Fleetwood Churchill M.D. (1808–1878) was an English physician, known as an obstetrician and medical writer. Churchill, Fleetwood

Life

Churchill was born at

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, where his businessman father died when he was three years old, and he was educated by his mother. He was apprenticed to a general practitioner at Nottingham in 1822, and then studied in London, Dublin, Paris, and Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D. in 1831. He went in 1832 to Dublin to study

midwifery Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (including care of the newborn), in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many cou ...

, and set up in practice there. Having become a licentiate of the

King and Queen's College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), ( ga, Coláiste Ríoga Lianna na hÉireann) is an Irish professional body dedicated to improving the practice of general medicine and related medical specialty, medical specialities, chiefly thr ...

, Churchill was involved in establishing a small

maternity hospital A maternity hospital specializes in caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth. It also provides care for newborn infants, and may act as a centre for clinical training in midwifery and obstetrics. Formerly known as lying-in hospitals, most o ...

(the Western, cf

Rotunda Hospital The Rotunda Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal an Rotunda; legally the Hospital for the Relief of Poor Lying-in Women, Dublin) is a maternity hospital on Parnell Street in Dublin, Ireland, now managed by RCSI Hospitals. The eponymous Rotunda in Parnell Squ ...

), and instructed students in midwifery there. He was by then married, and entered on a successful career as teacher, writer, and practitioner: his income reached £3,000 a year. In 1851 an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

of M.D. was conferred upon him by

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

; he was king's professor of midwifery in the School of Physic from 1856 to 1864; he was twice president of the Obstetrical Society of Dublin, in 1856 and 1864; and he was president of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in 1867–8. Churchill was a religious man, as member of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

, and after the

Irish Church Act 1869 The Irish Church Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 42) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which separated the Church of Ireland from the Church of England and disestablished the former, a body that commanded the adherence of a small min ...

was involved in the Church's reorganisation. He was a supporter of foreign missions, and was also a sanitary reformer in Dublin, a founder in 1850 of the Sanitary Association. About two years and a half before his death, in failing health, he retired, presented his obstetrical library to the Ireland College of Physicians, left Dublin, and lived at the house of his daughter and son-in-law at Ardtrea rectory, near

Stewartstown, County Tyrone Stewartstown is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, close to Lough Neagh and about from Cookstown, from Coalisland and from Dungannon. Established by Scottish Planters early in the 17th century, its population peaked before the ...

. Here, after a short illness, and within a month of completing his seventieth year, he died, 31 January 1878.

Works

Churchill wrote successful medical works. The major ones were: * ''Diseases of Females'', 1838. * ''Diseases incident to Pregnancy and Childbed'', 1840. * ''Operative Midwifery'', 1841. * ''Theory and Practice of Midwifery'', 1842. * A volume of monographs on ''Diseases of Women'', edited for the Sydenham Society, 1849. * ''Diseases of Children'', 1850. His ''Manual for Midwives'' went to five editions, and had an 1893 revision by Thomas More Madden, as ''Handbook of Obstetric and Gynaecological Nursing''.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill, Fleetwood 1808 births 1878 deaths English obstetricians English medical writers People from Nottingham Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland