Dr and Mrs George Peacocke

The sitters are identified as 'Mr and Mrs Peacock' [sic] in the Silvy daybooks, the gentleman had previously sat for Silvy on 31 October 1864 when his name was recorded as 'G. Peacocke, Esq.'

The likeliest match for a fuller identification is George Peacocke, MA, MD, of the Army Medical Department, who, on 7 March 1866 at All Souls in Langham Place, married Rose Emily Wilkinson Smith, only daughter of George Smith, Esq., of Cambridge Terrace, Hyde Park (Alnwick Mercury, 10 March 1866).

Rose Peacocke appears on the 1871 census, an 'Army Surgeon's wife' living at Broyle Mill House near Chichester with her three children: Constance (4), Kathleen (1) and George (1 month). Constance was born in Trinidad, Kathleen in Dublin and George in Chichester.

Captain Peacocke could never have laid eyes on his son. On 5 June 1871, two months after the census was taken, George Peacocke 'late of Her Majesty's 63rd Regiment of Infantry, Army Surgeon' died, aged 42, at Hazareebaugh [modern spelling: Hazaribagh] in India (Army and Navy Gazette, 1 July 1871). According to the Morning Post (10 July 1871), the cause of death was diptheria. He left an estate valued at £300.

Mrs Rose Emily Wilkinson Peacocke died on 15 February 1895 at Ardath, Leed Street, Sandown, Isle of Wight. She left an estate valued at £245.

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London on 7 March 1866.