Thomas Harrison Burder (1789–1843) was an English physician and author.
Life
Thomas Harrison Burder was born in 1789 at
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
in England, where his father
George Burder
George Burder (May 25, 1752 O.S.May 29, 1832) was an English Nonconformist divine.
Biography
Burder was born in London. In his early twenties he was an engraver, but in 1776 he began preaching, and was minister of the Independent church at La ...
was a Congregationalist minister. His elder brother,
Henry Forster Burder
Henry Forster Burder, D.D. (1783–1864) was an English nonconformist minister.
Life
The eldest son of the Rev. George Burder, and brother of Thomas Harrison Burder, he was born 27 November 1783, at Coventry. He was articled in 1798 to a wholesa ...
DD, was born in 1783, and also became a minister. T H Burder originally wanted to become a chemist, but after a while he decided to pursue the medical profession. Burder went to 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 ...
in 1812, and took the degree of M.D. in 1815. While in Edinburgh Burder was elected president of the
Royal Medical Society
The Royal Medical Society (RMS) is a society run by students at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, Scotland. It claims to be the oldest medical society in the United Kingdom although this claim is also made by the earlier London-based ...
.
[.]
He suffered from poor health. He settled in London as a physician, and was for a time attached to the
Westminster General Dispensary; he had to take respites from medical work. He had married his cousin, Elizabeth Burder, in 1828, and his father George had passed the last four years of his life under their roof. After his death in 1832 Dr. Burder began to think seriously of leaving London, and this plan he carried out in 1834. He died at
Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...
in 1843 at the age of 54. He left no family, and his widow died in the following year.
[
]
Work
He was a contributor to the ''Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine
The ''Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine'' was a British monthly medical journal, first published in 1832. It was divided into alphabetical articles, and came to four volumes, part-published and then completed by 1835. The volumes were:
#Abd–Ele ...
'' (1833–5), and the materials for one of his articles (‘Headache’) were drawn from his own experience.[ Burder is also noted for a series of letters, combined into a work entitled ''Burder's Letters from a Senior to a Junior Physician: on the Importance of Promoting the Religious Welfare of his Patients''. After he had retired from his practice, a suggestion from James Hope induced him to author the letters, which eventually appeared in the '']Evangelical Magazine
The ''Evangelical Magazine'' was a monthly magazine published in London from 1793 to 1904, and aimed at Calvinist Christians. It was supported by evangelical members of the Church of England, and by nonconformists with similar beliefs. Its editori ...
'' for 1836.[
Composed at ]Tilford
Tilford is a village and civil parish centred at the point where the two branches of the River Wey merge in Surrey, England, south-east of Farnham. It has half of Charleshill, Elstead in its east, a steep northern outcrop of the Greensand Rid ...
in Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, they were popular reading material among 19th century British medical students and physicians. The letters are didactic, with the listener from the opening dedication addressed as an anonymous "Dear Friend."[Commentary by Rev. John W. Love on the Burder Letters. Burder, Thomas H., Letters from a Senior to a Junior Physician on the Importance of Promoting the Religious Welfare of his Patient (1836), (New York: American Tract Society, not dated) "I cheerfully accede to your wish, although I can scarcely hope to offer any suggestions which have not already occurred to your own reflective mind."]
See also
* List of people from Tunbridge Wells
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burder, Thomas Harrison
1789 births
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
19th-century English medical doctors
1843 deaths