Abernethy , John , 1764-1831 , surgeon

John Abernethy was born in London in 1764 and attended Wolverhampton Grammar School. He trained in medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital and the London Hospital, being named Assistant Surgeon at St. Bartholomew's in 1787. From 1791 onwards he gave extremely popular lectures on anatomy, physiology and surgery which were the basis of modern medical training at St. Bartholomew's; indeed, his eminence in the medical profession of the time is due to these talents as an educator and presenter rather than to original research. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1796 and became full Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's in 1815. He resigned the latter post in 1827 and died in 1831.