Henry Herbert Southey M.D. (1784–1865) was an English physician.
Life
The son of Robert Southey (1745–1792) by his wife, Margaret Hill (1752–1802), and younger brother of Robert Southey, the poet, he was born in Bristol on 18 January 1784. After education at private schools in and near
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
, his brother Robert proposed to establish him in his house in London in order that he might study anatomy under Sir Anthony Carlisle at Westminster Hospital. The project fell through, and Henry studied surgery at Norwich under
Philip Meadows Martineau
The Martineau family is an intellectual, business and political family, political dynasty associated first with Norwich and later also London and Birmingham, England. The family were prominent Unitarianism, Unitarians; a room in London's Essex ...
(d. 1828), uncle of Harriet Martineau and one of the most distinguished Lithogists of his day - the two surgeons maintaining their professional relationship throughout their careers. At Norwich Southey also he met William Taylor of Norwich, who interested him in other studies.
In November 1803 he entered the University of Edinburgh, where
Sir William Knighton
Sir William Knighton, 1st Baronet, (1776 – 11 October 1836) was Private Secretary to the Sovereign under George IV (1822–1830).
Life
He was born in 1776 at Bere Ferrers in Devon, and studied under his uncle, Dr. Bredall, in Tavistock ...
and Dr. Robert Gooch were his fellow students and friends. He had acquired facility in colloquial Latin, and used to talk it with his friends. He graduated M.D. on 24 June 1806, reading a dissertation ‘De ortu et progressu syphilidis’ (Edinburgh, 1806), in which he maintained the American origin of
syphilis
Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...
. He then studied for a winter in London, and settled in the following year at Durham; but moved back to London by the advice of Sir William Knighton in 1812.
He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on 22 December 1812, and was elected a fellow on 25 June 1823. On 25 April 1825 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He delivered the
Harveian oration
The Harveian Oration is a yearly lecture held at the Royal College of Physicians of London. It was instituted in 1656 by William Harvey, discoverer of the systemic circulation. Harvey made financial provision for the college to hold an annual feas ...
in 1847, was elected physician to the Middlesex Hospital on 17 August 1815 and held office till April 1827. He was appointed physician in ordinary to George IV in 1823, in 1830 physician extraordinary to Queen Adelaide, and in 1833 lord chancellor's visitor in lunacy. He became a
commissioner in lunacy
The Commissioners in Lunacy or Lunacy Commission were a public body established by the Lunacy Act 1845 to oversee asylums and the welfare of mentally ill people in England and Wales. It succeeded the Metropolitan Commissioners in Lunacy.
Previo ...
in September 1836, and was
Gresham Professor of Medicine
The Professor of Physic (the term for medicine at the time the post was created in 1597) at Gresham College in London, England, gives free educational lectures to the general public on medicine, health and related sciences. The college was founded ...
from 1834 to 1865.
On 16 June 1847 he was created hon. D.C.L. at Oxford. He lived in
Queen Anne Street
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it merge ...
, Cavendish Square. His wife Louisa died in January 1830, leaving seven young children; among them was
Reginald Southey
Reginald Southey (15 September 1835 – 8 November 1899) was an English physician and inventor of ''Southey's cannula'' or ''tube'', a type of trocar used for draining oedema of the limbs.Reginald Southey at whonamedit.com /ref>
He died at 1
Harley Street
Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, which has, since the 19th century housed a large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.< ...
In 1814, Southey published ‘Observations on Pulmonary Consumption’. He also wrote the life of Gooch in the ‘Lives of British Physicians,’ published in 1830 (see William Macmichael), and made contributions to periodicals.