Henry Hill Hickman (27 January 1800 – 2 April 1830) was an English physician and promoter of

anaesthesia Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), a ...

Life

He was born to tenant farmers at Lady Halton, (near Bromfield, just outside

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...

, Shropshire). He was the fifth of thirteen children. He began his medical training at the

Edinburgh Medical School The University of Edinburgh Medical School (also known as Edinburgh Medical School) is the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the United Kingdom and part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. It was est ...

aged 16 in 1819 and left without a degree in 1820, which was normal at the time. He was admitted as a Member of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

in London in 1820.''Tenbury Wells and the Teme Valley'' 2007 p3 After qualifying, he began his medical career in 1821, in

and in early 1823 he began some rather gruesome animal experiments in anaesthesia. He would make the animal insensible, effectively via almost suffocating it with

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...

, then amputate a part of the animal to see whether the animal could feel pain under this 'anaesthesia'. Later scientists used

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be ...

, and chloroform to achieve similar effects. While living and practising in

Shifnal Shifnal is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about east of Telford, 17 miles (27 km) east of the county town of Shrewsbury and 13 miles (20 km) west-northwest of the city of Wolverhampton. It is near the M5 ...

, on 21 February 1824, Hickman wrote up his work and sent it to

Thomas Andrew Knight Thomas Andrew Knight (1759–1838), FRS, of Elton Hall in the parish of Elton in Herefordshire (4 miles south-west of Ludlow) and later of Downton Castle (3 miles north-west of Elton), was a British horticulturalist and botanist. He served a ...

of Downton Castle, near

, one of the Presidents of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, perhaps intending that the information would reach

Sir Humphry Davy Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for the ...

. It is not known if Davy ever saw the pamphlet. Hickman, disillusioned by the lack of response and wounded by an 1826 article in

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

titled 'Surgical Humbug' that ruthlessly criticised his work, turned to King Charles X of France in April 1828. Despite the support of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's field surgeon,

Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey Baron Dominique Jean Larrey (; 8 July 1766 – 25 July 1842) was a French surgeon and military doctor, who distinguished himself in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. An important innovator in battlefield medicine and triage ...

, who had noticed that wounded soldiers felt no pain when numbed by cold, Hickman met a similar response in France to that he had received in England. With success eluding him, he returned to England and set up a new practice, in Teme Street, at number 18, in

Tenbury Wells Tenbury Wells (locally Tenbury) is a market town and civil parish in the northwestern extremity of the Malvern Hills District of Worcestershire, England. Its northern border adjoins Shropshire, and at the 2011 census it had a population of 3,777 ...

, Worcestershire. These premises are now occupied by an optician's practice. Hickman died aged 30 from syphilis, and was buried at Bromfield. Unappreciated at the time of his death, his work has since been positively reappraised and he is now recognised as one of the fathers of anaesthesia. Tenbury Museum has an exhibition of items linked to Henry Hill Hickman.

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hickman, Henry Hill British anaesthetists 1800 births 1830 deaths People from Ludlow People from Shifnal 19th-century English medical doctors Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People in health professions from Shropshire People from Tenbury Wells