James Roche Verling

Dr. James Roche Verling was born in Cobh, County Cork, Ireland in 1787. He graduated in Medicine from Edinburgh University, Scotland and became a surgeon in the British Army during the Peninsular War. After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and his exile in St. Helena after 1815 the British decided that Napoleon needed a personal physician. The first to fill that post was another Irishman Barry Edward O'Meara but the British dismissed him as they felt he was too close to Napoleon. Verling had already been a surgeon on board the ship Northumberland which brought Napoleon to St. Helena and was chosen to replace O'Meara.

Dr. Verling returned home to Cobh in 1820 where he lived at Bella Vista (which is now the Bellavista Hotel) until his death in 1858. He is buried in the Old Church Cemetery, Cobh, which is the cemetery where over 100 victims of the Lusitania are buried.