Friedrich Hermann de Leuw

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Friedrich Hermann de Leuw

Friedrich Hermann de Leuw (spoken Löw; born August 1, 1792 in Dinslaken ; † January 12, 1861 ) was a German ophthalmologist and son of the surgeon Theobald de Leuw and the city midwife Anna Maria Claßen.

Life

From 1808 to 1813 he was an apprentice in wound medicine at the Düsseldorf Academy, the forerunner of the medical faculty. In 1813 he took a regimental position with the Bergische Lancers of the French army and took part in the battles of Leipzig and Hanau. From January 7, 1814, he was a battalion doctor in the Prussian army and in mid-1814 was stationed in Solingen - Gräfrath . In the same year, the Gräfrather Dr. from the stones. At the end of 1814, de Leuw received his license to practice medicine as a second class surgeon in Gräfrath.

On August 12, 1815 he married the Protestant (Joh) anna Maria Herder from Weyersberg (Dorp, today Solingen), the first-born daughter of the farmer and landlord Johann Wilhelm Herder (1767-1840) and Anna Christina Grah and approx. 5 km south Niece of the successful cutlery manufacturer and businessman Johann Abraham Herder (1761–1841), who was also her best man. ( Interdenominational marriages were not yet a matter of course at that time). On April 26, 1816, in the “ year without a summer ”, de Leuw's first child was born dead, and on May 10, 1817 Friedrich August de Leuw (Fritz) was born, who would later study art and become a landscape painter in Düsseldorf. Louis was born on January 21, 1819, studied medicine and became his father's assistant from 1846, but died in 1858. Further sons were born in 1820 and 1823 (Eduard Theobald, mayor in Cronenberg, Constantin Johann Joseph, singer in Gräfrath, Schützenkönig on the Lower Rhine, wine merchant in the Netherlands and most similar to the father). All sons were baptized Evangelicals. Another son named Karl Theobald Heinrich died in 1825 seven days after his birth, while the daughter Adeline Therese Louise Alwine, born on September 25, 1831, died in 1845.

Act

In 1823 de Leuw received his doctorate on trachoma in Gießen in absentia , but the title was never recognized in Prussia. It was only when de Leuw pointed out to the supervisory authorities that the Prussian king was addressing him with this title that he was able to use it with impunity from 1844. In 1829 the Westhoff'sche Apotheke moved from Haan to Gräfrath: De Leuw'sche Augenwasser was still a best seller in the 1980s (today it can no longer be sold because of its borate content). From 1830 de Leuw practiced in the classicist courtyard of Holland north of the Graefrath village center (today Wuppertaler Str. 249), where the patients also got a hotel room. After work, he rode his Arab mare through his lands.

De Leuw had great success in the treatment of eye diseases, in which he soon specialized. In 1838 he was appointed court councilor. Its international reputation followed the transport routes of the Solingen blades. Patients from all over the world flocked to Graefrath, including aristocrats, bishops and millionaires. However, there was criticism of the inadequate infrastructure on site (only walks as leisure activities, icy sidewalks, almost no lighting at night) and the days of waiting in de Leuw's practice. The Prussian Oculist , a travel guide for English patients , appeared in 1853 . It proves that de Leuw rejected the use of the popular mercury even then . In her book Return, Daphne du Maurier describes the treatment of her ancestor “Kicky” at de Leuw, whose one eye he could no longer save, but he took away the fear of going blind in the other. In 1843 de Leuw had moved privately to today's street In der Freiheit No. 25, next to which he had a new practice building built, but in which he then did not feel comfortable. In the revolutionary year of 1848 ( Vormärz ), de Leuw traveled incognito to Hanover to treat the blind heir to the throne, the future George V , who had previously been operated on by Carl Ferdinand von Graefe . Since Georg's ability to throne was in question due to his blindness , eye treatment was a political issue that should be kept as secret as possible.

