Dr George Smyttan FRSE (1789–1863) was a 19th-century Scottish physician who helped to run the Medical Missionary Society in India.

Life

He was born in

Dunkeld Dunkeld (, sco, Dunkell, from gd, Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to t ...

on 17 June 1789. He was educated at Dunkeld Grammar School. He studied Medicine at St Andrews and Edinburgh but received his doctorate (MD) from

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

. He was licensed as a surgeon by the

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The College has seven active faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical practices. Its main campus is located o ...

. In 1808 (aged 19) he began work as a Surgeon for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

based in Bombay in India rising to be Head of the Medical Board for the Bombay district. He returned to Scotland in 1839 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1841. His proposer was

Robert Christison Sir Robert Christison, 1st Baronet, (18 July 1797 – 27 January 1882) was a Scottish toxicologist and physician who served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1838–40 and 1846-8) and as president of the British ...

. In

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

he lived and practiced from 20 Melville Street in the West End of the city. He appears to also have had property in Ross & Cromarty and was an elder of the Free Church of Scotland in Tain. He also retained property at Birnam near Dunkeld. He had a seizure in September 1854 which left him paralysed. He died at Canaan Park (a villa he purchased in 1860) in south Edinburgh on Christmas Day 25 December 1863.

Family

His wife (a Miss Hunt) is later referred to simply as Mrs Smyttan. His sister Jane Smyttan married Dandeson Coates Bell His son, Rev George Hunt Smyttan (1824-1870), married Frances Hardy Grey.

References

1786 births 1863 deaths People from Perthshire Scottish surgeons British East India Company Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-med-bio-stub