The Rope family were merchants and shipowners who had lived on the Suffolk coast since the seventeenth century, and had been involved in the trade on the Alde since 1766. In about 1827, George Rope entered the service of his uncle, George Mingay of Orford. Their trade was coastal, ferryin coal between the northeast and Suffolk, and taking agricultural produce to London. They were based at Orford, which had been set up to try and boost the flagging coastal trade. Although the arrival of the railways further harmed this traditional industry, Mingay and Rope (as they became when George Rope was created a partner) prospered, due to their introduction of schooners to replace the traditional brigs. Indeed George Rope continued trading well into the 1880s, and maintained his connections with Orford, being mayor three times.
British seamen and British shipowners under the National Health Insurance Scheme of 1911 were required to pay a contribution to the National Insurance Fund. The Lascar Fund became established so that contributions by shipowners could be made with respect to foreign seamen employed in British ships. This fund later became The Seamen's Pension Fund and subsequently after receiving a grant of Royal Charter in 1931, The Royal Seamen's Pension Fund. A scheme for the Constitution of a Governing Body was established in 1919. This Governing Body comprised of seven representatives of shipowners and seven representatives of all persons entitled to benefits from the fund. The fund was administered until 1928 by an officer of the Ministry of Health, after which time it was deemed necessary to set up a separate establishment with its own secretary for the body. Initially, benefits were awarded only to those seamen who were members of approved societies. In 1929, the Governing Body decided that benefit should be broadened to all those seamen residing in the United Kingdom who had either served in the British merchant marine or British fishing fleets. The overarching requisite for being eligible for benefit was number of years of service at sea as a master and seaman, being resident and dwelling in Britain, natural born or naturalised British subjects. Preference was given to those applicants who served not less than 24 years actual sea service in foreign going ships. The minimum age a pension could be awarded was 65 for a man and 60 for a woman (requiring not less than 15 years service at sea). In 1928 pensions were made payable for life.
By an order of 1845 the Board of Trade authorised a system of voluntary examination of competency for men intending to become masters and mates of foreign-going British merchant ships. The system was made compulsory for those seeking promotion by the Act of 1850 and extended to the examination of masters and mates of home trade vessels by the consolidating Act of 1854. Examinations were conducted in the major ports of the United Kingdom and successful candidates were granted Certificates of Competency. Masters and mates already serving were granted Certificates of Service. In 1862 Certificates of Competency were issued to engineers and those already serving were granted Certificates of Service. In 1881 Certificates of Competency were issued to officers with experience in steamships. In the same year Certificates of Competency were issued to skippers and mates of fishing boats and two years later Certificates of Service were also issued.
The Royal United Services Institution was formed in 1916. In the previous year Lord Lynedoch had formed a General Military Club which merged with the Navy Club soon after the opening of its first premises. It is now known as the Royal United Services Institute.
Edward Montagu, first earl of Sandwich, KG (1625-1672), army and naval officer and diplomat, was born at Barnwell, Northamptonshire, on 27 July 1625, the second but eldest surviving son of Sir Sydney Montagu (circa 1571-1644) of Hinchingbrooke, Huntingdonshire. Montagu was MP for Huntingdonshire and groom of the bedchamber to James I. In October 1655 he was appointed to the admiralty committee and later general at sea (2 January 1656). This was a position he shared with Robert Blake whose illness led to Cromwell's need for another trusted authority in the fleet, thus securing Montagu's elevation. The fleet under Montagu and Blake sailed on 15 March 1656 and took command in the first-rate NASEBY. Successfully reconnoitring Tangier, Tetuan and Gibraltar the NASEBY returned home and on 17 July Montagu commanded the fleet to support the attacks on Dunkirk and Mardyke. In 1659 Montagu took command of a fleet set for the Baltic, finding forces of Charles X of Sweden at Copenhagen and redirecting his efforts to persuade the Dutch to remain peaceful and not intervene. However Montagu withdrew upon hearing the fall of Richard Cromwell. He was appointed to the council of state on 23 February and made general at sea jointly with Monck on 2 March 1660; appointed to the admiralty commission on 3 March. Montagu's critical involvement in the landing of the royal party at Dover on 25 May 1660 led to his being made an earl, choosing Sandwich for his title on 12 July 1660, later a knight of the Garter. In the Second Anglo-Dutch War 1665-1667 he fought at the Battle of Lowestoft and later defeated at the Battle of Vagen. He was re-appointed in 1672 at the start of the Third Anglo-Dutch War he was appointed Vice- Admiral of the Blue serving in the ROYAL JAMES. He was killed at the Battle of Solebay, his ship destroyed by a group of fire ships. He was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey on 3 July 1672 after a state funeral beginning along the River Thames as part of decorated barges sailing from Deptford. Interestingly, Montagu was the first cousin of the father of Samuel Pepys.
