Edwin Bramwell

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 ...

PRCPE LLD (1873–1952) was a 20th-century Scottish neurologist. He was 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 1933 to 1935.

Life

The grave of Edwin Bramwell, Dean Cemetery

He was born in

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

on 11 January 1873 the son of Martha (née Crighton) and Sir Byrom Bramwell. He was educated at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

. He then studied medicine 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 ...

graduating MB ChB in 1896. After graduation he began working at the

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 ...

then moved to the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He then did a years further postgraduate study in Freiburg in Germany. In 1900 he settled in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

as a consultant and in 1902 moved to work in Leith Hospital as Assistant Physician. In 1907 he returned to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary as Assistant Physician. In 1906 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

Daniel John Cunningham Daniel John Cunningham M.D., D.C.L., LL. D. F.R.S., F.R.S.E. F.R.A.I. (15 April 1850 – 23 July 1909) was a Scottish physician, zoologist, and anatomist, famous for ''Cunningham's Text-book of Anatomy'' and ''Cunningham's Manual of Pra ...

John Chiene John Chiene, CB, LLD, MD, FRSE, FRCSEd (25 February 1843 – 29 May 1923) was a Scottish surgeon, who was Professor of Surgery at the University of Edinburgh during some of its most influential years. He was a founder of the Edinburgh ...

George Chrystal George Chrystal FRSE FRS (8 March 1851 – 3 November 1911) was a Scottish mathematician. He is primarily know for his books on algebra and his studies of seiches (wave patterns in large inland bodies of water) which earned him a Gold Meda ...

and Alexander Bruce. At this time he lived at 24 Walker Street in Edinburgh's West End. In the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served in the 2nd Second General Hospital treating the returning wounded. He began to specialise in brain injuries and mental injuries such as

shell shock Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a react ...

and in 1919 began lecturing in

Neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

at the

. In 1922 he became Professor of Clinical Medicine. He died in

on 21 March 1952. 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 ...

. The grave lies on the westmost outer wall of the first northern extension.

Publications

A keen fly-fisher, he wrote many articles for the Fishing Gazette under the pseudonym "The Professor".

Family

In 1908 he married Elizabeth Cumming Cunningham (1879-1960) daughter of

and granddaughter of Very Rev John Cunningham. They had four daughters and two sons. One daughter Margaret Claire Byrom Bramwell married Dr James Kirkwood Slater. His brother was Byrom Stanley Bramwell.

References

1873 births 1952 deaths People educated at Cheltenham College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh British neurologists Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Burials at the Dean Cemetery {{Scotland-med-bio-stub