THE DOCTOR AND SURGEON Sir Frederick Treves (1853-1923) is famous for many achievements in the field of medicine. He was a pioneer in the surgical treatment of appendicitis, and saved the life of King Edward VII when he suffered from this disorder just before his coronation. In 1884, he first saw Joseph Merrick, the so-called ‘Elephant Man’, and in 1886, he took this man to live and be cared for in the London Hospital. Treves cared for him until he died in 1890. Among his other roles, Treves worked in a field hospital in South Africa during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).

Prior to the above-mentioned, Treves, having trained at London Hospital Medical College and the Royal College of Surgeons, worked as a general practitioner, becoming a partner in a medical practice in Wirksworth, Derbyshire. It was in this small town that his daughter was born in 1878.

We stopped briefly in Wirksworth, an attractive place clinging to a steep hillside. After visiting the fascinating parish church, which contains wonderful, ancient stone carvings, I spotted a house with a commemorative plaque. It recorded the fact that Frederick Treves had lived in this building. The house on Coldwell Street is now named ‘Treves House’. After working in Wirksworth, Treves moved to London.

Wirksworth describes itself as “Pearl of the Peak District”, and from what little we saw of the place, it is a gem – maybe not a diamond, but a perfectly formed pearl.