Percell Funeral Home

Derek James tells the story of the extraordinary Sir Peter Eade. You may have heard of Eade Road in Norwich but do you know who this Eade fellow was? He was a man who saved lives, served, protected and improved the city we know today...oh yes, and he loved tortoises.It was 160 years ago when Peter Eade was appointed physician at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital which, in those days, had 144 beds for patients, 26 for nurses, servants and officers...times were tough.His story starts in the winter of 1824 when young Peter was born in the parish of Acle where his father, also Peter, was a doctor.He had a private tutor until, aged 13, he went to grammar school at Yarmouth and hated every minute of it. He later wrote in his diary that they were “the most unhappy days of my whole life.”Young Peter was always expected to following his father into the medical profession. He went off to King’s College Hospital in London which was far more to his liking.In 1848 he returned to Norfolk to help his father in his practice at Blofield before moving to Norwich...and we should all be grateful that he did.He went from being the physician to the Norwich Public Dispensary, often visiting patients in their own homes, to being physician at the Norfolk and Norwich, an association with the hospital which would last for more than 50 years.A few years later he moved into the grand home of Dr Ranking at St Giles in the city where he also worked as a doctor. He married Ellen daughter of Hugh Rump of Wells-next-the-Sea.Both his hospital work and his private practice resulted in him before one of the best loved doctors in the city. He raised money needed to buy land next to the hospital so it could be made larger and also worked at the Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children and the Great Hospital.But Peter wanted more and wrote: “Almost from the first...