Ware , James , 1756-1815 , surgeon and occulist

James Ware was born at Portsmouth on 11 February 1756, and was the son of Martin Ware, who was successively the master shipbuilder of the royal dockyards of Sheerness, Plymouth, and Deptford. He was educated at the Portsmouth grammar school, and went upon trial to Ramsay Karr, surgeon of the King's Yard in Portsmouth on 3 July 1770. He was bound apprentice to Karr on 2 March 1771, to serve for five years from the previous July. During his apprenticeship he attended the practice of the surgeons at the Haslar Naval Hospital, and, having served a part of his time, his master allowed him, as was then the usual custom, to come to London for the purpose of attending the medical and surgical practice of one of the general hospitals. Ware selected St. Thomas's, and entered himself as a student on 25 Sept. 1773. In 1776, Joseph Else appointed him to be his demonstrator of anatomy. On 1 January 1777 he began to act as assistant to Jonathan Wathen, a surgeon who devoted himself principally to diseases of the eye; and on 25 March 1778 he entered into partnership with Wathen until 1791, after which Ware began to practise upon his own account, chiefly but not entirely in ophthalmic surgery. In 1788 he became one of the founders of the Society for the Relief of the Widows and Orphans of Medical Men in London and its vicinity, a society of which he was chosen president in 1809. In 1800 he founded the school for the indigent blind, in imitation of a similar institution which had been established at Liverpool ten years earlier. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 18 Jan 1798, and on 11 March 1802 he was admitted a fellow of the Royal Society. He married, in 1787, the widow of N. Polhill, and daughter of Robert Maitland, by whom he had a large family of sons and daughters. He died on 13 April 1815.

Publications:
Remarks on the Ophthalmy, Psorophthalmy, and Purulent Eye, London, 1780; Chirurgical observations relative to the epiphora, or Watery Eye ... The scrophulous or intermittent ophthalmy, the extraction of the cataract, and the introduction of the male catheter, London, 1792; An enquiry into the causes which have ... commonly prevented success in the operation of extracting the cataract, London, 1795; Chirurgical Observations relative to the Eye, London, 1798; Remarks on the Fistula Lachrymalis, to which are added observations on hæmorrhoids and additional remarks on the ophthalmy, London, 1798; Remarks on the purulent ophthalmy which has lately been epidemical in this country, London, 1808; Observations on the Treatment of the Epiphora edited by his son, Martin Ware, London, 1818; On an Operation of largely Puncturing the Capsule of the Crystalline Humour in Gutta Serena, London, 1812. He published several papers of professional importance in the Transactions of the Medical and of the Medical and Chirurgical societies, of which the most interesting are the cases of recovery of sight after long periods of blindness. He also edited Reade's Practical Observations on Diseases of the Inner Corner of the Eye, London, 1811; and translated Wenzel's Treatise on Cataract, 1791.

Astley Paston Cooper was born at Brooke Hall near Norwich, 1768; educated at home; apprenticed to his uncle, William Cooper, surgeon to Guy's Hospital, 1784; soon after transferred to Henry Cline, surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital; Edinburgh Medical School, 1787-1788; Demonstrator of anatomy, St Thomas's Hospital, 1789; joint lecturer with Cline in anatomy and surgery, 1791; lectured on anatomy at the College of Surgeons, 1793-1796; Surgeon, Guy's Hospital, 1800-1825; private practice rapidly increased; Fellow, Royal Society, 1802; made post-mortem examinations wherever possible, and was often in contact with 'resurrectionists'; a founder and first treasurer, 1805, President, 1819-1820, Medical and Chirurgical Society of London; Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Royal College of Surgeons, 1813; lectured, 1814-1815; performed a small operation on George IV, 1820; by the bestowal of a baronetcy; examiner at the College of Surgeons, 1822; published his 'Dislocations and Fractures of the Joints', 1822; resigned his lectureship at St. Thomas's, 1825; instigator of the founding of a separate medical school at Guy's Hospital; Consulting Surgeon to Guy's Hospital; President, College of Surgeons, 1827, 1836; Sergeant-Surgeon to King William IV, 1828; Vice-President, Royal Society, 1830; died, 1841.

Publications include: The Anatomy and Surgical Treatment of Inguinal and Congenital Hernia (Crural and Umbilical Hernia) (printed for T Cox; sold by Messrs Johnson, etc, London, 1804); A Treatise on Dislocations, and on Fractures of the Joints (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown; E Cox & Son, London, 1822); The Lectures of Sir Astley Cooper, Bart., F.R.S. ... on the Principles and Practice of Surgery: with additional notes and cases, by Frederick Tyrrell 3 volumes (Thomas & George Underwood, London, 1824-1827); Illustrations of the Diseases of the Breast ... In two parts (Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green: London, 1829; Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Surgery Second edition (F C Westley, London, 1830); Observations on the Structure and Diseases of the Testis (Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green; Highley & Underwood, London, 1830); The Anatomy of the Thymus Gland (Longman, Rees, Orme, Green & Brown, London, 1832).