John Montagu took his seat in the House of Lords in 1739 and in 1744 was appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty. He represented the United Kingdom at the negotiations leading to the conclusion of peace in 1748. He then became First Lord of the Admiralty 1748 to 1761, for a brief period in 1763 and again from 1771 to 1782, after which he held no further public office. A selection of his papers were published by Sir George Barnes and Commander J.H. Owen, 'The private papers of John, Earl of Sandwich 1771-1782' (Navy Records Society, 1932-1938, 4 volumes). There is a biography by George Martelli, 'Jemmy Twitcher, a life of the Fourth Earl of Sandwich' (London, 1962).
Shirreff entered the Navy in 1796, was promoted to lieutenant in 1804 and to captain in 1809. Between 1817 and 1821 he commanded the ANDROMACHE in the Pacific, at the time of the Chilean War of Independence. He also despatched Edward Bransfield (c 1783-1852), Master of the ANDROMACHE, in the hired ship WILLIAMS OF BLYTH to claim the South Shetland Islands, 1819 to 1820, for Britain. Between 1830 and 1837 Shirreff was Captain of the Port of Gibraltar under the Colonial Service. In 1838 he was appointed to Captain-Superintendent of Deptford Victualling Yard. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1846.
Smith-Dorrien entered the BRITANNIA in 1870 and then went to the TRAFALGAR, which was the cadet training ship at that time. His first service was in the ENDYMION between 1872 and 1873, after which he joined the VOLAGE during an expedition, 1874 to 1875, to observe the transit of Venus at Kerguelen Island, Indian Ocean. He then served in the SULTAN, Channel Squadron, before taking his gunnery and Greenwich courses. In 1876 he was appointed to the SHAH on her commission as flagship in the Pacific and was present at the action with the Peruvian turret-ship HUASCAR. During the Zulu War of 1879 he was in the Naval Brigade and was also promoted to lieutenant. From 1880, he was in the ECLIPSE, East Indies Station, operating against the slave trade; he ended the commission by service in the Naval Brigade in Egypt, 1882. On his return home he was appointed Flag-Lieutenant to the Commander-in-Chief, Devonport. From 1884 to 1885 he served in the Mediterranean and then in China in the INVINCIBLE; from 1886 to 1887 he was in the Red Sea in the CONDOR; from 1887 to 1889 he was in the ESPIEGLE, in the Pacific and then from 1889 to 1893 was in the PHAETON on the Mediterranean Station. He was appointed commander in 1893, going to the BRITANNIA and in 1897 to the ALACRITY, Admiral's despatch vessel on the China Station. Having become a captain in 1900, in 1901 he commanded the RAINBOW. He retired in 1904 and was promoted to rear-admiral on the retired list in 1909.
Smithett joined the packet service in 1814 and was on the Dover Station from 1821 to 1825, when he went to the Port Patrick (SW Scotland) service. He returned to Dover in 1831 and was still there in 1837 when the operation of the mail steam vessels was transferred from the control of the Post-Master General to that of the Admiralty; he continued to serve at Dover until 1855, when another change in policy led to the substitution of contract packets; the naval connection was formally ended in 1860. Smithett subsequently held occasional employment as a pilot for the Royal Yacht but no record can be found of any further service after 1857. He was knighted in 1862.
The Society was founded in 1910 to encourage research into subjects of naval and maritime interest. It led the campaign to preserve the Victory in dry dock at Portsmouth in 1922 and similar projects, including the unsuccessful attempt to save the Implacable which was scuttled at sea in 1949. It played an important part in the foundation of the National Maritime Museum and of the Victory Museum, now the Portsmouth Royal Naval Museum. It publishes quarterly The Mariner's Mirror, an historical journal of nautical interest.
Sir Robert Southwell (1635-1702), who was appointed Clerk to the Commission of Prizes in 1664 and, as well as holding diplomatic posts, became Principal Secretary of State for Ireland in 1690. His son Edward Southwell (1671-1730) succeeded him in the latter post. There are also papers of William Blathwayt, Secretary at War (1649?-1717), whose daughter married Edward Southwell in 1717. Since the Southwells and Blathwayt were often abroad, many of these letters are from the Secretary of State at home, who was for the greater part of the time Daniel Finch, Earl of Nottingham (1647-1730), giving news of decisions reached by the Queen, and after her death in 1694, by the Lords Justices.
The Thames Sailing Barge Trust Exploratory Committee was formed in 1952 by a small group of enthusiasts who realized that sailing craft were disappearing from the trading life of Britain. Plans were made to raise public subscriptions to purchase a barge to be maintained perpetually in working condition under sail alone. The Trust was formed in 1954 and in 1956 acquired the sailing barge, MEMORY. At the same time the name of the Society was changed to the Sailing Barge Preservation Society to avoid confusion with other organizations. Trading proved difficult in 1959 because of lack of cargoes and also because the MEMORY sustained damage when run down in fog. In 1960 the Society decided to wind up its affairs and its assets were given to the Foudroyant Trust.