Solingen-Gräfrath: Residential building and practice FH de Leuw, In der Freiheit 25
Solingen-Gräfrath: Sign on the residential building FH de Leuw, In der Freiheit 25

After an ophthalmological institution was not allowed to be built, the money raised was used to treat poor patients for free or at low lump sums and to pay for accommodation, care and medication. King Ernst August of Hanover offered de Leuw a position for 8,000 thalers a year as a second personal physician (for comparison, Virchow received 2000 thalers in Berlin when he took over his professorship at the Charité). De Leuw refused and practiced in Gräfrath in his practice next to the residential building In der Freiheit No. 25 (formerly Solinger Strasse) until his death in 1861. His character was evidenced shortly before by the refused signature under the objection to Abraham's building application Mayers for a new tallow candle factory - against 20 neighbors (including FW Rütgers, E. Picard, CEErnen, the sisters von den Steinen, JW Wester and A. von den Hütten) - “because he has nothing unhealthy, nor anything in the whole neighborhood something annoying that could still be seen in the complex. ”Another characteristic feature is the strict rejection of thanks, including the birthday party organized by the village community and a love letter.

Afterlife

With the death of de Leuw in 1861, the golden age of Graefrath as a health resort for eye patients was over. His four sons had become painters, doctors, administrators and merchants and were married to foreign women (London, Heeren , Hanover, Arnhem). Eduard was mayor of Dormagen and Cronenberg from 1856 to 1868 , Constantin was a wine merchant in Gräfrath for a few years before he moved to the Netherlands with his wife. Louis de Leuw , the doctor, died in 1858, a year and a half before his father. FHde Leuw's successor Dr. Meurer soon left Graefrath. De Leuw's estate in the Solingen city archive provides an insight into the practice of a 19th century surgeon. The extensive preserved correspondence that de Leuw had with his noble patients should be emphasized for the history of medicine.

A simple grave slab of the de Leuw family is in the Gräfrath municipal cemetery. Constantin JJ de Leuw and the wives of the sons August, Louis and Eduard are missing. Instead, a “Maria de Leuw” is named (possibly de Leuw's mother, Anna Maria Claaßen, died in 1837).

Family grave de Leuw (SG-Gräfrath)
Grave slab of the de Leuw family (SG-Gräfrath)

literature

  • R. Tewes: The Prussian ophthalmologist Friedrich Hermann de Leuw: And his practice in Gräfrath. Born, Wuppertal 1985, ISBN 3-87093-009-8 .
  • L. Peters: Gräfrath as it used to be. Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen, 1st edition 2001, ISBN 3-8313-1162-5 .
  • L. Peters: Gräfrath - walks into history. Bergischer Geschichtsverein Abt. Solingen e. V.
  • GJ Palmer: The Prussian Oculist, a manual of information respecting the Ober Medicinal Rath de Leuw, by an English Clergyman. London 1853, ISBN 1146180446 , ISBN 978-1146180443 .
  • The Great Oculist (FH de Leuw) or, all about Graefrath. Nabu Press, ISBN 1179318293 , ISBN 978-1179318295 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ City Archives Solingen: Birth certificate, Friedrich August de Leuw. Peter Rauh, Mayor of Graefrath 1814-1817, May 14, 1817, accessed on November 26, 2017 .
  2. ^ Schröter, H., Stohlmann, J., Discovered: Friedrich August painted his mother, in: Die Heimat, 10/1994, ISBN 3-925626-14-X
  3. ↑ Erdmann, A .: Music and song - choir rehearses for the anniversary concert. Solinger Tageblatt, September 14, 2016, accessed on October 1, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Benner, W., Bremes, K .: History of the City Gräfrath . Verlag der Stadt Gräfrath, 1920, p. 96 .
  5. ↑ RP, October 17, 2006: Eyewash was a hit
  6. ↑ Solingen city archive: http://www.zeitspurensuche.de/02/02bilder/leuwsch.jpg
  7. ^ Condon, Brian: Diary of John Thomas Hynes, 1843-1868. April 7, 1859. Retrieved September 19, 2017 .
  8. ↑ The Prussian Oculist. A manual of information respecting the Ober Medicinal Rath de Leuw, by an English Clergyman, p. 43 Google Books.
  9. ^ The Mayers, Jewish butchers in Gräfrath and Solingen | Tobias heart. Accessed September 10, 2017 (German).
  10. ↑ Schwebel, FK ,: Dr. Friedrich Hermann de Leuw, the person and the doctor . In: The home . tape 10 , 1994, ISBN 3-925626-14-X .
personal data
SURNAME Leuw, Friedrich Hermann de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1792
PLACE OF BIRTH Dinslaken
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 1861