Charles Edward Underhill PRCPE

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 ...

LLD (8 March 1845–24 April 1908) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and sportsman, who served as President of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

from 1906 to 1908.

Life

Charles Edward Underhill was born in Tipton in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

on 8 March 1845, the second of eight sons of Emily Margaretta Roe and her husband, Dr William Lees Underhill (1814-1894). He was educated in

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...

and

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

. In the 1860s his family were still living at Tipton Green. He studied medicine at

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

as a Tancred Student, graduating MB in 1870. He was on the University rowing team whilst at Cambridge. Following graduation he became a Demonstrator in Anatomy at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. In 1875 he became assistant to Dr James Matthews Duncan, later replacing him as Physician to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh and rising to the position of Consultant Physician. Underhill was also Manager of Edinburgh's Royal Maternity Hospital and on the management board of

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

. In 1877 he was elected a Fellow of 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 ...

. His proposers were Peter Guthrie Tait,

Alexander Crum Brown Alexander Crum Brown FRSE FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish organic chemist. Alexander Crum Brown Road in Edinburgh's King's Buildings complex is named after him. Early life and education Crum Brown was born at 4 Bellev ...

, Alexander Buchan and David Milne Hume. In 1881 he became a member of the Aesculapian Club and served as honorary Secretary from 1905 until his death. In 1905 he became President to the Edinburgh

Harveian Society The Harveian Society of London, named after the physician William Harvey, is a medical society and registered charity, founded in 1831. Doctors assemble regularly at the Medical Society of London, Chandos Street, Cavendish Square to converse and d ...

. In 1906, he succeeded Dr John Playfair as President of the

in 1906. Underfill died in office on 24 April 1908. John Playfair completed Underhill's term in office before being succeeded by

William Allan Jamieson Sir William Allan Jamieson PRCPE LLD (1839–1916) was a Scottish physician and academic author. He served as President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh 1908 to 1910 being succeeded by Sir Byrom Bramwell. Life He was born in Dre ...

. He lived at 8 Coates Crescent in Edinburgh's West End. Four weeks before his death on 24 April 1908, of a progressive heart disease, he moved out to Baberton House in south-west Edinburgh, lent to him by his friend and colleague, Byrom Bramwell. He is buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

in western Edinburgh. The grave lies on the south side of the main east-west path pointing at the Dean Gallery entrance. A memorial stained glass window to Underhill was erected in St Johns Episcopal Church on

Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three ...

Family and interests

In 1872 Underhill married Anna Wilhelmina Lambe (1845-1938), daughter of A. I. Lambe of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. Dr Thomas Edgar Underhill

was his brother. Underhill was a member of the

Royal Company of Archers The Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland—a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV when the company provided a perso ...

, the king's official bodyguard in Scotland, along with being a member of the Aesculapian Club and Round Table Club.

Selected publications

*''On a Case of Spurious Pregnancy with Labour'' (1874) *''On the Structure of Three Cervical Polypi'' (1876) *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Underhill, Charles Edward 1845 births 1908 deaths People from Tipton Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 19th-century Scottish medical doctors Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Burials at the Dean Cemetery