Stanhope Templeman Speer (20 October 1823 – 9 February 1889) was a British

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

mountain climber Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, ...

. Speer worked at

Brompton Hospital Royal Brompton Hospital is the largest specialist heart and lung medical centre in the United Kingdom. It is managed by Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. History Consumption in the 19th Century In the 19th century, consumption was a co ...

in London and specialized in treating chest diseases. He has been described as the first physician to describe mountain sickness in a medical journal. In 1844 he was the first man to climb the

Mittelhorn The Mittelhorn (3,704 m) is a peak in the Swiss Alps close to the village of Grindelwald. It is the highest of the three composing the Wetterhorner massif. See also *List of mountains of Switzerland This article contains a sortable table of m ...

, the highest summit of the

Wetterhorn The Wetterhorn (3,692 m) is a peak in the Swiss Alps towering above the village of Grindelwald. Formerly known as Hasle Jungfrau, it is one of three summits on a mountain named the "Wetterhörner", the highest of which is the Mittelhorn (3,704 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Speer was a spiritualist and friend of the medium

William Stainton Moses William Stainton Moses (1839 – 5 September 1892) was an English cleric and spiritualist medium. He promoted spirit photography and automatic writing, and co-founded what became the College of Psychic Studies. He resisted scientific examination ...

. In the 1870s, Moses resided with Speer and his wife and tutored their son. Speer was an early member of

The Ghost Club The Ghost Club is a paranormal investigation and research organization, founded in London in 1862. It is believed to be the oldest such organization in the world, though its history has not been continuous. The club still investigates mainly gho ...

and the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

. He was a member of the

British National Association of Spiritualists The College of Psychic Studies (founded in 1884 as the London Spiritualist Alliance) is a non-profit organisation based in South Kensington, London. It is dedicated to the study of psychic and spiritualist phenomena. History British National Assoc ...

. Spence, Lewis. (2006 edition, originally published 1920). ''An Encyclopaedia of Occultism''. Cosimo. p. 80. His son

Charlton Templeman Speer Charlton Templeman Speer (21 November 1859 – 27 October 1921) also known as Charlton T. Speer was an English composer and spiritualist. Career Speer was born in Cheltenham, he was the son of physician Stanhope Templeman Speer. During the 1870s ...

who became a famous composer, was also a spiritualist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speer, Stanhope Templeman 1823 births 1889 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors English spiritualists Parapsychologists