Neil McIntyre

Britain's First Medical Marriage: Frances Morgan (1843–1927), George Hoggan (1837–1891) and the Mysterious “Elsie”

Britains first medical marriage was between George Hoggan and Frances Morgan, in 1874. George was a naval engineer before he studied medicine; he showed great promise in research before his death, aged 54, after a long illness. Frances was arguably the most gifted of the early medical women. She was the first British woman to obtain an MD in Europe and the first to do high-quality medical research. Her clinical practice was curtailed by Georges illness and death but she continued to campaign on social issues — including womens education, health education and civil rights. Her life was all the more remarkable because new evidence suggests that, at the age of 17, before she started her medical studies, she gave birth to an illegitimate child. Had this been known it would, in Victorian times, have dashed her hopes of a career in medicine.

The marriage (1878) of Emile Roux (1853-1933) and Rose Anna Shedlock (b. c. 1850).

The great French scientist Emile Roux is widely believed to have been a confirmed bachelor, who on occasion expressed his antipathy towards marriage. However, UK records show that in August 1878 he married Rose Anna Shedlock in London. Her subsequent fate is unknown. While Roux became famous, his marriage remained a secret.

The fate of Rose Anna Shedlock (c1850–1878) and the early career of Émile Roux (1853–1933)

The 1878 marriage of Rose Anna Shedlock and Émile Roux was a closely guarded secret. Shedlock studied medicine at Edinburgh with Sophia Jex-Blake (1840–1912) and her fellow students but is not mentioned by name in the usual accounts of their battle for recognition by the University. Subsequently Shedlock attended the Paris medical school where she probably met Emile Roux who was attached to the military medical school of the Val-de-Grâce before his dismissal in 1876. Documentation of this episode and of Roux’s life over the next two years is fragmentary and inaccurate. Sadly, Shedlock died, probably of tuberculosis, in 1879. In a romanticized and highly inaccurate biography Roux’s niece suggested that Rose Anna contracted tuberculosis from Roux whose life was later blighted by the disease. However, Shedlock was unwell for some years before they married and it seems far more likely that she passed the disease on to him.

Dr Henry Jephson (1798-1878).

Dr Henry Jephson was born on 4 October 1798 in Sutton-in-Ashfield, near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. His interest in science as a youth caused him to blow off two fingers of his left hand while experimenting with fulminating silver. After a pupilage with Mr Alcock he entered St George’s Hospital where he met a young assistant surgeon, Brodie (later Sir Benjamin); their friendship continued until Brodie’s death. Chambers, a retired naval surgeon, required an assistant for his practice in Leamington Spa. On Alcock’s recommendation, Jephson started work there in 1819. He made himself so useful that he was made a partner; when Chambers retired he left the practice to Jephson. Wishing to improve his qualifications, Jephson left Leamington with his new wife in 1827 for Glasgow, where he obtained his MD. In 1828 he went to practise in Cheltenham but a deputation of old friends and patients persuaded him to return to Leamington. He paid back the purchase money to the person to whom he sold his former practice and built a large new practice at 7 York Terrace; in 1831 he moved to Beech Lawn, a fine house in Warwick Street (now the site of the Warwickshire County Fire Brigade). His patients included George IV, Princess Victoria, Florence Nightingale and John Ruskin. According to his obituaries in the Lancet and British Medical Journal (25 May 1878) he had, until 1848, what was probably the most extraordinary success ever achieved by any physician. Patients from Britain, the colonies and Europe flocked to Leamington. He was summoned to consultations all over the country and had a special travelling carriage made for the journeys. For several years his annual income exceeded £20,000, and once reached £24,000. Jephson’s health began to fail in 1846. His vision started to deteriorate in 1847 and from 1848 he was totally blind; his blindness was attributed to ‘gouty amaurosis’. During his enforced retirement he remained active in local business matters. He died on 14 May 1878 and was buried at Old Milverton, near Leamington, beside hiswifewho died in 1874. The Willes family of Newbold Comyn owned a large plot of land in Leamington. It became a pleasure garden for public use in the early 1830s and included the Newbold Archery Ground. Jephson contributed to Leamington’s

Sir Herbert Isambard Owen (1850-1927).

Isambard Owen, born in Chepstow to a Welsh father, studied at Cambridge and St Georges Hospital where he qualified in 1875 and was later physician and Dean. In 1904 he moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne as Principal of Armstrong College. He left in 1909 to become Bristol Universitys Vice-Chancellor, retiring in 1921. Although not resident in Wales he was an ardent Welshman. After joining the Cymmrodorion Society in 1877 he became involved in the struggle to improve primary and secondary education in Wales, partly by promoting use of the Welsh language in schools. His main contribution to Welsh academic life was in the foundation of the University of Wales and, later, of the medical school in Cardiff. He wrote the Universitys Charter and from 1895 until 1910 was its Senior Deputy Chancellor – and stand-in for two Princes of Wales (later Edward VII and George V) who served as Chancellor.

Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (1818-65).

fragments of ovalbumin display antimicrobial activity. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 2004;1672:76–85 36 Zamenhof A. Hordeolum Internum. Medycyna Wspolczesna [Contemporary Medicine] 1938;6:1911–38 37 Zamenhof A. W sprawie rozpoznania różniczkowego stanów zapalnych i zastoinowych tarczy nerwu wzrokowego. W książce Księga jubileuszowa Edwarda Flataua Warszawa, [Differential diagnosis of inflammatory and papilledematous conditions of optic disc. Anniversary book by Edward Flatau, Warsaw] 1929: 790–99 38 Zamenhof A, Plonskier M. Przypadek przerzutu gruczolakoraka do naczyniówki oka. Warszawskie Czasopismo Lekarskie [Case of metastatic adenocarcinoma in eye choroids. Warsaw Medical Journal] 1928;5:411–13 39 Zamenhof A. Gruźlica a sprawy wysiękowe w siatkówce. Kwartalnik Kliniczny Szpitala Starozakonnych [Tuberculosis and retinal exudation. Clinical Quarterly of Jewish Orthodox Hospital] 1926;5:100–107 40 Zamenhof A. Przypadek torbielowatego zwyrodnienia siatkówki. Klinika Oczna [The case of cystic retinal degeneration. Ophthalmic Clinics] 1938;14:469–70. This case presentation included that of a 46-year-old woman who suffered from miscarriages. He reported changes in the left eye, which enlarged and presented with petechiae and annular cloudy exudates in the deep retinal layers around the posterior pole. There was also local retinal oedema and elevation of the inner area of the ring from the exudates. Phocalizator observation showed numerous vesicles disseminated in the proximal macula lutea (in indirect light). Such an accurate description was followed by diagnosis of retinal vesicular degeneration that could occur in retinitis circinata or external exudative retinitis 41 Wulman L, Tenebaum J. The martyrdom of Jewish physicians in Poland. New York: Exposition Press, 1963:492–3 22 Journal of Medical Biography Volume 17 February 2009

Sir John Gray (1816–75)

Autumn 1992;6:17 17 Seventh Annual Report of the Bath and Wessex Children’s Orthopaedic Hospital to 31 March 1931 18 Tenth Annual Report of the Bath and Wessex Children’s Orthopaedic Hospital to 31 March 1935 19 Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bath and Wessex Children’s Orthopaedic Hospital to 31 March 1943 20 Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Bath and Wessex Children’s Orthopaedic Hospital to 31 March 1947 (final report) 21 Eleventh Annual Report of the Bath and Wessex Children’s Orthopaedic Hospita to 31 March 1936 22 Forrester-Brown MF. Diagnosis and Treatment of Deformities in Infancy and Early Childhood. Oxford: Milford, 1929 23 Gordon RG, Forrester-Brown MF. Paralysis in Children. Oxford: Milford, 1933 24 Forrester-Brown M. The treatment of congenital equinovarus (club-foot). Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery 1935;17:661–70 25 Forrester-Brown M. A clamp for stretching congenital club-feet. Lancet 1936;i:897–8 26 Forrester-Brown M. Operative procedures in poliomyelitis. Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England 1947;I:204–18 27 British Orthopaedic Association, Minute book in MS, 1921; Annual Reports, 1937, 1949 & 1961 28 Putti V. Historic Artificial Limbs transl. Forrester-Brown M., New York: Hoeber, 1930 29 Personal communication with Mary Franklin, 2007; severe poliomyelitis at seven years; worked from 16 to 60 years in the operating theatre, Bath and Wessex Orthopaedic Hospital preparing operative clothing, drapes and dressings for sterilisation 30 Personal communication with Sister Corp, 2007; trained at the Bath & Wessex Orthopaedic Hospital 31 Personal communication with Alyson Courtenay, 2007; Director of Development, Bedford High School 32 Personal communication with Bob White, 2007, patient and subsequently Senior Medical Records Officer, Royal United Hospital, Bath 33 Caiach S. Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society. British Orthopaedic News Autumn 1994:16 (Issue 10)

Mungo Park (1771–1806)

About 45 years before Livingstone went to Africa, his fellow Scot, Mungo Park, had blazed the trail. Park was born at Fowlshiels, a farm near Selkirk (in Scotland), the seventh child in a family of 13. Educated at home and at Selkirk grammar school, in 1786 at the age of 15 years, he was apprenticed to Thomas Anderson, surgeon of Selkirk. Three years later, he entered Edinburgh University to study medicine. In 1791 he went to London to seek employment. Through his botanist brother-in-law, James Dickson, he had an introduction to Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820), then President of the Royal Society, who arranged a voyage to the East Indies for Park as a ship’s medical officer. Park left for Sumatra in February 1792, returning to England the following year. He was a keen botanist and brought home rare plants from Sumatra for presentation to his patron, Banks. In November 1794 he read a paper to the Linnaean Society on eight new species of fishes found in Sumatra. An African Association was founded in 1788 to further geographical discoveries in Africa. Sir Joseph was a committee member. He saw in Park a successor to Major Houghton who, in 1790, was sent by the association to discover the true course of the Niger; Houghton did not return. Park agreed to go to ascertain the course and, if possible, the source and termination of the Niger River. He sailed in May 1795, arriving six weeks later at Pisania, 200 miles up the Gambia. He stayed five months with Dr John Laidley, learning the Mandingo language, and suffered his first severe attack of fever. In December he set out accompanied only by a servant and a boy, one horse and two asses. Early in his journey he was robbed and imprisoned for four months by an Arab chief. He escaped alone with nothing but his horse, his clothes and a pocket compass he had hidden from his captors. In July 1796 he arrived at Sego, on the Niger. Park went down the river as far as Silla and then had to turn back. He fell ill on the return journey; Kaarta Taura, a black African, with whom he stayed for seven months, saved his life. Park reached Pisania in June 1797, embarked on a slave ship bound for America and arrived at Falmouth in December. Park’s Travels into the Interior [Districts] of Africa was published in the Spring of 1799 and achieved instant success. In August 1799 he married the eldest daughter of Thomas Anderson, his apprentice-master. Initially they lived with Park’s family at Fowlshiels, but in October 1801 he went into practice at Peebles. He became a good friend of Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). In October 1803 Lord Hobart, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, asked him to lead a fresh expedition to Africa. Park agreed but Pitt’s return to power in 1804, and Hobart’s replacement by Lord Camden, caused delays. Park spent the time studying Arabic. In a memoir to the colonial office in September 1804, he noted that the expedition was to extend British commerce and increase geographical knowledge, and gave his reasons for believing (erroneously) that the Niger would terminate in the Congo River. Lord Camden instructed him to pursue the Niger as far as it could be traced. Park was granted £5000 and empowered to enlist up to 45 soldiers to accompany him. On 30 January 1805 Park sailed from Portsmouth with his surgeon brother-in-law, Alexander Anderson, and George Scott, a draughtsman from Selkirk. They arrived at Goree on 28 March and were joined by Lieutenant Martyn, RA, 30 soldiers who volunteered, four carpenters and two sailors. The expedition arrived at Pisania where on 29 April Park engaged a Mandingo priest as guide. On 19 August 1805, when they reached the Niger, only 11 Europeans had survived. Park proceeded down the river from Bambakoo to Sansanding, a little east of Sego, where he remained for two months. Scott had died before the Niger was reached and Anderson died on 28 October. Undaunted, Park continued his exploration. He left Sansanding on 19 November, accompanied by Lieutenant Martyn and the three remaining soldiers. To Lord Camden, he wrote a remarkable letter on the eve of his departure: ‘I shall set sail to the east with the fixed resolution to discover the termination of the Niger or perish in the attempt . . . if I could not succeed in the object of my journey, I would at least die on the Niger’. Rumours of Park’s death reached the coast in 1806 but a definite account of the expedition’s fate was not obtained until 1812. Park apparently sailed downstream past Timbuctoo as far as Boussa where, following a fight with natives, all his party died. Park’s second son, Thomas, hoping to clarify his father’s fate, attempted to reach Boussa from the coast; after 200 miles into his journey, he died of fever in October 1827. This statue of Park has stood in Selkirk since 1839. In his right-hand there is a sextant and, in his left, a scroll on which was inscribed part of his letter to Lord Camden.

William Marsden's Yorkshire family, 1749-1922.

William Marsden (1796–1867), a Yorkshireman, founded two major London hospitals. We know little of his family background, about which his only biography gives a highly inaccurate account. It suggests his family were landowners and gentlemen farmers. Although their origins were more humble, some at least of his Yorkshire relatives prospered — through gardening, banking, manufacturing and even medicine. This paper presents information on four generations of Yorkshire Marsdens.