John Scoffern (1814–1882) was an English surgeon and popular science writer.

Life

He was born in

Dutson Dutson is a Hamlet (place), hamlet northeast of Launceston, Cornwall, Launceston in Cornwall, England, and on the A388 main road.Ordnance Survey ''One-inch Map of Great Britain; Bodmin and Launceston, sheet 186''. 1946 It is in the civil parish ...

, Cornwall, the son of William Scoffern (1783–1854) and his wife Wilmot Crocker, was educated by the Rev. John Couch Grylls at

Saltash Saltash (Cornish: Essa) is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Corn ...

. He then attended

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

and

Aldersgate Medical School The Aldersgate Medical School was a medical school in east London, in existence from about 1825 to 1848. One of many private medical schools of the period, it had popular lecturers on its staff, and proved a serious rival to St. Bartholomew's Hosp ...

. Scoffern was lecturer at Aldersgate Medical School in 1840, and graduated M.B. 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 1843. He lectured also at the medical school in

Charlotte Street Charlotte Street is a street in Fitzrovia, historically part of the parish and borough of St Pancras, in central London. It has been described, together with its northern and southern extensions (Fitzroy Street and Rathbone Place), as the ''s ...

. He went on to a prolific career in scientific and other writing. During the Franco-Prussian War, Scoffern was a newspaper correspondent. He was in the

Château de Saint-Cloud The Château de Saint-Cloud was a château in France, built on a site overlooking the Seine at Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine, about west of Paris. On the site of the former palace is the state-owned Parc de Saint-Cloud. The château was expand ...

, occupied by the Prussian forces, when it was shelled by French guns in October 1870. He tended the sick and wounded in Paris, and was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

in 1871 for bravery and his medical work.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scoffern, John 1814 births 1882 deaths English surgeons English writers Recipients of the Iron Cross People from Cornwall