Dr Robert Richardson

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 ...

(1779–5 November 1847) was an early 19th-century Scottish physician remembered as a travel writer.

Life

He was born in Stirlingshire in 1779. He was educated at Stirling High School then studied medicine at the University of Glasgow. He gained his doctorate (MD) from the University of Edinburgh in 1807. After spending some years as a general practitioner in Dumfriesshire he became travelling companion and personal physician to

Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

(

Viscount Mountjoy The title of Viscount Mountjoy has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of Ireland and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The creations in the Peerage of Ireland were made in 1683 and 1795, and became extinct in 1769 and 1829, respec ...

). In 1816 they were further joined by

Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Belmore Somerset Lowry-Corry, 2nd Earl Belmore (11 July 1774 – 18 April 1841), styled The Honourable from 1781 to 1797 and then known as Viscount Corry to 1802, was an Irish nobleman and politician. Politics and inheritance Lowry-Corry was the only ...

. The three then spent two years travelling Europe, Egypt and

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. Whilst in Albania they met

Ali Pasha Ali Pasha was the name of numerous Ottoman pashas named Ali. It is most commonly used to refer to Ali Pasha of Ioannina. People * Çandarlı Ali Pasha (died 1406), Ottoman grand vizier (1387–1406) * Hadım Ali Pasha (died 1511), Ottoman grand v ...

Janina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...

. Later in Palestine, Richardson claimed to be the first Christian visitor to Solomon's mosque in Gaza. In Tiberias they met Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope. He returned to Britain in the summer of 1815, settling in Rathbone Place in London. In 1818 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 ...

for his contributions to geology. His proposers were

Sir James Hall Sir James Hall of Dunglass, 4th Baronet Royal Society, FRS FRSE (17 January 1761 – 23 June 1832) was a Scotland, Scottish geologist and geophysicist. He was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament for St. Michael's borough ( ...

Henry Mackenzie Henry Mackenzie FRSE (August 1745 – 14 January 1831, born and died in Edinburgh) was a Scottish lawyer, novelist and writer sometimes seen as the Addison of the North. While remembered mostly as an author, his main income came from legal role ...

, and Lt Col Patrick Tytler. He died at home at Gordon Street off Gordon Square in London on 5 November 1847 and is buried on the western side of Highgate Cemetery in an unmarked grave (no.2449).

Publications

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References

1779 births 1847 deaths 19th-century British medical doctors 19th-century travel writers British travel writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Burials at Highgate Cemetery {{Scotland-writer-stub