1824-33 LECTURER AT BART'S 35 



Before the end of the year Owen was engaged 

 to be married to Miss Clift. 



William Clift had a sincere affection for his 

 assistant, and from his letters appeared to have no 

 objection to his marriage with his only daughter. 

 Whatever opposition there was to the match 

 proceeded from Mrs. Clift, who insisted that 

 Owen should have sufficient means to provide 

 for her daughter, before she would hear of the 

 marriage taking place. 



In the following year (1828) Owen was 

 appointed Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy 

 at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, an appointment 

 which was the starting point of his career as a 

 lecturer. This was not a particularly remunerative 

 post, and he soon found, even joining the stipend 

 to that which he was receiving as Assistant 

 Curator of the Hunterian Collections, that if he 

 were to think of getting married he must look out 

 for something which would provide him with 

 sufficient means to do so. In October his mother 

 writes : — 



' I am most anxious, my dear boy, for your 

 improvement and success in your profession. I 

 have lately been reading a book entitled '• Publick 

 Characters in the Year 1823," amongst the rest 

 Peel, Scarlett, Sir H. Halford, &c. Many of the 

 characters are men who by perseverance and 

 steadiness in their profession have made their 

 mark in the world, and one observation particularly 



D 2 