Stokes entered the Navy in 1824 and joined the BEAGLE the following year. He served in her for eighteen years, surveying first in South American and then in Australian waters. He was Assistant Surveyor under Robert Fitzroy (1805-1865) during the voyage of 1831 to 1836 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1837. When, in 1841, John Clements Wickham (1798-1864) was invalided during the Australian survey, Stokes took command of the BEAGLE and completed the commission, returning to England in 1843. He was promoted to captain in 1846. From 1847 to 1851 he commanded the ACHERON on the survey of New Zealand. His last employment was in the English Channel survey, 1859 to 1863. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1864, vice-admiral in 1871 and admiral in 1877.
Robert Stopford, son of the Hon. Sir Robert Stopford, entered the Navy in 1825 and was promoted lieutenant in 1831. He was present at the siege of Acre, 1840, and was sent home with his father's despatches after the action. In 1841 he was promoted to captain and commanded the TALBOT in the Mediterranean for one year, employed for some of the time in surveying the Skerki Channel off Sardinia. He commanded the ASIA, 1848 to 1851, in the Pacific Squadron under Rear-Admiral (later Admiral) Sir Phipps Hornby. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1860, Vice-Admiral in 1866 and Admiral in 1871.
Montagu Stopford, nephew of Admiral the Hon Sir Robert Stopford, entered the Navy in 1810. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1819 and to captain in 1825. After intermittent service on various stations he was promoted to rear-admiral in 1853. He was Captain of the Fleet during the Crimean War and between 1855 and 1858 was Superintendent of Malta Dockyard. He became a vice-admiral in 1858.
Charles Steevens entered the Navy in about 1720, was promoted to lieutenant in 1729, to commander in 1744 ELIZABETH; he was also promoted to rear-admiral in that year. In 1760 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the station, moved to the Norfolk and undertook the blockade of Pondicherry, which surrendered in 1761.
See Nathaniel Steevens, 'The naval career Of Rear-Admiral Charles Steevens from 1720 to 1761' (published privately, 1874).
The South Western Steam Packet Company was incorporated in 1843 'to convey Passengers, Merchandize and Goods by means of Steam Packets between the Port of Southampton and the Port of Havre in the Kingdom of France and any other Ports in any of the Islands in the British Channel'. The Company had in 1842 purchased seven ships from the defunct Commercial Steam Packet Company, a competitor on the same service. In late 1846 a new company, the New South Western Navigation Company, was formed with the object of co-operating with the London and South Western Railway; it took over the South Western fleet. Development of the sea link continued to be bound up with the railway services; the London and South Western Railway Company became the dominant partner and in 1862 took possession of the New South Western's fleet under the terms of mortgage entered into in 1848 and 1849.
William Stewart, eldest son of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Houston Stewart (1791-1875), entered the Navy in 1835. He became a lieutenant in 1842, a commander in 1848 and a captain in 1854. In 1860 he joined the MARLBOROUGH as Flag-Captain to Sir William Fanshawe Martin (1801-1895), in the Mediterranean, where he remained for three years. The rest of his service was in administrative appointments. He was promoted to rear-admiral in 1870 and from July of that year was Admiral Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard until the end of 1871, when he was appointed in the same capacity to Portsmouth. From 1872 to 1881 he was Controller of the Navy, although without a seat on the Board of Admiralty. He became a vice-admiral in 1876 and admiral in 1881, when he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Devonport. Here he remained for the full period of three years and retired in 1885.
Edward Thompson, Commodore ([1738]-1786);Thompson, son of a merchant, appears to have gone to sea at the age of 12. He is said to have made a voyage to Greenland in 1750. He served on board the STIRLING CASTLE, Hon East India Company, in 1755 and in 1757 was promoted as Lieutenant of the JASON. In 1758, he was moved to the DORSETSHIRE in which he took part in the blockade of Brest and the Battle of Quiberon Bay. He was on board the BELLONA from 1760 to 1763 and then on half pay. In 1771, he was promoted to Commander and served in the North Sea on preventive service. He moved to the RAVEN later that year. He was again on half-pay from 1772 until 1778, when he was appointed to the HYENA and went out to the West Indies, accompanied by his nephew, Thomas Boulden Thompson.
In 1783 he was appointed to the GRAMPUS in which he went to the west coast of Africa as Commodore of a small squadron there. He died there of a fever on board the GRAMPUS in 1786. Edward Thompson was a master of poetry and verse, which later earned him the nickname 'Poet Thompson'. He was a friend of David Garrick and John Wilkes. There is a detailed biography entitled 'Poet Thompson' in the papers of Lady Ellinor Thompson, written by her.
Thomas Boulden Thompson, Vice-Adm, 1st Bt (1766-1828). Thomas Boulden took the surname Thompson from his uncle, Edward Thompson, when he came under his guardianship at an early age. He went to sea with his uncle in 1778. In 1783 he was appointed, again with his uncle, to the GRAMPUS and, on his uncle's death, was promoted by a senior officer to Commander, which was later confirmed. In 1787 he went on half-pay. He was advanced to post rank in 1790 but had no employment until 1796, when he was appointed to the LEANDER, and in 1798 was sent as part of a squadron to the Mediterranean to reinforce Nelson. He took part in the Battle of the Nile and later, on board the LEANDER, fell in with the GENEREUX when he was wounded and then captured. He was acquitted at a court-martial and praised for his defence of the ship. He was knighted and awarded a pension. In 1799 he was appointed to the BELLONA and stayed in her until 1801 at Copenhagen when the ship stuck fast on a shoal within range of the Danish guns. Thompson was amongst the wounded and lost his leg. In 1806 he was created a baronet and was appointed Comptroller of the Navy, apost he held until 1816. He was then appointed Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital and Director of the Chest. He became a Rear-Admiral in 1809, and Vice-Admiral in 1814. He was Member of Parliament for Rochester, 1807-1818. He died at his home at Hartsbourne, Hertfordshire in 1828.
Thomas Raikes Trigge Thompson, Vice-Adm, 2nd Bt (1804-1865) Thompson was the son of Vice-Adm Thomas Boulden Thompson, and entered the Navy in 1818 after going to the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth in 1816. He became Lieutenant in 1825 and promoted in 1828 to the command of the CADMUS along the coast of Brazil and Patagonia, 1828-1830. He became a Captain in 1837.
Thursby entered the Royal Navy in 1874, was promoted to Lieutenant in 1883 and to Commander in 1895. Made up to Captain in 1901, he was given command of HMS KING ALFRED and then HMS SWIFTSURE, stationed in Asia-Minor and Crete. Promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1911, Thursby took part in the Dardenelles campaign and was in charge of landing the ANZAC forces at Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli in 1915. After this he was given command of the British Adriatic Squadron in 1916, then, as Vice-Admiral, was given the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron in 1917. Towards the end of his career, Thursby was commanding Coastguard and Reserves, followed by an appointment to Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, before retiring as Admiral in 1920.
Mr E J Tyler was a professional writer who had been interested in paddle steamers since he was a child. In 1949, he undertook a detailed investigation into those steamers still remaining since the building of the last paddle Cunarders in 1862, which was an area of study that had been ignored by textbooks. He travelled on them extensively, taking copious notes and photographs, forming an extensive collection of material including excursion bills issued by the various companies. Having given a talk to the Paddle Steamer Preservation Society in 1962, he decided that there was no public audience for the material that he had collected, and he carried on collecting without publishing it.
Entered the navy as a cadet in 1908, passing at Royal Naval College at Osborne and Dartmouth, became midshipman in 1912. He took part in the action off Dogger Bank and at Jutland and became lieutenant in 1916. The following year he was appointed to motor boats in which he remained until the armistice. Troubridge took a course in gunnery and then served as gunnery officer in the QUEEN ELIZABETH between 1922-4. He later took the naval staff course in 1924 after which he served in the Atlantic Fleet as staff officer, operations. Troubridge was appointed to the royal yacht VICTORIA AND ALBERT in 1928 and promoted commander in 1929; later being promoted captain in 1934 at the age of thirty-nine. In that rank he was appointed naval attache in 1936. On 1 January 1940, Troubridge was appointed commander of the aircraft-carrier FURIOUS in the Home Fleet. In June 1941 Troubridge was appointed to command the battleship NELSON at Gibraltar. Troubridge later took command of the aircraft-carrier INDOMITABLE, taking part in the assault and capture of the base of Diego Suarez in Madagascar in 1942. Troubridge was promoted to rear-admiral in 1943 and in 1944 appointed to command a force of nine British and American escort-carriers to cover forces invading the south of France. For his distinguished service in this operation he was appointed CB. On 1 May 1945 Troubridge was made fifth sea lord on the Board of Admiralty, with special emphasis on the naval air service. Later in that year he was promoted KCB. In 1947 he was promoted vice-admiral.
Vernon, popularly referred to as 'Old Grog', became a lieutenant in 1702, a captain in 1706 and saw service in the Mediterranean, West Indies and the Baltic. At the outbreak of war with Spain in 1739 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, West Indies, and was successful in capturing Portobello and at the bombardment of Cartagena, although unsuccessful in attempts to land at Cartagena and at Santiago de Cuba Vernon returned to England in 1742. In 1745, at the threat of a French invasion, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief at the Downs but fell foul of the Admiralty, was superseded and later struck off the list. He was Member of Parliament for Penryn, 1722-1734, Portsmouth, 1741, and Ipswich, 1741-1757. Among the biographies is G H Hartmann The angry Admiral, the later career of Edward Vernon, Admiral of the White (London, 1953). Many of the papers have been published by B McL. Ranft The Vernon papers (Navy Records Society, 1958).
JR Woodriff, second son of Daniel Woodriff, entered the Navy in 1802, became a lieutenant in 1811 and served on the Channel and Cape Stations between 1812 and 1814. From 1836 until 1848, when he was promoted to commander, he was attached to the Weymouth District of the Coast Guard.
