FERGUSSON, Professor Sir William (1808-1877)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0100 KCLCA KH/PP7
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	: FERGUSSON, Professor Sir William (1808-1877)
Date(s)	: 1827-1853
Level of description	: Collection level (fonds)
Extent	: 0.5 box or 0.005 cubic metres
Name of creator(s)	: Fergusson | Sir | William | 1808-1877 | Knight | Professor of Surgery

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born,1808, educated University of Edinburgh, from 1826, pupil, prosector and demonstrator, Old Surgeon's Hall, Edinburgh, under the anatomist Dr Robert Knox, 1828; surgeon, Edinburgh Royal Dispensary, 1831-1836; surgeon, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, 1836-1840; Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 1829; Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1836; appointed Professor of Surgery, King's College London, and surgeon, King's College Hospital, 1840, Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1840, Fellow, 1844, Vice-President, 1869, President, 1870, Hunterian Orator, 1871; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1848, President of the British Medical Association, 1873; Surgeon in Ordinary to Albert, Prince Consort of Queen Victoria, 1849; Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1855; Sergeant Surgeon, 1867; resigned as Professor of Surgery, King's College, 1870; died, 1877.

Publications: Case of aneurism of the insominata (Edinburgh, 1841); Account of the dissection of a patient in whom the subclavian artery had been tied for axillary aneurism (Edinburgh, 1841); A system of practical surgery (Edinburgh, 1841); The introductory lecture delivered at King's College, London, on opening the medical session of 1848-49 (London, 1848); Lectures on the progress of anatomy and surgery during the present century (London and Edinburgh, 1867); The Hunterian Oration for 1871 (London, 1871).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

File of case notes mainly relating to the work of Dr Robert Knox and William Fergusson at the Old Surgeon's Hall and Edinburgh Royal Dispensary, but also referring to earlier cases, 1827-1837, including an operation to correct a perforated anus in a young child, with accompanying correspondence recalling the case, 1841, and operations to rectify a hernia and hare lip, infant limb fractures, defects of the spermatic cord, and a post mortem examination of the abdominal cavity; printed prospectus of the summer classes in practical anatomy and operative surgery undertaken by Dr Robert Knox, 1832; single volume of case notes made by Fergusson while at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, 1839-1840, including examples of necrosis, syphilis, frost bite, but principally fractures, mainly of the tibia, femur, fibula and cranium.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

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 Services.

Finding aids:

Summary guide entry on-line.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

King's College Hospital.

Allied Materials

Related material:

King's College London College Archives holds further entries relating to Fergusson's career in King's College London Council Minutes (Ref: KA/C/M); King's College Hospital Medical Board Minutes (Ref: KH/MB/M); King's College London In-Correspondence (Ref: K/IC).

Royal College of Surgeons of England holds Fergusson's diaries, notes and papers, 1845-1877 (See HMC MS papers of British scientists, 1600-1940 (1982)); National Library of Scotland, Manuscripts Division holds letters of Fergusson, 1842-1875 (Ref: MSS 4061-4331).

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: Herbert Willoughby Lyle, King's and some King's men (London, 1935); Dictionary of national biography; National Register of Archives. Entry compiled by Geoff Browell.

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:
18 May 2000