Dr John King, Surgeon and Vaccinator at the Pneumatic Institute, lived here from 1811. He had married Emmeline Edgeworth, sister of Beddoes’s wife Anne. He had worked with Beddoes since 1799, first in Dowry Square and then at Broad Quay. Dr King was infamous for holding unpopular democratic views, was elected a member of the Philosophical Society and devoted 50 years to medicine in Bristol. King took a great interest in art: he supported Bristol painter Edward Villiers Rippingdale and took part in sketching excursions to Leigh Woods. He died in 1846, aged 80, and is buried in Arnos Vale Cemetery. His memorial carries the following engraving:
HAVING ACQUIRED AN EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE
ESPECIALLY IN THE DISEASES TO WHICH
THE HUMAN FORM IS LIABLE
NEGLIGENT OF FORTUNE
ASSIDUOUS IN SOLACING THE POOR
BELOVED BY FAMILY AND KINDRED
HONOURED BY FRIELDS AND NEIGHBOURS
SAUGHT AND CONSULTED BY STRANGERS
AND NOW CALLED TO RECEIVE HIS REWARD
BY HIM WHOSE MINISTER HE WAS.
HERE RESTS FROM HIS LABOURS
AMIDST THE BENEDICTIONS OF THEM ALL
JOHN KING
HE WAS BORN AT BERNE IN SWITZERLAND
OF WHICH CITY HE WAS A PATRICIAN.
HE PRACTICED AS A SURGEON AT CLIFTON
ALMOST 50 YEARS.
AND DIED THERE ON THE 18TH DAY OF AUGUST 1846
AGED 80
ALSO EMMELINE HIS WIDOW
SECOND DAUGHTER OF R.L. EDGEWORTH ESQ.
OF EDGEWORTHTOWN, IRELAND.
DIED IN LONDON ON 31ST DAY OF DECEMEBER 1847
AGED 77.
ALSO ZOE KING THEIR ELDEST DAUGHTER
BORN AT CLIFTON JULY 31ST 1803
DIED AT BATH 25TH SEPTEMBER 1881
KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETH