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King's College London College Archives

WHITFIELD, Richard (c.1764-1837)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0100 TH/PP81

Held at: King's College London College Archives

Title: WHITFIELD, Richard (c.1764-1837)

Date(s): [1780]-1814

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 20 volumes

Name of creator(s): Whitfield | Richard | c.1764-1837 | Apothecary and Secretary of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, London Whitfield | Richard Gullet | 1801-1877 | Apothecary and Secretary of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, London

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Richard Whitfield was the son of George Whitfield (c.1727-1801), St Thomas Hospital Apothecary, 1754-[1800]. He succeeded his father as Hospital Apothecary in [1800], holding the post until 1832. He died [1837]. Richard Gullet Whitfield was born on 31 January 1801, the son of Richard Whitfield, St Thomas Hospital Apothecary, [1801]-1832. He was educated at Eton, St John's College Oxford, and St Thomas's Hospital. In 1822, he became a licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries, London, and was appointed assistant to his father. He became a member of the Society of Apothecaries in 1834, and in 1832, was elected Hospital Apothecary and Secretary to the Medical School. He was also medical instructor at the Nightingale Training-school from 1860-1872, and Fellow of the Zoological Society. He retired as Apothecary in 1871, and as Secretary to the Medical School about 1877. He married in 1828, and died on 21 February 1877.

Henry Cline: born, London, 1750; educated, Merchant Taylors' School; apprenticed to Mr Thomas Smith, surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital, 1767; diploma from Surgeons' Hall, 1774; Lecturer on anatomy, St Thomas's Hospital, 1781-1811; Surgeon, St Thomas's Hospital, 1784-1811; examiner at the College of Surgeons, 1810; master of the College of Surgeons, 1815, president, 1823; delivered the Hunterian oration, 1816, 1824; died, 1827. Publications: On the Form of Animals (Bulmer & Co, London, 1805).

George Fordyce: born, Aberdeen, 1736; educated, school at Fouran, University of Aberdeen; trained with his uncle, Dr John Fordyce of Uppingham, physician, [1751-1755]; medical student, University of Edinburgh; MD, 1758; studied anatomy at Leyden under Albinus, 1759; began a course of lectures on chemistry in London, 1759; added courses on materia medica and the practice of physic, 1764, and continued to teach for nearly thirty years; licentiate of the College of Physicians, 1765; Physician, St Thomas's Hospital, 1770-1802; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1776; 'speciali gratia' fellow of the College of Physicians, 1787; assisted in the compilation of the new Pharmacopeia Londinensis, issued 1788; assisted in forming a Society for the Improvement of Medical and Chirurgical Knowledge, 1793; died, 1802. Publications include: Elements of Agriculture and Vegetation [Edinburgh, 1765]; Elements of the Practice of Physic third edition (J Johnson, London, 1771); A Treatise on the digestion of food (London, 1791); A Dissertation on Simple Fever, or on fever consisting of one paroxysm only (J Johnson, London, 1794); A second dissertation on fever; containing the history and method of treatment of a regular tertian intermittent (London, 1795); A third dissertation on fever Containing the history and method of treatment of a regular continued fever, supposing it is left to pursue its ordinary course (London, 1798-1799); A Fourth Dissertation on Fever. Containing the history of, and remedies to be employed in irregular intermitting fevers (J. Johnson, London, 1802); A fifth dissertation on fever, containing the history of, and remedies to be employed in, irregular continued fevers Edited by W C Wells (J Johnson, London, 1803).

James Gregory was born in Aberdeen, 1753; educated, Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities; Christ Church, Oxford; studied at St George's Hospital, London, 1773-1774; M D, 1774; studied medicine on the continent, 1774-1776; Professor of the Institutes of Medicine, 1776; began giving clinical lectures at the infirmary, 1777; Professor of the Practice of Medicine, 1790; head of the Edinburgh Medical School; had the leading consulting practice in Scotland; died, 1821. Publications: Dissertatio medica inauguralis de morbis coeli mutatione medendis (Edinburgh, 1774); Theory of the moods of verbs From the transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh [Edinburgh, 1787]; Philosophical and literary essays 2 volumes (Edinburgh, 1792); Memorial to the managers of the Royal Infirmary [of Edinburgh] (Edinburgh, 1800); Additional Memorial to the Managers of the Royal Infirmary (Murray & Cochrane, Edinburgh, 1803); Lectures on the duties ... of a physician ... Revised and corrected by James Gregory, M.D. (Edinburgh, 1805); Epigrams and Poems (Edinburgh, 1810); Letters from Dr J G in defence of his Essay on the difference of the relation between motive and action, and that of cause and effect in physics: with replies by A Crombie(London, 1819).

William Heberden was born in London in August 1710. He was educated at St Saviour's Grammar School, Southwark, and St John's College, Cambridge,. He graduated BA in 1728, and then MA in 1732. He was elected Fellow of his College in April 1731 and began to study medicine, partly at Cambridge and partly in a London hospital. In 1734 he received a fellowship of his College. Between 1734 and 1738 he was Linacre Lecturer in Physic, and proceeded to MD in 1739. During the next decade he practiced medicine in the university, and gave an annual course of lectures on materia medica. In 1745 Heberden was admitted a candidate of the Royal College of Physicians, and was made Fellow in 1746. In 1748 he was persuaded to move to London by Sir Edward Hulse, physician to George III, and settled in Cecil Street where his practice began to thrive. In 1749 he was made Fellow of the Royal Society, and was made Gulstonian Lecturer and Censor at the Royal College of Physicians. In the following year he was nominated Harveian Orator at the College. He gave up his fellowship at St John's College in 1752, and in the same year married Elizabeth Martin. In 1760 he held the offices of Croonian Lecturer and Censor at the Royal College of Physicians. Heberden was held in high esteem by George III, and in 1761 upon Queen Charlotte's arrival in England was named her physician in ordinary, an honour which he declined. In 1762 he was constituted an Elect of the College, an office in which he remained until 1781. His interest in classical literature was further reflected in his election, in 1770, to Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
About 1770 he moved to Pall Mall, where he continued in practice. He was made honorary member of the Royal Society of Medicine in Paris in 1778. In 1783, he took partial retirement, residing during the summer months at Datchet, near Windsor, though he continued for some years to return to London to practice during the winter. He began to compile in his seventies his Commentaries on the History and Cure of Diseases (1802), which his son William Heberden the younger published, in Latin and then in English, after his death. As an acute clinical observer he had always been in the habit of taking copious notes of his cases, and these formed the basis of this work. Heberden's first wife died in 1754, just two years after their marriage; she left him one son, Thomas, who became Canon of Exeter. In 1760 he married Mary Wollaston and had eight children, one being the aforementioned William Heberden the younger, a reputed physician in his own right. Heberden died on 17 May 1801 at the age of 90. Publications: Antitheriaca: An Essay on Mithridatium and Theriaca (1745); Commentarii de Morborum Historia et Curatione (London, 1802, 1807; Frankfurt, 1804; Leipzig, 1805, 1927; English translation ascribed to William Heberden junior, London, 1803, 1806); Medical and non-medical papers in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society and the Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians; Strictures upon the Discipline of the University of Cambridge addressed to the Senate, anonymous - attributed to Heberden by Halkett and Laing and Bowes (London, 1792); An Introduction to the Study of Physic, with a prefatory essay by L. Crummer with a reprint of Heberden's Some Account of a Disorder of the Breast, Le Roy Crummer (New York, 1929)

John Hunter: Born 1728; worked as cabinet maker for brother-in-law in Glasgow; assisted brother William at his London dissecting room, 1748; attended Chelsea Hospital, 1749-1750; studied at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, 1751; appointed a master of anatomy at the Surgeons' Corporation, 1753; surgeon's pupil at St George's Hospital, London, from 1754; matriculated, St Mary Hall, Oxford, 1755; staff surgeon on expedition to Belleisle, 1761; served with British Army in Portugal, 1762; practised as surgeon in Golden Square, London, 1763; Surgeon, St George's Hospital, 1768; took in house pupils including Edward Jenner, 1768; began to lecture on the principles and practice of surgery, 1773; worked on the human placenta and a paper read before the Royal Society, London, 1780; built new museum to house his extensive collection of anatomical specimens, 1785; died, 1793; Publications include: A treatise on the natural history of the human teeth (London, 1771, 1778); A treatise on the venereal disease (London, 1786); A treatise on the blood, inflammation, and gunshot wounds (published posthumously, London, 1794); Directions for preserving animals and parts of animals for anatomical investigation (London, 1809); The works of John Hunter James Palmer editor 4 volumes (London, 1835-1837); Essays and observations on natural history, anatomy, physiology, psychology and geology Sir R Owen editor 2 volumes (London, 1861).

