Sir Thomas Spencer Wells, 1st Baronet (3 February 181831 January 1897) was surgeon to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

, a medical professor and president of the

Royal College of Surgeons of England The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. T ...

Early life

He was born at St Albans, Hertfordshire and received his early education at St Albans School (then located in the

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of the

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Career

After a short time as a pupil of a surgeon in Barnsley (

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

), he studied medicine at

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, St Thomas' Hospital (becoming a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons ( MRCS) in 1841 and a Fellow (

FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal ...

) in 1844), and later in

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. He served as a

naval surgeon A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail. Ancient uses Speciali ...

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, and then established his own ophthalmic surgery practice in

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in 1853. In the same year he married Elizabeth Wright. In 1854, and from 1856 to 78, he was surgeon of the Samaritan Free Hospital for Women, London (serving in between as an army surgeon in 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 ...

). He also lectured at the Grosvenor School of Medicine (which later became the medical school of St George's Hospital). In 1877 was appointed Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology at the

(of which he was elected president in 1883, in the same year he was created

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

). From 1863 to 1896 he was surgeon to

's household. Wells specialized in obstetrics and ophthalmic surgery. He is recognized as a pioneer in abdominal surgery and is notable for having perfected ovariotomy. In 1879, his name was given to his invention of an improved pattern of

artery forceps A hemostat (also called a hemostatic clamp, arterial forceps, or pean after Jules-Émile Péan) is a surgical tool used in many surgical procedures to control bleeding. For this reason, it is common in the initial phases of surgery for the initi ...

, which prevented entanglement of surrounding structures by the handles of the implement when in use. He was also one of the earliest surgeons to make use of

anaesthetics An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...

in operations. He published a number of important medical books and articles. Thomas Spencer Wells was elected member of Leopoldina in 1886.

Later life

He died after an attack of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

on 31 January 1897 and is buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

. His Hampstead estate was sold to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

and turned into a park.

References

*C. Savona-Ventura
The naval career of Sir Thomas Spencer Wells in the Mediterranean: 1842–1853
Maltese Medical Journal, 1998, 10(2):41–46.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Thomas Spencer 1818 births 1897 deaths People from St Albans Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Burials at Brompton Cemetery English surgeons Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons People educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire Royal Navy Medical Service officers