Jack Kilner Whittaker enlisted in the London Division of thr RNVR in 1912, subsequently being mobilised at the outbreak of the First World War. His first posting was to HMS KENT, and almost immediately he saw action at the Battle of the Falklands. During this action, the KENT sunk the German Light Cruiser NURNBERG. Three months later, the KENT and HMS GLASGOW, tracked down and sunk the DRESDEN, the only German vessel to escape from the Battle of the Falklands. In 1917, after three years in the KENT, Whittaker was promoted to Temporary Sub-Lieutenant, and attended HMS EXCELLENT for gunnery training. He then served in HMS MINDFUL and HMS WOLSEY, before resigning from the RNVR in 1919 with the rank of Lieutenant. Whittaker re-joined the RNVR in 1939, serving on HMS LYNX, HMS HAMPTON, HMS SPARTIATE and HMS SOUTHERN PRINCE. He was promoted to Temporary Acting Lieutenant-Commander in 1940, and was mentioned in Despatches in 1941, before being appointed to the Inter-Service RDF Board in 1942. Whittaker was then posted to the Admiralty Signal Department for a short time, before getting transferred to the escort carrier HMS VINDEX for Russian convoy duty. He was then posted to HMS DRAKE in 1945, before being made Executive Officer of HMS BLACKCAP at Royal Naval Air Station, Stretton. Whittaker was released from service on 21st December, 1945.
Wilkinson was master of the MINOTAUR, 1807 to 1808, and took part in the attack on Copenhagen. After cruising in the Channel and the Atlantic between 1808 and 1810 in the CHRISTIAN VII, he was discharged from active service because of ill-health but was given shore appointment as Superintendent of the Wharf at the Victualling Yard, Deptford. From 1832 this post became known as Master Attendant and King's Harbour Master. Wilkinson retired in 1833 and was promoted to commander in 1846.
Unknown
Sir W H Willcox (1870 - 1941) was Physician to St Mary's Hospital, London, where he lectured on chemical pathology, forensic medicine and related subjects. As scientific analyst and honorary medical adviser to the Home Office, he was associated with many famous criminal trials, and became widely known to the British public in the early years of the twentieth century. An account of his life is given in Philip Henry Almroth Willcox, The detective-physician: the life and work of Sir William Willcox (Heinemann Medical, London, 1970).
The College of Physicians was founded by Royal Charter in 1518 after a small group of distinguished physicians led by Thomas Linacre petitioned the King to be incorporated into a College similar to those found in a number of other European countries. The main functions of the College as set down in the founding Charter, were to grant licences to those qualified to practise medicine and to punish unqualified practitioners and those engaing in malpractice. Membership comprises Fellows, Licentiates and from 1859 Members. Membership is by examination, Fellowship by invitation after recommendation by an existing Fellow.
Christoper Bowes was surgeon to the slave-ship LORD STANLEY, which traded between the African coast and the Isle of Grenada, West Indies in the late eighteenth century. Bowes was born in 1770, and became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England on November 6th 1788. He was a naval surgeon and apothecary, residing in Richmond, Yorkshire.
Between 1450 and 1850 at least 12 million Africans were taken across the 'Middle Passage' of the Atlantic. European traders would export manufactured goods to the west coast of Africa where they would be exchanged for slaves. The slaves were then sold in the Americas, and traders used the money to buy raw materials such as sugar, cotton, coffee, metals, and tobacco which were shipped back and sold in Europe. To maximize their profits slave merchants carried as many slaves as was physically possible on their ships. A House of Commons committee in 1788 discovered that one slave-ship, The Brookes, was originally built to carry a maximum of 451 people, but was carrying over 600 slaves from Africa to the Americas. Chained together by their hands and feet, the slaves had little room to move. A large number of slaves died on the journey from poor food and diseases such as smallpox and dysentery.
Born, 1855; educated at Durham School and at St Bartholomew's Hospital, 1879; served in South Africa as Senior Surgeon, Portland Hospital, Bloemfontein, 1899-1900; Major, 1908-1914, and Lieutenant Colonel, 1 London General Hospital, Royal Army Medical Corps, 1914-1919; civilian member of Army Medical Advisory Board, [1913]-1918; served in Army Medical Service, 1914-1919; British Red Cross Society representative on the Technical Reserve Advisory Committee on Voluntary Aid, 1914-1920; member of honorary consulting staff of Royal Army Medical College, Queen Alexandra Military Hospital, 1914-1920; served on British Red Cross Society Executive Committee, 1917-1920; honorary Major General, Royal Army Medical Corps, 1920; died, 1929.
Publications include: A descriptive catalogue of the Anatomical and Pathological Museum of St. Bartholomew's Hospital [Edited by F. S. Eve.] (J & A Churchill, London, 1882); Surgical Pathology and Morbid Anatomy (J & A Churchill, London, 1887); Injuries and Diseases of Nerves and their surgical treatment (J & A Churchill, London, 1889; The Surgical Work [of the Portland Hospital in South Africa] with Sir Cuthbert Sidney Wallace (1901); The Hunterian Oration on British Military Surgery in the time of Hunter and in the Great War (Adlard & Son & West Newman: London, 1919).
