![John Braxton Hicks 1881](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/John_Braxton_Hicks_1881.jpg)
John Braxton Hicks (23 February 1823 – 28 August 1897) was a 19th-century
English
English usually refers to:
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doctor
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** ...
who specialised in
obstetrics
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
.
He was born to Edward Hicks in
Rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...
,
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
. He was educated privately and in 1841 entered
Guy's Hospital Medical School
GKT School of Medical Education (abbreviated: GKT) is the medical school of King's College London. The school has campuses at three institutions, Guy's Hospital (Southwark), King's College Hospital (Denmark Hill) and St Thomas' Hospital (Lambeth ...
. He obtained his MB at the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
in 1845 and an MD in 1851. He was elected a Fellow of the
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...
in 1866.
In 1856 he was appointed assistant obstetric physician at
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre.
...
and full physician in 1868. In 1888 he became obstetric physician at
St Mary's Hospital, London
St Mary's Hospital is an NHS hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, wh ...
. Hicks was the first physician to describe the bipolar and other methods of the
version
Version may refer to:
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* VERSION (CONFIG.SYS directive), a configuration directive in FreeDOS
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of a
fetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal deve ...
. In 1872, he described the
uterine
The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the hollow organ, organ in the female reproductive system, reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic development, embryonic an ...
contraction
Contraction may refer to:
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* Contraction (grammar), a shortened word
* Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons
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s not resulting in
childbirth
Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births globall ...
now known as
Braxton Hicks contractions
Braxton Hicks contractions, also known as practice contractions or false labor, are sporadic uterine contractions that may start around six weeks into a pregnancy. However, they are usually felt in the second or third trimester of pregnancy.
...
.
In 1862 he was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
by virtue of his interest in Natural History, about which he wrote numerous papers. He gave the Hunterian Oration to the
Hunterian Society
The Hunterian Society, founded in 1819 in honour of the Scottish surgeon John Hunter (1728–1793), is a society of physicians and dentists based in London.
Established by Dr William Cooke, a general practitioner, and Thomas Armiger, a surgeo ...
in 1868 and was elected their president for 1879.
Braxton Hicks is buried at St Thomas Church, Lymington, Hampshire. For a while, an obstetric ward at
St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...
was named after him; Braxton Hicks ward is now closed.
He was the father of coroner
Athelstan Braxton Hicks
Athelstan Braxton Hicks (19 June 1854 – 17 May 1902) was a coroner in London and Surrey for two decades at the end of the 19th century. He was given the nickname "The Children's Coroner" for his conscientiousness in investigating the suspiciou ...
(b 1854).
References
External links
ADC online article on John Braxton Hicks
1823 births
1897 deaths
People from Rye, East Sussex
19th-century English medical doctors
Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians
Fellows of the Royal Society
Alumni of the University of London
Physicians of Guy's Hospital
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