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Benjamin Ward Richardson
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson FRS FRCP (31 October 1828 – 21 November 1896) was a British physician, anaesthetist, physiologist, sanitarian, and a prolific writer on medical history. He was the recipient of the Fothergill gold medal, awarded by the Medical Society of London in 1854 and of the Astley Cooper triennial prize for an essay in physiology.
He was a close personal friend, and professional colleague, of John Snow. On Snow's sudden death he took over the final editing of Snow's draft On Chloroform and Other Anaesthetics and supervised its publication in 1858. Ward Richardson remained a committed exponent of Snow's radical views on the microbial cause of infectious disease for the rest of his life. He continued, and extended, Snow's work on inhalation anaesthesia and brought into clinical use, no less than fourteen anaesthetics, of which methylene bichloride is the best known, and he invented the first double-valved mouthpiece for use in the administration of chloroform. He also made known the peculiar properties of amyl nitrite, a drug which was largely used in the treatment of angina pectoris, and he introduced the bromides of quinine, iron and strychnia, ozonized ether, styptic and iodized colloid, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium ethoxide, substances which were soon largely used by the medical profession. In 1893, he was knighted in recognition of his eminent services to humanitarian causes.
Richardson was born at Somerby in Leicestershire, the only son of Benjamin Richardson and Mary Ward. He was educated by the Rev. W. Young Nutt at the Burrough Hill school in the same county. Being destined by the deathbed wish of his mother for the medical profession, his studies were always directed to that end, and he was apprenticed early to Henry Hudson, the surgeon at Somerby.
He entered Anderson's University (now [University of Strathclyde]), in 1847, but a severe attack of famine fever (either typhus or relapsing fever) that he caught while he was a pupil at St Andrews Lying-in Hospital (now Princess Royal Maternity Hospital), interrupted his studies, and led him to become an assistant, first to Thomas Browne of Saffron Walden in Essex, and afterwards to Edward Dudley Hudson at Littlethorpe, Cosby, near Leicester. Hudson was the elder brother of his former master.
In 1854, he was admitted M.A. and M.D. of St Andrews, where he afterwards became a member of the university court, an assessor of the general council, and in 1877, an honorary LL.D.
In 1849, Richardson left Hudson and joined Dr Robert Willis of Barnes, well known as the editor of the works of William Harvey, and librarian of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1828–1845). Richardson lived at Mortlake, and at about this time, became a member of "Our Club", where he met Douglas Jerrold, William Makepeace Thackeray, William Hepworth Dixon, Mark Lemon, John Doran and George Cruikshank, of whose will he became an executor.
In 1850, Richardson was admitted as a licentiate to the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He became a faculty lecturer in 1877, and was elected a Fellow on 3 June 1878.
Richardson was a founder, and for thirty-five times in succession the President of the St Andrews Medical Graduates' Association. He was admitted as a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1856, and was elected a Fellow in 1865, serving the office of materia medica lecturer in 1866. In 1867, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and delivered the Croonian lecture in 1873 on "The Muscular Irritability after Systemic Death."
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Benjamin Ward Richardson
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson FRS FRCP (31 October 1828 – 21 November 1896) was a British physician, anaesthetist, physiologist, sanitarian, and a prolific writer on medical history. He was the recipient of the Fothergill gold medal, awarded by the Medical Society of London in 1854 and of the Astley Cooper triennial prize for an essay in physiology.
He was a close personal friend, and professional colleague, of John Snow. On Snow's sudden death he took over the final editing of Snow's draft On Chloroform and Other Anaesthetics and supervised its publication in 1858. Ward Richardson remained a committed exponent of Snow's radical views on the microbial cause of infectious disease for the rest of his life. He continued, and extended, Snow's work on inhalation anaesthesia and brought into clinical use, no less than fourteen anaesthetics, of which methylene bichloride is the best known, and he invented the first double-valved mouthpiece for use in the administration of chloroform. He also made known the peculiar properties of amyl nitrite, a drug which was largely used in the treatment of angina pectoris, and he introduced the bromides of quinine, iron and strychnia, ozonized ether, styptic and iodized colloid, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium ethoxide, substances which were soon largely used by the medical profession. In 1893, he was knighted in recognition of his eminent services to humanitarian causes.
Richardson was born at Somerby in Leicestershire, the only son of Benjamin Richardson and Mary Ward. He was educated by the Rev. W. Young Nutt at the Burrough Hill school in the same county. Being destined by the deathbed wish of his mother for the medical profession, his studies were always directed to that end, and he was apprenticed early to Henry Hudson, the surgeon at Somerby.
He entered Anderson's University (now [University of Strathclyde]), in 1847, but a severe attack of famine fever (either typhus or relapsing fever) that he caught while he was a pupil at St Andrews Lying-in Hospital (now Princess Royal Maternity Hospital), interrupted his studies, and led him to become an assistant, first to Thomas Browne of Saffron Walden in Essex, and afterwards to Edward Dudley Hudson at Littlethorpe, Cosby, near Leicester. Hudson was the elder brother of his former master.
In 1854, he was admitted M.A. and M.D. of St Andrews, where he afterwards became a member of the university court, an assessor of the general council, and in 1877, an honorary LL.D.
In 1849, Richardson left Hudson and joined Dr Robert Willis of Barnes, well known as the editor of the works of William Harvey, and librarian of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1828–1845). Richardson lived at Mortlake, and at about this time, became a member of "Our Club", where he met Douglas Jerrold, William Makepeace Thackeray, William Hepworth Dixon, Mark Lemon, John Doran and George Cruikshank, of whose will he became an executor.
In 1850, Richardson was admitted as a licentiate to the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. He became a faculty lecturer in 1877, and was elected a Fellow on 3 June 1878.
Richardson was a founder, and for thirty-five times in succession the President of the St Andrews Medical Graduates' Association. He was admitted as a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1856, and was elected a Fellow in 1865, serving the office of materia medica lecturer in 1866. In 1867, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and delivered the Croonian lecture in 1873 on "The Muscular Irritability after Systemic Death."