IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0114 MS0219
Held at: Royal College of Surgeons of England
Title: Bell, Sir Charles (1774-1842)
Date(s): Early 19th century-1842
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 box
Name of creator(s): Bell | Sir | Charles | 1744-1842 | Knight | surgeon
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Charles Bell was born in Edinburgh, in 1774. He received his medical education from the University of Edinburgh between 1792-1799, attending courses on anatomy, botany, chemistry, and the practice of medicine and clinical lectures at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He also assisted his brother John, also a surgeon, teaching anatomy and surgery in the Edinburgh extramural school. Charles Bell had a talent for drawing and developed his skills as an artist during this time. While still a student in 1798, he published a System of Dissections, illustrated by his own drawings. He was elected a fellow of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1799, and practised at the Edinburgh Infirmary. He published The Anatomy of the Brain, Explained in a Series of Engravings, in 1802. He left Edinburgh for London in 1804. He married Marion Shaw in 1811 and used the money from the dowry to buy a share in the Hunterian School of Medicine, in Great Windmill Street. He was appointed surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital in 1814, and became a member of The Royal College of Surgeons of London. He lectured as Senior Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at The Royal College of Surgeons of London in 1824, and then became a member of Council. He was knighted in 1831. He was appointed Professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology at the London University in 1827. When the University Medical School finally opened in 1828, Bell gave the inaugural speech. There were some difficulties in the new Medical School and in 1830, Bell left to help establish a medical school at the Middlesex Hospital where he conducted his clinical lectures. The school opened in 1835, and Bell was to teach surgery and anatomy. However, at this time, Bell was offered the post of Professor of Surgery at Edinburgh University, which he accepted, returning to Edinburgh in 1836. In 1840 he made a three month tour of Italy to view works of art for one of his publications. He died in 1842.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of Sir Charles Bell, early 19th century-1842, comprising drawings by Sir Charles Bell, early 19th century; and letters and miscellaneous material, 1821-1842.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
As outlined in Scope and Content.
Conditions governing access:
By written appointment only.
Conditions governing reproduction:
No photocopying permitted.
Finding aids:
Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (1928) by Victor G Plarr.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The provenance of this material is not known.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
Notes of lectures delivered by Sir Charles Bell in the hand of William Clift, containing sketches drawn by Bell or Clift, plus notes of other lectures by Bell by Clift or Richard Owen (MS0007) (275.h.17 and 275.h.20 (25)); Portraits Catalogue at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Portrait 295 'Old Age' Pencil drawing of an old woman by Sir Charles Bell purchased by the College in 1927.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Compiled by Anya Turner.
Source: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Matthew and Harrison eds.) Volume 4: Barney-Bellasis, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Date(s) of descriptions: Sep 2008