Alexander Monro: Born, Edinburgh, 1733; educated at the school of Mr Mundell; University of Edinburgh, 1752; Professor of Anatomy and Surgery as coadjutor to his father, Alexander Monro, 1755; graduated, M D, 1755; went to London and attended William Hunter's lectures, and after to Paris, Leyden, and Berlin; matriculated, Leyden University, 1757; worked under the anatomist Professor Meckel in Berlin; returned to Edinburgh, 1758; Fellow, College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 1759; Secretary, Philosophical Society of Edinburgh; gave a full course of lectures every year, 1759-1800; stopped lecturing, 1808; died, 1817. Publications include: Essays and heads of lectures on Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, and Surgery (Edinburgh, 1840); Dissertatio ... de testibus et de semine in variis animalibus, etc (Edinburgi, 1755); Observations, anatomical and physiological, wherein Dr Hunter's claim to some discoveries is examined. With figures (Edinburgh, 1758); De venis lymphaticis valvulosis et de earum in primis origine (Berolini, 1760); A State of Facts concerning the first proposal of performing the paracentesis of the thorax, ... and concerning the discovery of the lymphatic valvular absorbent system of vessels, in oviparous animals (Edinburgh, 1770); A short description of the human muscles; chiefly as they appear on dissection. Together with their several uses, and the synonyma of the best authors John Innes Second edition improved by A Monro (Edinburgh, 1778); Observations on the structure and functions of the Nervous System, etc (Edinburgh, 1783); The Structure and Physiology of Fishes explained, and compared with those of Man and other animals (Edinburgh, 1785); Experiments on the Nervous System, with opium and metalline substances; made chiefly with the view of determining the nature and effects of Animal Electricity (Edinburgh, 1793).

Percivall Pott: Born, London, 1714; educated, private school at 'Darne' (Darenth), Kent; apprentice to Edward Nourse, assistant-surgeon at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 1729-1736; admitted to the Barber-Surgeons' Company, 1736; lecturer on anatomy, 1753, master, 1765, Corporation of Surgeons; assistant-surgeon, 1744, surgeon, 1749, senior surgeon, 1765-1787, St Bartholomew's Hospital; introduced many improvements to surgery; became the leading surgeon of his time, and perhaps the earliest 'modern' surgeon; thrown from his horse, and suffered a compound fracture of the leg, 1756, that type of fracture becoming known as 'Pott's fracture'; fellow of the Royal Society, 1764; instituted a course of lectures for the pupils at St Bartholomew's Hospital, 1765; honorary fellow, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 1786; honorary member, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 1787; Governor, St Bartholomew's Hospital, 1787; died, 1788. Publications include: A Treatise on Ruptures (C Hitch & L Hawes, London, 1756); An Account of a particular kind of Rupture, frequently attendant upon children, and sometimes met with in adults; viz. that in which the intestine, or omentum, is found in the same cavity, and in contact with the testicle (London, 1757); Observations on that Disorder of the Corner of the Eye, commonly called Fistula Lachrymalis second edition (L Hawes & Co, London, 1763); Remarks on the disease commonly called a fistula in ano (L Hawes, London, 1765); A Treatise on the Hydrocele, or Watry Rupture, and other Diseases of the Testicle second edition (L Hawes, London, 1767); Observations on the nature and consequences of those injuries to which the head is liable from external violence, etc (L Hawes, London, 1768); Some few General Remarks on Fractures and Dislocations second edition (L Hawes, London, 1773); Chirurgical Observations relative to the Cataract, the polypus of the nose, the cancer of the scrotum, ... ruptures, and the mortification of the toes, etc (London, 1775); The Chirurgical Works of Percival Pott (London, 1775); Farther Remarks on the useless state of the lower limbs in consequence of a Curvature of the Spine, being a supplement to a former treatise on that subject (London, 1782); Observations on Chimney Sweeper's Cancer [London, 1810?].

