John Green Crosse,
FRCS
Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal ...
,
FRS (6 September 1790 – 9 June 1850) was a well-known English
surgeon of his day, at the
Norfolk and Norwich Hospital
The Norfolk and Norwich Hospital stood on a site in St Stephen's Road, Norwich, Norfolk, England. Founded in 1771, it closed in 2003 after its services had been transferred to the new Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Many of the building ...
.
After completing his apprenticeship in
Stowmarket
Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket
Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 trunk road between Bury St Edm ...
, he studied at
St. George's Hospital and at the
Windmill Street School of Medicine in London. He then moved to Dublin and Paris, finally settling in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
in 1815. In 1823 he became assistant-surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and in 1826 surgeon. His reputation as a
lithotomist, and in 1836 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 knowledge, including mathemat ...
.
Among his publications were ''Sketches of the Medical Schools of Paris'', describing hospital practice there, and ''A History of the Variolous Epidemic which occurred in Norwich in the year 1819''. Crosse worked on
bladder stones. In 1833 he won the Jacksonian prize of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. T ...
for ''The Formation, Constituents, and Extraction of the Urinary Calculus''.
Life
Crosse was born on 6 September 1790, at Boyton Hall,
Great Finborough
Great Finborough is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England; about south west of Stowmarket and near one of the sources of the River Gipping. It has two schools, a pub and an active church. In 2 ...
,
Suffolk, the second son of William Cross, a farmer, and Ann (née Green).
At an early age he was apprenticed to Thomas Bayly, a surgeon-apothecary in
Stowmarket
Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket
Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 trunk road between Bury St Edm ...
. When his apprenticeship was finished he went to London, and studied at
St. George's Hospital and at the
Windmill Street School of Medicine.
Benjamin Brodie then recommended him to
James Macartney as a demonstrator at
Trinity College, Dublin. Not receiving a diploma there, Crosse (who had added an 'e' to his surname in line with several of his paternal ancestors) left Dublin and went to Paris, where he spent the winter of 1814–15. In March 1815 he settled in Norwich.
In 1823 Crosse became assistant-surgeon to the
Norfolk and Norwich Hospital
The Norfolk and Norwich Hospital stood on a site in St Stephen's Road, Norwich, Norfolk, England. Founded in 1771, it closed in 2003 after its services had been transferred to the new Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Many of the building ...
, and in 1826 surgeon. He became known as a
lithotomist, and had a large surgical practice.
In 1836 Crosse 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 knowledge, including mathemat ...
. He had a series of 40 apprentices, among them
George Murray Humphry
Sir George Murray Humphry, FRS (18 July 1820 – 24 September 1896) was a professor of physiology and anatomy at Cambridge, surgeon, gerontologist and medical writer.
Life
He was born at Sudbury in Suffolk on 18 July 1820, the third son of Wi ...
. In 1827, he was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. In 1848 his health began to fail. He died on 9 June 1850, and was buried in the cloisters of
Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites.
The cathedra ...
.
Works
Crosse wrote letters describing hospital practice of Paris to friends in London and Dublin, and on his return published them as a book ''Sketches of the Medical Schools of Paris''. He was mainly interested in anatomy and surgery, and scarcely mentions physicians of Paris; he thought the London education better, except that there were good lectures on
medical jurisprudence
Medical jurisprudence or legal medicine is the branch of science and medicine involving the study and application of scientific and medical knowledge to legal problems, such as inquests, and in the field of law. As modern medicine is a legal ...
in Paris, and at that time none in London. In 1820 he published ''A History of the Variolous Epidemic which occurred in Norwich in the year 1819''. It contains an account of the progress of
vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...
in the eastern counties.
Crosse worked with his colleague
John Yelloly on
bladder stone
A bladder stone is a stone found in the urinary bladder.
Signs and symptoms
Bladder stones are small mineral deposits that can form in the bladder. In most cases bladder stones develop when the urine becomes very concentrated or when one is ...
s, and their results were published in ''
Philosophical Transactions'' in 1829 and 1830. In 1833 he obtained the Jacksonian prize of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. T ...
for a work on ''The Formation, Constituents, and Extraction of the Urinary Calculus'', which was published in 1835, with illustrations by the
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
artist
Obadiah Short.
[Crosse, ''A treatise on the formation, constituents, and extraction of the urinary calculus'', Plates I–XXIV] He also published several papers in the ''Transactions'' of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, of which he was president in 1846; and some cases of midwifery written by him were published after his death by Dr. Copeman, one of his pupils.
Family
Crosse married Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Bayly of Stowmarket (as above), on 18 May 1816, at the Church of St. Peter and St. Mary, Stowmarket.
Lavinia Crosse was the third of the couple's eight children.
Further reading
*
*V. Mary Crosse ''A Surgeon in the Early Nineteenth Century – The Life and Times of John Green Crosse'' (E&S Livingstone, London, 1968)
Royal Society and J G Crosse
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crosse, John Green
1790 births
1850 deaths
19th-century English medical doctors
Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons
Fellows of the Royal Society
People from Great Finborough
19th-century English male writers