Maiden, William (1768-1845)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0114 MS0128
Held at	: Royal College of Surgeons of England   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums-and-archives/archives/ ›
Full title	: Maiden, William (1768-1845)
Date(s)	: 1812-1824
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 box
Name of creator(s)	: Maiden | William | 1768-1845 | surgeon

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

William Maiden was born in Strood, Kent in 1768. He was apprenticed to Joseph Coventry Lowdell for £100 in 1783. He received his medical education at St Thomas's Hospital and qualified as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1790. At St Thomas's he was a pupil of Sir Astley Cooper. Maiden travelled to Paris where he continued his medical studies in c 1790. He returned in 1792 and succeeded the practice of Mr English at Stratford in Essex. Maiden was the surgeon who treated Mr Thomas Tipple, a gentleman who had received a severe chest injury through being impaled by the shaft of a chaise, in 1812. Mr Tipple recovered and lived for a further 10 years. Maiden published the details of the case due to the disbelief from the medical profession that a patient could survive such an injury. After Mr Tipple's death, his widow requested the body to be examined. The post-mortem was carried out by Sir William Blizard, William Clift, Harkness, and J W K Parkinson. The anterior wall of the chest of Mr Tipple and the shaft itself were presented to the Royal College of Surgeons Museum by William Maiden in 1823. They were destroyed by enemy action in May 1941. He died in 1845.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of William Maiden, 1812-1824, comprising a cutting from the National Register containing a letter to the editor from T Paxton, on 'Mr Tipple's Extraordinary Case', 26 Jul 1812; a copy of the second edition (1813) of the original publication by Maiden titled An Account of a Case of Recovery after an Extraordinary Accident, by which the shaft of a chaise had been forced through the thorax. The label on the front was written by Sir Richard Owen. Including an autograph letter from William Clift to William Maiden, 18 Feb 1824 and an original drawing by William Clift; draft title pages for the re-publication of the Shaft Case by William Maiden, including notes on Mr Tipple's health for the 10 years following the accident, and an account of the post-mortem; manuscript drafts for the introduction of the re-publication of the case; manuscript containing notes on Tipple's health after the accident. These notes were probably written by J W K Parkinson, Mr Tipple's physician after the accident, and his name is written in pencil at the top right on the first page; draft manuscript notes on the Post Mortem of Mr Tipple, 1823; a letter from James Parkinson to Sir William Blizard, 26 Mar 1823 concerning observations made by William Clift on the post-mortem of Mr Tipple; draft manuscripts of a commentary on the case by Sir William Blizard; 22 letters from William Maiden to William Clift, Sir William Blizard and Mr Carpenter concerning the re-publication of the case details, the plates to be published with it, and the procedure for presenting copies of the work to various gentlemen and institutions. Including replies from William Clift and Mr Carpenter to William Maiden. Sep 1823 - Jul 1824; transcribed measurements of the location of the horse and chaise; manuscript descriptions of the plates for the re-publication, including keys to the letters used in the figures, by William Clift; copy of An Account of a Case of Recovery, after The Shaft of a Chaise had been forced through the Thorax: to which is now added a statement of the health of the sufferer from the period of his recovery, until his decease: with the appearances of the injured parts after death. By William Maiden, MRCS. 1824; original drawings for the plates in the republication by William Clift and proofs of the plates; and printed colour, and black and white plates, and descriptions from the re-published case, 1824.

Access & 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

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

It is likely that the papers were previously part of the collection belonging to Sir Richard Owen.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Anya Turner
Source: Wood, S Mr Tipple's Chest Wound Medical History, Volume IV, Number 3, Jul 1960.

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:
Sep 2008