Fish was born in Chard, Somerset and educated at Kingswood School and Manchester University (L.D.S. 1914; Ch.B. 1916; M.D. 1924). He was a leading figure in British dentistry. He was Chairman of the Dental Board, 1944-1956, Dean of the Faculty of Dental Science of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1956-1959, and President of the General Dental Council, 1956-1964. Fish was knighted in 1954.
John Heaviside was a medical student and later lectured at Surgeon's Hall.
John Hunter (1728-1793) and his brother William ran a School of Anatomy in Great Windmill Street, opened by William in 1768. John practised as surgeon in Golden Square from 1763 and was Surgeon to St George's Hospital from 1768. He began to lecture on the principles and practice of surgery in 1773. His publications included A treatise on the venereal disease (London, 1786) and A treatise on the blood, inflammation, and gunshot wounds (London, 1794).
Born, Berkeley, Gloucestershire, 1749; educated at private schools at Wootton-under-Edge and Cirencester; apprenticed to Daniel Ludlow of Sodbury, a surgeon; pupil-resident in the house of John Hunter, 1770-1772; employed by Sir Joseph Banks to prepare specimens from Captain Cook's voyage; studied at St George's Hospital; practiced at Berkeley, 1773; continued to correspond with John Hunter on many subjects; member of medical societies at Rodborough and Alveston, reading papers on medical subjects and natural history; Fellow, Royal Society, 1788; MD, University of St Andrew's, 1792; continued his investigations into cow pox and small pox; vaccinated a boy James Phipps with cow pox and then small pox, who contracted cow pox but not small pox, 1796; published An inquiry into the causes and effects of the variolæ vaccinæ, a disease discovered in some of the Western Counties of England ... known by the name of the cow pox, 1798; sent cow pox material throughout England and abroad for vaccinations; vaccinated nearly 200 people at Petworth, Sussex, 1800; granted £10,000 by Parliament in recognition of his work, 1802; Royal Jennerian Society established to promote spread of vaccination in London, 1802; replaced by the National Vaccine Establishment, 1808; continued to work and publish on vaccination; died, 1823, Berkeley, Gloucestershire.
Publications include: Cursory observations on Emetic Tartar [1780?]; An inquiry into the causes and effects of the variolæ vaccinæ, a disease discovered in some of the Western Counties of England ... known by the name of the cow pox (Printed for the author: London, 1798); Further observations on the Variolæ Vaccinæ or Cow Pox (London, 1799); A comparative Statement of facts and observations relative to the cow-pox with Dr Woodville (London, 1800); The origin of the Vaccine Inoculation (London, 1801); On the varieties and modifications of the vaccine pustule, occasioned by an herpetic state of the skin (Cheltenham, 1806; Gloucester reprinted, 1819); Facts for the most part unobserved, or not duly noticed, respecting variolous contagion (London, 1808); Letter from E. J. to W. Dillwyn on the effects of vaccination, in preserving from the small-pox. To which are added sundry documents relating to vaccination, etc (Philadelphia, 1818); A letter to C. H. Parry, M.D., ... on the influence of Artificial Eruptions in certain diseases. ... With an inquiry respecting the probable advantages to be derived from further experiments (London, 1822); The Note-Book of Edward Jenner in the possession of the Royal College of Physicians of London (Oxford University Press, London, 1931).
The author of the diary, probably Joshua Naples, was a resurrectionist supplying bodies to anatomy teachers, and was active during 1811 and 1812.
Born, 1816; educated, Preparatory School, Pentonville, private school, Greenwich; apprenticed to Joseph Henry Green, Surgeon at St Thomas's Hospital, 1833; Member, 1838 and Fellow, 1844, Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1838; Senior Assistant Surgeon, King's College Hospital, 1840-1847; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1845; Lecturer in Pathology, King's College Hospital, 1847; Officer of Health to the City of London, 1848-1855; Chief Medical Officer of Health to the General Board of Health, 1855-1876; built up a state medical department for public health and developed the vaccination system, and was particularly concerned with eradicating the smallpox virus; influential in bringing about the Sanitary Act, 1866 and Public Health Act, 1875; Surgeon, St Thomas's Hospital; member, Privy Council, 1858-1876; member of Council, 1868-1880, Vice-President, 1876-1878 and President, 1878-1879, Royal College of Surgeons of England; President, Royal Society, 1879-1880; knighted, 1887; died, 1904.
Publications include: A Physiological Essay on the Thymus Gland (London, 1845); General Pathology, as conducive to the establishment of rational principles for the diagnosis and treatment of disease (London, 1850); Report on the Sanitary Condition of the City of London, for the year 1853-4 (London, 1854); Report on the last two Cholera-epidemics of London, as affected by the consumption of impure water (Stationery Office, London, 1856); Inflammation in T Holmes A System of Surgery, ... in treatises by various authors, vol 1 (1860); English Sanitary Institutions, reviewed in their course of development, and in some of their political and social relations (Cassell & Co, London, 1890).
