Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Aikin, Charles Rochemont

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AIKIN, CHARLES ROCHEMONT (1775–1847), doctor and chemist, was the second son of John Aikin, M.D., and was born at Warrington in 1775. He was adopted, as a child, by his aunt, Mrs. Barbauld, and educated by her husband at his school at Palgrave in Suffolk. He is the ‘little Charles’ of Mrs. Barbauld's ‘Early Lessons.’ From an early age he devoted himself to science,and aided his eldest brother, Arthur [see Aikin, Arthur], in his first published works and public lectures. Subsequently he applied himself to medicine, became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and was chosen secretary of the London Medical and Chirurgical Society. He married Anne, daughter of the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, and died at his house in Bloomsbury Square on 20 March 1847. His works were:

1. ‘Concise View of all the most important Facts that have hitherto appeared respecting the Cow Pox,’ 1800.
2. Dictionary of Chemistry and Mineralogy,’ 1807–1814, which he wrote in conjunction with his eldest brother.

[Kendrick's Profiles of Warrington Worthies (1854), p. 4; Christian Reformer for 1847, p. 312; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816.]