Robert Edmund Scoresby-Jackson

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 ...

FRCPE FRCSE (1833–1867) was a short-lived but influential British physician and historian. He specialised in the effects of climate upon health.

Life

He was born Robert Edmund Jackson on 12 November 1833 in

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

on the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

coast. He was the son of Captain Thomas Jackson (1787–1873), a merchant mariner and shipowner, and his wife Arabella Scoresby (1792–1881), sister of Rev

William Scoresby William Scoresby (5 October 178921 March 1857) was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman. Early years Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering south-west of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, William ...

. Both his parents outlived him. He adopted the name Scoresby-Jackson on the death of his uncle. He studied medicine at St Georges Hospital in London, 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 ...

(under

Robert Christison Sir Robert Christison, 1st Baronet, (18 July 1797 – 27 January 1882) was a Scottish toxicologist and physician who served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1838–40 and 1846-8) and as president of the British ...

) and Paris. He gained his doctorate (MD) in 1857, presenting the thesis ''"Climate, health, and disease"''. In 1860 he was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh. In 1861 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 was

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 ...

. From 1865 he lectured in Materia Medica and Therapeutics at the

and at the

Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine Extramural medical education in Edinburgh began over 200 years before the university medical faculty was founded in 1726 and extramural teaching continued thereafter for a further 200 years. Extramural is academic education which is conducted o ...

.. He was in the same year made a Physician at

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

. In 1867 he undertook a study on

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

. He died aged only 33 of typhus, at his home, 32 Queen StreetEdinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1866–67 in Edinburgh's First New Town on 1 February 1867, in the presence of his father-in-law Sir William Johnston. He is buried with his in-laws in

Grange Cemetery The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, just south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west, Newington to the east, The Meadows park and Marchmont to the north, and Blackford Hil ...

on the south side of the city. The grave lies on the eastern wall around 50m from the south-east corner.

Family

In 1858 he married Elizabeth Whyte Johnston (1830–1897), daughter of Sir William Johnston of Kirkhill in

Liberton, Edinburgh Liberton is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is in the south of the city, south of The Inch, east of the Braid Hills, north of Gracemount and west of Moredun. Incorporated into the city in 1920, the area was once home to ...

. They had two daughters, including Arabella Mary Scoresby-Jackson (1863–1926).

Publications

*''Climate Health and Disease'' (1857) *''The Life of

DD'' (1861) *''Medical Climatology'' (1862) *''A Notebook on Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics'' (1866) (revised by F W Moinet in 1880)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scoresby-Jackson, Robert Edmund 1833 births 1867 deaths British historians 19th-century British medical doctors People from Whitby Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Rickettsioses Former members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh