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King's College London College Archives

GUNNING, John (d 1798)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0100 G/PP1/21

Held at: King's College London College Archives

Title: GUNNING, John (d 1798)

Date(s): 1792, 1946

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 5 items

Name of creator(s): Gunning | John | d 1798 | surgeon

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

John Gunning was Assistant surgeon to St George's Hospital, London, from 21 Jan. 1760 to 4 Jan. 1765, and full surgeon from that date till his death.
In 1773 he was elected steward of anatomy by the Surgeons' Company, but paid the fine rather than serve. In 1789 he was elected examiner, and in the same year he was chosen master of the company. In 1790 Gunning was appointed the first professor of surgery; but he soon resigned on the plea that it occupied too much of his time, and no new appointment was made.
Gunning was in general opposed to his colleague at St. George's, John Hunter. The quarrel rose to a great pitch when a surgeon was elected in succession to Charles Hawkins. Keate was supported by Gunning, and Home by Hunter, and after a sharp contest Keate was elected. A dispute ensued about fees for surgical lectures, which led to a controversy between Gunning, senior surgeon, supported by two of his colleagues, and Hunter. It ended in John Hunter's dramatically sudden death on 16 Oct. 1793, immediately after being flatly contradicted by one of his colleagues, apparently Gunning.
Gunning had been appointed surgeon-general of the army in 1793, on the death of John Hunter; he was also senior surgeon extraordinary to the king. He died at Bath on 14 February 1798.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of John Gunning, relating to the regulations for the teaching of pupils, dressers and apprentices at Guy's Hospital, including letter to Gunning from Joseph Warner, 29 Dec 1792, describing regulations in the hospitals in 1734; letter to Gunning from William Lucas, [1792] also describing the system for apprentices, dressers and pupils; also three manuscript copies of regulations.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

As described in scope and content

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature on readers' undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

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

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Accruals:

Archival history:

Donated to Guy's Hospital Library by Sir Charles Symonds, Jul 1946.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Transferred from Guy's Hospital Medical School Library in 2002.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Sources: Mr Guy's Hospital 1726-1948, H C Cameron, Longmans Green and Co Ltd, London, 1954; Dictionary of National Biography CD-ROM (Oxford University Press, 1995). Compiled by Alison Field

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: June 2004


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Medical education | Higher science education
Medical profession | Medical sciences
Surgery | Medical sciences

Personal names
Gunning | John | d 1798 | surgeon
Lucas | William | fl [1792]
Warner | Joseph | 1717-1801 | surgeon

Corporate names
Guy's Hospital | London

Places
Southwark | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe