History of Buckingham Palace

London remained the principal residence of the monarch, and hence the main seat of government.

The old Palace of Whitehall was all but destroyed by fire in 1698 and so the eighteenth-century monarchs made the Palace of St James their principal London residence until 1762.

The first house on the site was built in 1633. In 1702, Lord Arlington’s heirs sold the house to John Sheffield, the first Duke of Buckingham.

The duke did not consider his purchase grand enough for his position and cleared the site for a new house built slightly to the north with it main façade facing east aligned with The Mall. Buckingham House was built in 1702, designed by William Talman and completed by Capitan William Winde.

Buckingham House was intended to overawe William III’s inferior accommodation at St James Palace. 

George III acquired the property in 1762 for his private residence so that his young bride, Queen Charlotte could have a quiet place to retreat from the rigid formality of court at nearby St. James’s Palace.

When George IV came to the throne, he directed his architect, John Nash to remake the place into a theatrical showplace, worthy of being the official center of his resplendent court.

The King did not live to see the place finished. His brother, William IV, never moved there either; and when Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 it was scarcely habitable.

In 1837, Queen Victoria, became the first monarch to inhabit the new palace.
History of Buckingham Palace

Sir William Henry Broadbent: English neurologist

Sir William Henry Broadbent (1835-1907) received his medical education at Manchester Medical School and Paris.

He was initially physician to the London Fever Hospital and the Western General Dispensary. He practiced largely from St. Mary’s Hospital, London and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1896. He conducted a research in cancer, paralysis and aphasia. His advanced theory known ‘Broadbent’s Hypothesis’ dealt with hemiplegia.

He was also Physician-in-Ordinary to the Prince of Wales (1892), Physician-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria (1896) and Physician-in-Ordinary to the new Prince of Wales (1901).

Sir William Henry Broadbent was created a baronet as a result of his services as physician to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII.
Sir William Henry Broadbent: English neurologist