Wilson , Sir , William James Erasmus , 1809-1884 , Knight , dermatologist and philanthropist x Wilson , Erasmus

William James Erasmus Wilson, generally known as Erasmus Wilson, was born in Marylebone, in 1809. He was educated at Dartford Grammar School and at Swanscombe in Kent. At the age of 16 he became a resident pupil with George Langstaff, Surgeon to the Cripplegate Dispensary, and began to attend the anatomical lectures given by John Abernethy at St Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1831 he became assistant to Jones Quain, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the newly formed University College, and was soon afterwards appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy. He lectured upon anatomy and physiology at Middlesex Hospital, in 1840 and became assistant editor of The Lancet. He was also Consulting Surgeon to the St Pancras Infirmary, and was elected FRS in 1845. At the Royal College of Surgeons Erasmus Wilson sat on the Council from 1870-1884, was Vice-President in 1879 and 1880, and President in 1881. In 1870, at an expense of £5,000, he founded the Chair of Dermatology, of which he was the occupant till 1878. He became particularly interested in the study of Egyptian antiquities, and in 1877 he paid the cost (about £10,000) of the transport of 'Cleopatra's Needle' to London. He was President of the Biblical Archaeological Society, served the office of Master of the Clothworkers' Company, and was President of the Medical Society of London in 1878 after he had given the Oration in 1876. He died in 1884.