Hunter , John , 1728-1793 , surgeon and anatomist Hunter , William , 1718-1783 , anatomist and surgeon Hunter , Anne Home , 1742-1821 , poet

Hunter , John , 1728-1793 , surgeon and anatomist Hunter , William , 1718-1783 , anatomist and surgeon Hunter , Anne Home , 1742-1821 , poet

John Hunter was born in East Kilbride, in 1728. He travelled to London to join his elder brother William Hunter (1718-1783) in 1748. John assisted William by carrying out dissections and preparing specimens. John began attending lectures by leading surgeons in 1749, and by 1754 John was a surgeon-pupil at St George's Hospital, London. Soon afterwards he began to take some of William Hunter's lectures. John Hunter carried out research into a variety of areas, many of which were published later in his life. John Hunter was commissioned as army surgeon to the British Army in 1761. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1767. He became a member of the Company of Surgeons in 1768. John Hunter married Anne Home in 1771, with whom he had two children, John Banks Hunter and Agnes Hunter (two further children died in infancy). John Hunter built up his private practice and continued to give lectures in surgery. He remained an active teacher and researcher until his death in 1793. For a further biographical information see MS0189.

William Hunter was also born in East Kilbride in 1718. He studied medicine at Edinburgh. By 1746 had embarked on a successful private career in London as a midwife and physician and a private lecturer in surgery and anatomy. He died in 1783.