Edmund Gardiner Fishbourne 1811 - 1887

Admiral Edmund Gardiner Fishbourne 1811 - 1887, RN, CNB, Commander of HMS Hermes in 1851, was a Patron of the London Homeopathic Hospital, and of the homeopathic hospital in Smyrna, Fishbourne was a Steward at the 1858 Annual Festival in aid of the London Homeopathic Hospital.

Edmund Gardiner Fishbourne was a close friend of William Francis Cowper Temple and Georgiana Tollemache Mount Temple (James Gregory, Reformers, Patrons and Philanthropists, (Taurus Academic Studies, 2010). Page 218), who were close friends of  James John Garth Wilkinson.

The supporters of homeopathy are now striving to establish a large metropolitan hospital, which shall be conducted according to the principles inculcated by Samuel Hahnemann, which will be a school for homeopathic students, and which will afford to allopathic physicians the means of inquiring into the merits of the new doctrine and practice.

A public dinner in aid of the building fund of this charity took place on Wednesday, April 21 at Willis’s Rooms, when the Duke of Beaufort, George Ponsonby O’Callaghan 2nd Viscount Lismore, Arthur de Vere Capell Viscount Malden, Henry Robinson Montagu 6th Baron Rokeby, Lord Grey de Wilton, Lord Cosmo Russell, Robert Grosvenor, Mr Truman MP, Major Blake, Captain Fishbourne RN, Mr Pritchard [High Bailiff of Southwark], Mr Sheriff Rutherford, Frederick Hervey Foster Quin, John Rutherford Russell, and about 150 other gentlemen, known as supporters and practitioners of homeopathy in the metropolis and in the provinces.

The usual toasts were given, viz– “The Queen;” “The Prince Consort and the Royal Family;” and “The Army and Navy,” responded to by Henry Robinson Montagu 6th Baron Rokeby and Captain Fishbourne RN, who alluded to their experience of the benefits personally derived by them from homeopathy during their service in the Niger expedition and in the Crimea. The Chairman then proposed “Success to the London Homeopathic Hospital,” which was enthusiastically received.

The homeopathic hospital in Smyrna, was also supported by: Arthur Algernon Capell 6th Earl of Essex, Lord Lovaine MP (Algernon George Percy 6th Duke of Northumberland), James Gambier 1st Baron Gambier, George Wyndham 1st Baron Leconfield, Colonel Taylor, Captain Fishbourne, Robert Grosvenor 1st Baron Ebury, Richard Whately Archbishop of Dublin, Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset 8th Duke of Beaufort, Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington, James Hamilton 1st Duke of Abercorn, and 18 other members of the House of Lords, 43 Peer’s sons, Baronets and Members of Parliament, 17 Generals, 33 Field Officers, 43 other Officers of the Army, 2 Admirals, 15 Captains of the navy, 65 Clergymen, 45 Justices of the Peace, Barristers and Solicitors, and 314 Bankers, Merchants and others.

Fishbourne entered the Royal Navy in 1824, becomming a Lieutenant in 1835, a Commander in 1841, a Captain in 1853, he retired as an Admiral in 1879. Between 1835 and 1850, he saw active duty across Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, and the East Indies,

In 1847, Fishbourne was reported in a debate in Hansard,

In 1852-3, Fishbourne was the Second in Command under Commodore Lambert in the 2nd Anglo Burmese war,

In 1854, the newly promoted ‘Captain’ Fishbourne and the HMS Hermes were paid off in Woolwich after steaming 75,000 miles.

In 1857, Fishbourne was involved with an attempt to lay the North Atlantic Cable,

In 1858, Captain Fishbourne gave a lecture On Floating Batteries (reported in the United Services Institute Journal Vol II, 1858), and he was a prodigeous author of articles on shipping techniques, on various military campaigns, he also wrote What is Sin?, The Injustice of Free Trade Policy, Entire Sanctification; or, a clean heart is the doctrine of Scripture, The Irish Plundered, Manufacturers enriched, and Foreigners protected, Means employed to raise the Condition of British Seamen, Protection for her people and her industries the cure for Irish discontent, Romans vii. 14-25 represents unconverted experience!, Wholeness, or holiness and health through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,