BABINGTON, William (1756-1833)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0100 G/PP2/3-6
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	: BABINGTON, William (1756-1833)
Date(s)	: [1790s]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 4 volumes
Name of creator(s)	: Babington | William | 1756-1833 | physician and mineralogist

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

William Babington was born at Portglenone, near Coleraine, Antrim, Ireland. Apprenticed to a practitioner at Londonderry, and afterwards completed his medical education at Guy's Hospital, London, but without at that time taking a medical degree. In 1777 he was made assistant surgeon to Haslar (Naval) Hospital, and held this appointment four years. He then obtained the position of apothecary to Guy's Hospital, and also lectured on chemistry in the medical school. He resigned the post of apothecary, and, having obtained the necessary degree of MD from the University of Aberdeen in 1795, was elected physician to Guy's Hospital. In 1796 he became a licentiate of the College of Physicians, and remained so till 1827, when he received the unusual honour of being elected fellow by special grace. In 1831 he was made honorary MD by the University of Dublin. He ceased to be physician to Guy's in 1811. He died on 29 April 1833. His son, Benjamin Guy Babington was also also physician to Guy's Hospital, and one of his daughters married the eminent physician, Dr. Richard Bright.
Publications: Syllabus of the Course of Chemical Lectures at Guy's Hospital, 1789; A Systematic Arrangement of Minerals, founded on the joint consideration of their chemical, physical, and external characters, etc, London, 1795; A New System of Mineralogy, in the Form of Catalogue, after the manner of Baron Born's systematic catalogue of the collection of fossils of Mlle. Eleonore de Raab, London, 1799; A Catalogue, systematically arranged and described ... of the genuine and valuable collection of minerals, of a gentleman deceased ... comprising upwards of three thousand specimens ... now offered to the public for sale, etc. [Compiled by W. Babington and others.] Henry Fry: London, 1805; Outlines of a course of lectures on the practice of medicine,. as delivered in the medical school of Guy's Hospital, William Babington and James Curry, London,1802-1806; A syllabus of a course of chemical lectures read at Guy's Hospital William Babington, Alexander Marcet, and William Allen, ... 1816; Two Cases of Rabies Canina, in which opium was given, without success ... the one by William Babington ... the other by William Wavell ... Communicated by Dr. Babington; 'A Case of Exposure to the Vapour of Burning Charcoal' (Med.-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. i. 1806).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers relating to William Babington, comprising four manuscript volumes of notes on lectures taken by unidentified writers, titled 'Babington's Lectures' (on chemistry); 'Babington's chemistry'; 'Lectures on therapeutics delivered at Guy's Hospital by William Babington MD, 1796'; 'Lectures on the materia medica delivered at Guy's Hospital by William Babington M D, 1796'.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

As outlined in 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 Archive and Corporate Record Services.

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue

Archival Information

Archival history:

Acquired by Guy's Hospital Medical School Library

Immediate source of acquisition:

Transferred from Guy's Hospital Medical School Library in 2002

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: British Library Public On-line Catalogue; 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