who settled here when driven from their own country, at the time of the Revolution, Dr. De Lys remained with us till his death, August 24th, 1831, being then in his 48th year.