Born, Dorchester, Dorset, 1853; educated at the school of William Barnes, 1860-1864; Merchant Taylor's School, London, 1864-1871; medical student, London Hospital, 1871-1875; Member, 1875, Fellow, 1878, Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1875; House Surgeon, London Hospital; Resident Medical Officer, Royal National Hospital for Scrofula, Margate, 1876; private practice in Derbyshire, 1877-1879; Assistant Surgeon, London Hospital, 1879; Demonstrator of Anatomy, London Hospital Medical School, 1881-1884; continued his research into scrofula and began his researches on the anatomy of the abdomen; Surgeon and Lecturer on Anatomy, London Hospital, 1884-1898; Hunterian Professor of Anatomy, 1885; Lecturer on Surgery, London Hospital Medical School, 1894-1897; Consulting Surgeon, British Forces in South Africa, 1899-1900; Surgeon Extraordinary, 1900; Knighted, 1901; operated on the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, 1902; created baronet, 1902; President, War Office Medical Board, 1914-1918; died, 1923.
Publications include: The Dress of the period, in its relations to health (Allman & Son, London, [1882]); Scrofula and its gland diseases (Smith, Elder & Co, London, 1882); Surgical Applied Anatomy (1883); Intestinal Obstructions (1884); The anatomy of the intestinal canal and peritoneum in man (H K Lewis, London, 1885); The Influence of Dress on health (Cassell & Co, London, [1886]); A German-English Dictionary of Medical Terms with Hugo Lang (J & A Churchill, London, 1890); A Manual of Operative Surgery (Cassell & Co, London, 1891); The Student's Handbook of Surgical Operations (Cassell & Co, London, 1892); The Abdominal Viscera (1893); A System of Surgery Editor 2 vol (Cassell & Co, London, 1895, 96); Perityphlitis and its varieties (Macmillan & Co, London, 1897); Intestinal Obstruction. Its varieties with their pathology, diagnosis, and treatment New and revised edition (Cassell & Co, London, 1899); The Tale of a Field Hospital [following the Ladysmith Relif Column in the South African War] (Cassell and Co, London, 1900); Alcohol: a poison (Church of England Temperance Society, Westminster, [1905]); Highways and Byways in Dorset (Macmillan & Co, London, 1906); The Cradle of the Deep: an account of a voyage to the West Indies (Smith, Elder & Co, London, 1908); The Influence of Enforced Dogmatism in Medicine [Birmingham, 1914]; The Elephant Man, and other reminiscences (Cassell & Co, London, 1923).
The old Black Jack Public House in Portugal Street was located near to the old King's College Hospital. Some surgeons signed their names in a signature book at the Black Jack when they became members of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The signatures in the volumes range from being neat and clear, to almost illegible. This is perhaps a consequence of their location in a public house.
The Black Jack was demolished in c 1902. A watercolour painting showing the interior and exterior of the Black Jack, by J P Emslie and J I Wilson, was sold in the early 1920s in the sale of the Gardener Collection. (see Tract 1881, 14 for Sale Catalogue).
John Falconer was a student of anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons, in 1852-1853. The Medical Directories for 1852 and 1853 list Falconer as one of the students of anatomy. As the Directory was published at the beginning of each year, it is likely that Falconer began his studentship in Jun or Jul 1851 and finished it in 1853. The candidates for the studentship had to be members of the College and be under the age of 26. Assuming that Falconer began his studentship in 1851 at the age of 26, the earliest date he could have been born is 1825. The students were paid one hundred pounds per year and their duties included the study of anatomy, physiology and related areas, and service in the Museum. Falconer doesn't specify in his manuscript notes which hospital he was related to. Currently there is no further information on John Falconer after he completed his studentship.
Francis Graham Crookshank was born in 1873. He was educated at University College London and qualified in 1894. He worked in resident appointments at University College Hospital, the Brompton Hospital, and the Northampton County Asylum. After this he began general practice at Barnes. During World War One he served in France as medical director of the English Military Hospital at Caen, and later as a captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After the war he worked at the London Hospital, the Prince of Wales General Hospital, St Marks Hospital and the French Hospital. At this time he became interested in the psychological and philosophical aspects of medicine, and contributed to standard works on psychology and psycho-analysis. He helped to form a medical group that became known as the Medical Society of Individual Psychology. He became Bradshaw lecturer at the Royal College of Physicians, in 1926. He died in 1933.
George Langstaff was born in Richmond, Yorkshire, in c 1780. He studied medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. He travelled to the East and West Indies and became a naturalist and zoologist, collecting specimens which would become his museum. He became Surgeon to the workhouse of St Giles's Cripplegate where he had abundant opportunities of studying both pathology and practical anatomy. He became a Fellow of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society, in 1814. He published the catalogue of his museum, Catalogue of the Preparations illustrative of normal, abnormal, and morbid structure, human and comparative, constituting the Anatomical Museum of George Langstaff in 1842. Part of the collection was bought by the Hunterian Museum, and the remainder bought by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He died in 1846.
