Thomas Lovell Buzzard MD FRCP (24 August 1831 – 1 January 1919) was a Victorian English doctor who worked at the National Hospital, Queen Square. He was a pioneering neurologist who founded an

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

society and wrote also on

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

. One of the last doctors to be trained through the apprenticeship route, Buzzard witnessed the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

and later was a role model for the famous painting '' The Doctor''.

Early life

Buzzard was born in Cross Street, Hatton Garden, London on 24 August 1831. His father, George was a solicitor. After being educated at King's College School, Buzzard became apprentice to a doctor, before entering King's College Hospital and working for Sir William Fergusson as house surgeon.

Early surgical career

Buzzard assisted in the 1854 cholera epidemic in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

, London. In 1855, he joined the British medical staff with the Ottoman Army and was present at the Siege of Sevastopol. He was also a special correspondent in the Crimea for the ''Daily News''. For this, he was honored with the

Crimea Medal The Crimea Medal was a campaign medal approved on 15 December 1854, for issue to officers and men of British units (land and naval) which fought in the Crimean War of 1854–56 against Russia. The medal was awarded with the British version of th ...

with clasp, the Order of the Medjidie, and the Turkish war medal.

Neurology

Buzzard graduated as M.B, with the gold medal in surgery, in 1857, after returning from the Crimea. He spent the next six years in general practice in London and in contributing to the ''Daily News'' and the ''Lancet''. Recommended by

John Hughlings Jackson John Hughlings Jackson, FRS (4 April 1835 – 7 October 1911) was an English neurologist. He is best known for his research on epilepsy. Biography He was born at Providence Green, Green Hammerton, near Harrogate, Yorkshire, the youngest so ...

, in 1867, Buzzard was appointed to the staff of the National Hospital for the Paralyzed and Epileptic. He is part responsible for the international reputation of ‘Queen Square’ . In 1891 he wrote ''On the simulation of hysteria by organic disease of the nervous system'', and articles on neurology and allied subjects for Quain's ''Dictionary of Medicine''. Buzzard also wrote on paralysis agitans, the first article on

in the journal ''Brain''. He is considered a pioneer in neurology. The United Kingdom's largest

society, The National Society for Epilepsy was founded in Buzzard's home in London in 1892. Its first mission was to establish an agricultural community where people with epilepsy could live and work.

Personal

From 1860 to 1867 Buzzard belonged to the

Queen's Westminster Rifles The Queen's Westminsters were an infantry regiment of the Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army, part of the British Army. Originally formed from Volunteer Force (Great Britain), Rifle Volunteer Corps, which were established after a Fre ...

. He liked to travel and to paint with water-colours. Many of his friends were leading artists.

Luke Fildes __NOTOC__ Sir Samuel Luke Fildes (3 October 1843 – 28 February 1927) was a British painter and illustrator born in Liverpool and trained at the South Kensington and Royal Academy Schools. He was the grandson of the political activist Mar ...

painting '' The Doctor'' is closely connected with Buzzard. He married Isabel Wass in 1889, daughter of Joseph Wass, a noted Lead Smelter, of Lea Green in Derbyshire, and had two daughters and four sons, including Sir Edward Farquhar Buzzard, 1st Baronet, FRCP, who followed in his footsteps as physician to the National Hospital. His other sons were in the army, Lt Col Charles Norman Buzzard DSO CMG, Royal Artillery, Brigadier General Frances Anstie Buzzard DSO, Archibald Dougan Buzzard and daughters, Louisa and Dorothy.

Later life

Buzzard continued in practice until the age of seventy-nine, and published in his eighty-fifth year a book of his experiences in the Crimea. He died in London on 1 January 1919.

Selected publications

''Clinical aspects of syphilitic nervous affections''.
J. & A. Churchill, London, 1874. * ''Clinical Lectures on Diseases of the Nervous System''. J. & A. Churchill, London, 1882.
''On some forms of paralysis from peripheral neuritis of gouty, alcoholic, diphtheritic, and other origin''.
J. & A. Churchill, London, 1886.
''On the simulation of hysteria by organic disease of the nervous system''.
J. & A. Churchill, London, 1891. * ''With the Turkish Army in the Crimea and Asia Minor: A personal narrative''. John Murray, London, 1915.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buzzard, Thomas 19th-century British medical doctors 1831 births 1919 deaths British neurologists People educated at King's College School, London Queen's Westminsters officers Medical doctors from London 19th-century English medical doctors Fellows of King's College London Military personnel from London