POTT, Percivall (1714-1788)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0100 TH/PP47
Held at	: King's College London College Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/ ›
Full title	: POTT, Percivall (1714-1788)
Date(s)	: [1770-1792]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 volume
Name of creator(s)	: Pott | Percivall | 1714-1788 | surgeon

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born, London, 1714; educated, educated privately 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 a '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:

Papers relating to Percivall Pott, [1770-1792], comprising notes on his surgical lectures, taken by an unidentified pupil, [1770].

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The records are arranged as outlined in the 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.

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue

Archival Information

Archival history:

Acquired by St Thomas' Hospital Medical School Library

Immediate source of acquisition:

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

Allied Materials

Related material:

King's College London also holds notes on Pott's lectures taken by Richard Whitfield (TH/PP WHITFIELD). 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

Archivist's note:
Sources: Dictionary of National Biography CD-ROM (Oxford University Press, 1995); Historical Manuscripts Commission On-line National Register of Archives; British Library Public On-line catalogue; Catalogue of the Printed Books and Manuscripts in the Library of St Thomas's Hospital Medical School (1491-1900) D T Bird (London, 1984). 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