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Manuscript volumes collected by Richard Whitfield comprising lecture notes taken either by Whitfield or unidentified pupils including:
one volume of notes on a course of anatomy lectures by Henry Cline including lectures on pathology and physiology, 1793, delivered 1787, taken by Whitfield;
one volume of notes on anatomical lectures of Joseph Else delivered at St Thomas's Hospital, [1780], including notes on John Hunter's lectures on anatomy, 1781, taken by an unidentified pupil;
six volumes of notes on Fordyce's lectures on medicine, delivered [1788-1789], taken by Richard Whitfield, [1792], containing lectures on material medica, natural history of the human body, doctrine of diseases, doctrine of fevers, doctrine of inflammations, particular inflammations, inflammation of the mucous membrane, lues venereal, eruptive fevers, chronic diseases, spasmodic disease;
three volumes of notes on lectures on the practice of physic of James Gregory, delivered at Edinburgh, 1814, taken by an unidentified student;
one volume of notes on William Herbeden's lectures containing observations on the history, nature and cure of poisons, delivered at the College of Physicians, 1749, with copy notes made by Whitfield, 1792;
two volumes of notes on surgical lectures by John Hunter, 1786;
four volumes of notes on anatomical and surgical lectures by Alexander Monro, [1788];
1 volume of notes on Percivall Pott's surgical lectures, delivered [1787], taken down [1794];
and one volume titled Pharmacopoeia Chirurgica vel Institutiones Chirugicae.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

As described in Scope and Content

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archives and Corporate Records Services.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

These volumes all contain the bookplate of Richard Whitfield, Southwark. Whitfield's Library was apparently given to St Thomas Hospital (date unknown). The lecture notes on Cline appear to have come into the possession of Sir William MacCormac, and were presented to St Thomas's Hospital by the widow of Sir William MacCormac in 1905.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Transferred from St Thomas' Hospital Medical School Library in 2002.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Henry Cline's lecture notes, 1788-1805, held by the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine, (reference: MSS 1672-83); lecture notes are also held by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and Birmingham University Special Collections Department (reference: 1958/iii/30-32).
George Fordyce's papers relating to minerals, held by Glasgow University Library, Special Collections Department; dissertation on inflammation, c1770, held by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (reference: Fordyce); papers held by the Royal Society; lecture notes, 1785, held by Somerset Archive and Record Service (reference: DD/PO/115); lectures relating to chemistry taken by John Samwell, 1765, held by Glasgow University Library, Special Collections Department (reference: MS Gen 786); lecture notes, 1765, held by Osler Library, McGill University, Montreal; lecture notes, 1781-1782, held by Northwestern University Medical School Library, Chicago; lecture notes, 1774-1790, held by the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine (reference: MSS 2395-2402, 5279-81); letters to David Garrick, held by the Victoria & Albert Museum, National Art Library; letters to Sir Archibald Grant, 1767-1769, held by the National Archives of Scotland (reference: GD345/1171).
James Gregory's correspondence and lecture notes, 1775-1832, held by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, (reference: Gregory); lectures and notes, 1781-1820 (reference: MSS 2595-2627) and notes on cases treated by him at Edinburgh Royal, Infirmary, 1801 (reference: MS 6920) held by the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine; correspondence and papers, 1771-1816, held by Edinburgh University Library, (reference: Dc 2 97, 3 78-81 86, 5 23, 7 119-20, 8 147-49 163, 10 11, 45; Gen 691; La iii 788-89); lecture notes, 1787, held by Ostler Library, McGill University, Canada; lecture notes, 1788-1789, held by the Woodward Biomedical Library, University of British Colombia, Canada; lecture notes, 1793-1794, held by University of Toronto Library; lecture notes, [1818], held by the National Library if Scotland (reference: MS 9736); case notes, 1785, held by the Royal College of Physicians of London (reference: MS 256).
Heberden's papers c.1744 - [1784], (MS-HEBEW); statement of a plan to publish medical papers offered to the College in a publication called Medical Transactions of the College of Physicians, printed, 1766 (MS2537); Reference to his attendance at Samuel Johnson's post-mortem, 1784, in James Wilson (1765-1821) and James Arthur Wilson's (1795-1882) record of post-mortem examinations, 1784-1853 (MS655); Several manuscript copies of his Goulstonian Lectures, n.d. [18th century] (MS347-349), possibly in the hand of and belonging to Richard Wright, surgeon (MS347); thought to be in the hand of Thomas Harrison (1771-1824), librarian of Queen's College, Cambridge (MS348); and in an anonymous hand (MS349); Heberden's receipt for £10 for his Croonian Lecture, 1760, amongst College papers on the Croonian lectures (MS1012/12); His name on a list of those present at a meeting of the College Elects about chirurgical lectures, 1771 (MS1022/16); Letter from Arnold Chaplin (1864-1944) to Sir Norman Moore (1847-1922) presenting the College with Heberden's manuscript of his 1749 Goulstonian Lectures (MS346), 1917, in a volume of Library Committee Minutes (MS2000/145); Letter from W.B. Heberden to Sir Humphry Rolleston (1862-1944) regarding Heberden's portrait by Sir William Beechey (1753-1839), 1922, in a volume about College portraits (MS2002/37). There are also a number of Heberden's letters, 1751-1780, amongst the College's Autographed Letters Collection (ALS); are held at archives of the Royal College of Physicians; Heberden's lecture notes, including those on materia medica, in the hand of Thomas Hayes, 1737-1738, are held at the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine; Three of his papers submitted to the Royal Society are held at the Royal Society. See the National Register of Archives for details; Some of Heberden's letters are held in the British Library. See the British Library Manuscripts Catalogue.
John Hunter's correspondence and papers held by the Royal College of Surgeons of England, (reference: Hunter-Baillie); papers held by the Royal Society; correspondence and papers held by the Natural History Museum, London; anatomical notes held by the British Library, Manuscript Collections, (reference: Add MS 34407); miscellaneous papers held by St Georges Hospital Medical School Library; lecture notes, [1765-1787], (reference: MSS 2959-64, 5597-98) and notes on the principles of surgery and venereal diseases (reference: acc 349837), held by the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine; lecture notes (copies), 1813 (reference: MS Don e 116), held by Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts; lecture notes (reference: NUC MS 66-1486), held by the National Library of Medicine, USA; lecture notes, [1770], held by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (reference: Hunter); letters (32) to Edward Jenner, 1773-1793, held by the Royal College of Surgeons of England; lecture notes, 1777, held by King's College Archives (reference: KCLCA Hunter).
Papers relating to Alexander Monro, 1759-1811, held by the University of Otago Medical Library; medical manuscripts, held by Exeter Cathedral Archives; lecture notes, 1778-1800 (reference: RAMC) and lecture notes (reference: MSS 3618-20, 5589) held by the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine treatises and lecture notes, held by Royal College of Surgeons of England; lecture notes and correspondence, 1758-1809, held by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (reference: Monro); lecture notes (2 vols), 1781-1792, held by the University of Kansas, Clendening History of Medicine Library; lecture notes held by Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections (reference: Dc 5 130, 7 117, 8 150-53, 10 13; Dk 3 35-41 52, 4 24-25, 5 7 129; Gen 569-76 579; Vet Lib MSS 1-2; lecture notes, held by Osler Library, McGill University, Montreal.
Percivall Pott's lecture notes and treatise, 1767-1777, held by the Royal College of Surgeons of England; lecture notes, 1775-1788, held by the Royal College of Physicians of London; lecture notes, 1784, held by the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford University; lecture notes, 1770-1782, undated, held by the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine.

