Alexander Stevenson MD PRCPSG

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1726–1791) was an 18th-century Scottish physician who co-founded the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1783. He was also twice President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (1757 and 1773).

Life

He was born in Edinburgh in 1725/26 the son of Dr John Stevenson. Some sources say he was born in Dolgain in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

. He studied Medicine at Glasgow University gaining his doctorate (MD) in 1746. He set up practice in Glasgow and from 1766 to 1789 was also Professor of Medicine at Glasgow University, succeeding Prof Joseph Black. On 29 October 1773 he had breakfast (also with Profs Reid and Anderson) with

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 (New Style, N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the Englis ...

and Dr

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

during their famous tour of Scotland. He lived his later years in a house on the east side of Virginia Street. He died in Glasgow on 29 May 1791.

Family

He was married to Jean Pickegg. His sister, Juliana Stevenson, was mother to Thomas Charles Hope. Hope succeeded him in his role as Professor of Medicine following his retiral in 1789.

References

1726 births 1791 deaths Medical doctors from Edinburgh 18th-century Scottish medical doctors Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academics of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-med-bio-stub