10 Famous People Who Suffered Death By Irony

Sir Frederick Treves can rather legitimately lay claim to being the single most famous surgeon of the Victorian-era simply for his association with Joseph Merrick - better known as "the Elephant Man".

However, before his interactions with the former sideshow attraction, Treves had already gained a reputation as a surgeon of the highest repute in an era where surgery usually required a hefty dose of ether and a few strong men to keep the patient in place.

Most notably, he is recognised as being the very first surgeon in England to perform a successful appendectomy - which he performed in June of 1988 - which almost directly led to his appointment to the position of Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria.

Despite his specialism in regards to the appendix, he was unable to use his skills to prevent the death of his own daughter, who died of a perforated appendix in 1900.

The incident would foreshadow his own fate. In 1923 - having moved to Switzerland to live out the remainder of his years - Treves dies of peritonitis, which is most commonly caused by a ruptured appendix.