Petrus Camper was born in Leiden, in 1722. He studied at Leiden University. He began lecturing at the University of Franeker, in 1749, and he taught in Amsterdam from 1756. He relocated to Groningen in 1763, to lecture in theoretical medicine, anatomy, surgery and botany. He supported his teachings with practicals and drawings, which he made himself. Camper made contributions to theoretical and practical medicine, especially in the fields of surgery and obstetrics. His main contribution was in comparative anatomy, where he studied skeletons of both animals and people, and studied racial differences based on anatomical sections and measurements of the skull. He died in 1787.
Alfred Poland was born in London, in 1822. He was educated at Highgate, in Paris, and in Frankfurt. After qualifying he became Demonstrator of Anatomy; then Assistant Surgeon to Guy's Hospital in 1849; Surgeon in 1861; and was placed in general charge of the Ophthalmic Department. He was Surgeon to the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields, 1848-1861, but he gradually gave up ophthalmic practice due to ill health. He won an honorarium of fifty guineas for his Triennial Prize Dissertation,The Origin, Connection and Distribution of the Nerves of the Human Eye and its Appendages. He won the Fothergillian Prize with the Gold Medal for his essay Injuries and Wounds of the Abdomen, at the Medical Society of London, in 1853. He died in 1872.
Robert Whytt was born in Edinburgh in 1714. He studied in St Andrews, where he was awarded Master of Arts in 1730, and also in Edinburgh, Paris and Leiden. He was awarded Doctor of Medicine at the University of Rheims in 1736. He began to practice as a doctor in 1738. He was appointed Professor of Medicine, at the University of Edinburgh in 1747, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1752. Whytt's important work concerned unconscious reflexes, tubercular meningitis, and the treatment of urinary bladder stones. His experiments indirectly led to the discovery of carbon dioxide by Joseph Black in 1754. His studies of reflexology and tubercular meningitis had a greater impact on the science of medicine. Whytt was the first to ascribe a reflex - Whytt's reflex, a dilation of the pupil brought on by pressure on the optic thalamus - to a specific part of the body. He also demonstrated that the spinal cord, rather than the brain, could be the source of involuntary action. His description of 'dropsy of the brain' (tubercular meningitis) was the first methodical and accurate definition of the disease, and it would have been impossible to define to a more accurate extent with the instruments available in at that time. He was physician to King George III in Scotland from 1761. He was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1763. He died in 1766.
The British Society of Dental Surgeons was formed in 1923. The first meeting of the Committee to carry through the foundation of the Society was held in 1922. The proposed object of the society was the advancement of dentistry, the protection of interests of qualified Dental Surgeons, and the protection of public dental health. The first meeting of the Council of the British Society of Dental Surgeons was held in 1923, and Sir Frank Colyer, the new President of the Society, chaired the meeting. Following a referendum where British Dental Association members voted not to allow unqualified men from the Dentists Register 1921 to be admitted to the Association, the Society disbanded in 1928 with the balance of their funds handed to the Benevolent Fund of the British Dental Association.
James Fernandez Clarke was born in Olney, Buckinghamshire and baptised in 1812. He became apprenticed to C Snitch, a general practitioner in Brydges Street, Covent Garden, in 1828. Clarke spent some time at Cadell's Library on the Strand, and became aquainted with literature and literary people. He entered Dermott's Medical School in Gerrard Street, Soho, in 1833. He was Dermott's amanuensis for a time, and then assisted with the short-lived London Medical and Surgical Journal. In 1834 he wrote a report on a case of Joseph Lister's, who was impressed and introduced him to Thomas Wakely, editor of The Lancet. Wakely appointed Clarke an assistant and he worked for The Lancet for 30 years, as well as being a clinical reporter for hospitals and for various medical societies. He became a Licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries, in 1837. He became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and was Senior Surgeon to the Dorcas Charity, in 1852 . He was a Fellow of the Medical Society of London, an Honorary Associate of the Royal Medical and Botanical Society, and a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Academy of Surgery, Madrid. After completing 30 years service for The Lancet, Clarke published his reminisences in the Medical Times and the Gazette. These were reproduced as Autobiographical Recollections of the Medical Profession, in 1874. He died in 1875.
Eleazer Gedney was born in New York, in 1797. Under the altered name of Gidney rather than Gedney, he was apprenticed to Dr James L van Kleeck, of Poughskeepsie, in 1811. He transferred to Dr Abel Catlin, of Litchfield, Connecticut, from 1813-1817. In 1816, while still in Litchfield, Gidney advertised a remedy for cancer using handbills with testimonials from patients. He began to study dentistry at Baltimore and New York, in 1817. He published A Treatise on the Structure, Diseases and Management of the Human Teeth while living in Utica, in 1824. He travelled to Canada, where he practiced in Toronto and then Quebec in 1826. He then travelled to London and Paris to increase his professional knowledge. He attended courses of lectures in dental science and practice including those by Thomas Bell, James Snell and A F Talma in 1831-1832. He began to practise in Manchester in 1832. He was elected an honorary Fellow of the newly formed American Society of Dental Surgeons in 1840. He died in 1876.
No biographical information was available at the time of compilation.