John Braxton Hicks (23 February 1823 – 28 August 1897) was a 19th-century

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doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

who specialised in obstetrics. He was born to Edward Hicks in Rye, Sussex. 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. Hicks was the first physician to describe the bipolar and other methods of the

version Version may refer to: Computing * Software version, a set of numbers that identify a unique evolution of a computer program * VERSION (CONFIG.SYS directive), a configuration directive in FreeDOS Music * Cover version * Dub version * Remix * ''Ve ...

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 dev ...

. In 1872, he described the

uterine The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ...

contractions 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 glob ...

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 knowledge, including mathemat ...

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 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 {{UK-med-bio-stub