Harriet Wheelock / Thursday 18 June 2015 Napoleon's Toothbrush Today marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo which led to the final defeat of Napoleon by the allied forces, so it seems a good time to look at one of the more unusual items in our collection; Napoleon’s toothbrush. Napoleon's toothbrush In July 1815 the Irish born Barry Edward O’Meara was senior surgeon on the HMS Bellerophon, when Napoleon surrendered at La Rochelle. As O’Meara spoke both French and Italian he could talk to Napoleon, and when Napoleon learned he was to be imprisoned on the island of St Helena he requested to have O’Meara as his personal physician. O’Meara agreed, but informed the British authorities he would act as physician only, and not as their spy. During the voyage, and on St. Helena, Napoleon and O’Meara became close friends. O’Meara spent many hours with Napoleon attempting to keep him from boredom. Napoleon told O’Meara to keep a diary of his time on the island, when O’Meara asked why, Napoleon replied ‘Doctor, it will make you a fortune, but please do not publish until after I am dead’. Napoleon in exile on St Helena Napoleon commonly gave presents and mementos to his friends, however, given the conditions of his captivity on St. Helena he had few possessions and as a result he presented a number of personal items to O’Meara as a testament to their friendship. These included Napoleon’s toothbrush and a bar of soap with Napoleon’s profile on one side and the Empress Josephine’s on the other. In his diary O’Meara recorded the presentation of one gift by Napoleon, a small snuff box; Count Montholon came in, to whom Napoleon whispered something; after which he went out, and returned with a snuff-box, which he gave to the emperor, who presented it to me with his own hands, saying, “here doctor, is a present I make to you for the attention which you manifested towards me during my illness.” It is needless to say that a gift from the hands of such a man was received with sensations of pride, and that I endeavoured to express the sentiments which occupied my mind. O’Meara’s close friendship with Napoleon brought him under the suspicion of Sir Hudson Lowe, the island’s governor. Lowe was eventually able to have O’Meara dismissed from his post, and he left the island in July 1818. On his return to England, O’Meara informed the admiralty that Napoleon was seriously ill and needed to be brought to England for proper treatment. The admiralty attempted to buy O’Meara’s silence by offering him a lucrative position, but O’Meara refused. Two weeks later O’Meara was informed that he was cashiered from the navy, had lost his pension and was no longer to practice medicine. Not daunted by these events, O’Meara set up as a dentist, displaying Napoleon’s wisdom tooth and a letter of recommendation in his shop window. Three years later, on 5th May 1821, Napoleon died at St. Helena, of cancer of the stomach. The following year O’Meara published the edited version of his diary of his life with Napoleon. The work caused an immediate sensation, with the police controlling the crowds who lined up to buy the book. As Napoleon had predicted it made O’Meara’s name and fortune, with the work running through several editions and soon being translated into French. O’Meara became a well known London character, and the subject of much conversation. The work was dedicated to Lady Holland, who had already helped O’Meara prepare earlier attacks on Sir Hudson Lowe for his treatment of Napoleon’s health as a matter of indifference. O’Meara’s book did not meet with universal acclaim. The government was quick to attack him, as was the anti-Napoleon Times. In July 1822 O’Meara mistakenly attacked a man in the street who he believed to be the owner of The Times. The affray landed O’Meara in front of a judge, where he made a public apology. O’Meara outlived his most famous patient by 15 years; he died in London on 12th July 1836 aged 53. Part of RCPI's Napoleonic Collection O'Meara's collection of Napoleon relics passed through the hands of several Irish surgeons, finally falling into the possession of Sir Frederic Conway Dwyer. Dwyer was a leading Surgeon in the early years of the twentieth century, and was both Professor of Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons and President of that College from 1914-1915. Dwyer was an authority on Napoleonic literature, and had a considerable collection of books and memorabilia relating to this interest, including some of O’Meara’s former possessions. Sir Frederick Conway Dwyer died in October 1935. In his Will he left his considerable fortune to the daughter of a family friend, Mrs Tyrell, which caused some consternation at the time. In 1936 Mrs Tyrell presented Conway Dwyer’s collection of Napoleonic items to the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. You can find out more about O’Meara and Napoleon in O’Meara’s work Napoleon in Exile, or A Voice From St. Helena (1822 ) and Hubert O’Connor’s work The Emperor and the Irishman (2008), both of which are available to consult in the RCPI Heritage Centre. Our Napoleonic collection is on display in 6 Kildare Street, and can be viewed by appointment. Please contact heritagecentre@rcpi.ie to find out more.