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Previous reference: M30, M55, M59, M60, M70, M76, M79, M95, M113

Archivist's note: Sources: Dictionary of National Biography CD-ROM (Oxford University Press, 1995); Historical Manuscripts Commission's On-Line National Register of Archives; Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manuscripts in the Library of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School (1491-1900) D T Bird (London, 1984); British Library Public On-line catalogue; St Thomas's Hospital, E M McInnes, (London 1963); The History of St Thomas's Hospital, F G Parsons, Methuen & Co, London, 1836; St Thomas's Hospital Reports, New Series, Vol 7, London, 1876. Compiled by Julie Tancell as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: April 2002. Revised January 2004


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Anatomy | Biology
Autopsies | Forensic medicine | Medical sciences
Clinical medicine | Medical sciences
Medical education | Higher science education
Medical records | Documents | Information sources
Patients | Health services
Physicians | Medical personnel | Medical profession | Medical sciences
Surgeons | Medical personnel | Medical profession | Medical sciences
Surgery | Medical sciences
Vaccination | Preventive medicine | Systems of medicine
Surgeons x Physicians
Personnel
Physiology
Primary documents
Social sciences
Social welfare

Personal names
Cline | Henry | 1750-1827 | surgeon
Fordyce | George | 1736-1802 | physician
Gregory | James | 1753-1821 | physician
Heberden | William | 1710-1801 | the elder | physician
Hunter | John | 1728-1793 | surgeon and anatomist
Monro | Alexander | 1733-1817 | anatomist x Monro secundus
Whitfield | Richard | fl 1786-1793 | medical student

Corporate names
St Thomas' Hospital | London

Places
Edinburgh | Midlothian | Scotland | UK | Western Europe | Europe
Southwark | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe