Dr John C. Douglas Smith

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

PRCPE (c.1800–4 February 1879) was a 19th-century Scottish physician specialising in treating the insane, who served as President of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

from 1865 to 1867.

Life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

around 1800 and educated at

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a Scottish independent primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff ...

. He was apprenticed to George Wood surgeon at 28 Queen Street. He then studied medicine at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

gaining his doctorate (MD) in 1822. He worked variously at the Saughton Hall Asylum for the Insane (created in 1824), the Edinburgh Charity Workhouse and the Bedlam Asylum on Forest Road. He was elected a Fellow of the

in 1833. In 1834 Smith was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh and served as President in 1850. In 1838 he was elected a member of the

Aesculapian Club The Aesculapian Club of Edinburgh is one of the oldest medical dining clubs in the world. It was founded in April 1773 by Dr. Andrew Duncan. Membership of the Club is limited to 11 Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh a ...

. In 1865 he was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in succession to Dr John Moir. At this time he was living at 20

Charlotte Square 300px, Robert Adam's palace-fronted north side Charlotte Square is a garden square in Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the New Town, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The square is located at the west end of George Street and was intended ...

. In 1866 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

his proposer being

John Hutton Balfour John Hutton Balfour (15 September 1808 – 11 February 1884) was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to the University of Edinburgh and also becoming the 7th Regius Keepe ...

. In 1867 he succeeded in his presidential role by John Graham MacDonald Burt. He appears to have retired around 1870, and from then is no longer recorded in Edinburgh Post Office Directories. He died on 4 February 1879, and is buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

in western Edinburgh. The grave lies towards the west in one of the north-west sections.

Family

He was married to Catherine Tuke (d.1863), sister of

John Batty Tuke Sir John Batty Tuke PRCPE FRSE LLD (9 January 1835 – 13 October 1913) was one of the most influential psychiatrists in Scotland in the late nineteenth century, and a Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1910. Tuke's career in Edi ...

.Grave of Dr John Smith, Dean Cemetery

References

1879 deaths Medical doctors from Edinburgh People educated at George Heriot's School Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish medical doctors Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Burials at the Dean Cemetery {{Scotland-med-bio-stub