Epps family
Encyclopedia
The Epps family was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 family, well known in commerce and medicine. In the second half of the 18th century they had been settled near Ashford, Kent
Ashford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...

, for some generations, claiming descent from an equerry
Equerry
An equerry , and related to the French word "écuyer" ) is an officer of honour. Historically, it was a senior attendant with responsibilities for the horses of a person of rank. In contemporary use, it is a personal attendant, usually upon a Sovereign, a member of a Royal Family, or a national...

 of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, but were reduced in circumstances, when John Epps rose to prosperity as a provision merchant in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and restored the family fortunes. He had four sons, of whom John
John Epps
Dr John Epps was best known as a "homoeopathic physician", although his influence was wider as he was involved in "the advancement of commercial, political or religious freedom".-Early years and education:...

 (1805–1869), George Napoleon (1815–1874), and James (1821–1907) were notable men of their day, the two former as prominent doctors who were ardent converts to homoeopathy, and James as a homoeopathic chemist and the founder of the great cocoa business associated with his name. Among Dr. G. N. Epps's children were Dr. Washington Epps, a well-known homoeopathist, Laura Theresa, Lady Alma-Tadema, and Mrs. Edmund Gosse
Edmund Gosse
Sir Edmund William Gosse CB was an English poet, author and critic; the son of Philip Henry Gosse and Emily Bowes.-Early life:...

.

Epps's cocoa

During the nineteenth century, Epps's cocoa was shipped all over the world. On the 23rd of June, 1887, the British ship Dunskeig, of Glasgow, was shipwrecked off Cape Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...

. On August 16, the survivors of the Dunskeigs crew were joined by survivors from the abandoned British ship Colorado. The survivors from the two crews, twenty-five men in all, were stranded on the Isla de los Estados
Isla de los Estados
Isla de los Estados is an Argentine island that lies off the eastern extremity of the Argentine portion of Tierra del Fuego, from which it is separated by the Le Maire Strait...

until the 20th of August with nothing to eat except a large quantity of Epps's cocoa, which had washed ashore.

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