William Blair (28 January 1766 – 6 December 1822) was an English surgeon with an interest in ciphers and

stenography Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...

. He was known also for contributing articles to ''

Rees's Cyclopædia Rees's ''Cyclopædia'', in full ''The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature'' was an important 19th-century British encyclopaedia edited by Rev. Abraham Rees (1743–1825), a Presbyterian minister and scholar w ...

''.

Biography

William Blair was born in 1766 in

Lavenham Lavenham is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is noted for its Guildhall, Little Hall, 15th-century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walks. In the medie ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. He was the youngest son of William Blair, M.D., and his wife Ann Gideon. He qualified as a surgical practice in London under Mr. J. Pearson of Golden Square, who introduced him to the

London Lock Hospital The London Lock Hospital was the first voluntary hospital for venereal disease. It was also the most famous and first of the Lock Hospitals which were developed for the treatment of syphilis following the end of the use of lazar hospitals, as l ...

, and when a vacancy arose he was given a position as a surgeon to that charity. Blair was an M.A. but it is not known where he graduated. He became very eminent in his profession, and was surgeon to the Asylum, the

Finsbury Dispensary The Finsbury Dispensary, more fully the Finsbury Dispensary for Administering Advice and Medicines to the Poor, was a charitable dispensary giving medical treatment to poor people in Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London. It was founded i ...

, the

Bloomsbury Dispensary for the Relief of the Sick Poor The Bloomsbury Dispensary for the Relief of the Sick Poor was an institution founded in 1801 to provide medical aid and suitable nourishment to the poor people of that part of London. George Pinckard founded the dispensary A dispensary is an ...

in Great Russell Street, the Female Penitentiary at Cumming House, Pentonville, and the New Rupture Society. He was a member of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations a ...

, London, and of the medical societies of London, Paris, Brussels, and Aberdeen. For some time he was editor of the '' London Medical Review and Magazine''. Blair was a keen

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

, and worked in the cause of the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The Soc ...

, to which he presented his valuable collection of rare and curious editions of the Bible, and many scarce commentaries in different languages. He attempted lectures on anatomy and other subjects, but with little success. On his wife's death in March 1822 he resolved to give up professional practice, and to retire into the country. He took a house in the neighbourhood of Colchester, but before the preparations for removing were completed he was seized with illness, and died at his residence in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury on 6 December 1822. William Blair's portrait was painted by and presented to the Bloomsbury Dispensary by Henry Meyer.

Ciphers and stenography

Blair was greatly interested in ciphers and stenography, and wrote articles about the subject in ''

''. David Kahn, in his work ''The Code breakers'' (1967), characterized Blair's "superb article" as "the finest treatise in English on cryptology" until

Parker Hitt Parker may refer to: Persons * Parker (given name) * Parker (surname) Places Place names in the United States *Parker, Arizona *Parker, Colorado *Parker, Florida *Parker, Idaho *Parker, Kansas *Parker, Missouri *Parker, North Carolina *Parker, Pe ...

's military manual was published by the U.S. Army in 1916. Blair's article on ciphers from the American edition of the ''Cyclopedia'' has been digitized and can be linked from the website about the

Beale ciphers The Beale ciphers are a set of three ciphertexts, one of which allegedly states the location of a buried treasure of gold, silver and jewels estimated to be worth over US$43 million Comprising three ciphertexts, the first (unsolved) text de ...

Works

*''The Soldier's Friend, containing familiar instructions to the loyal volunteers, yeomanry corps, and military men in general, on the preservation and recovery of their health'', 1798 *''Essays on the Venereal Disease and its concomitant Effects'', 1798, *''Anthropology, or the Natural History of Man, with a comparative view of the structure and functions of animated beings in general'', 1805 *''The Vaccine Contest, being an exact outline of the arguments adduced by the principal combatants on both sides respecting Cow-Pox inoculation, including a late official report by the medical council of the Royal Jennerian Society'', 1806 *''Hints for the consideration of Parliament in a letter to Dr. Jenner on the supposed failure of vaccination at Ringwood, including a report of the Royal Jennerian Society, also remarks on the prevalent abuse of variolous inoculation, and on the exposure of out-patients attending at the Small-pox Hospital'', 1808 *''Prostitutes Reclaimed and Penitents Protected, being an answer to some objections against the Female Penitentiary'', 1809 *''Strictures on Mr. Hale's reply to the pamphlets lately published in defence of the London Penitentiary, 1809 *''The Pastor and Deacon examined, or remarks on the Rev. John Thomas's appeal in vindication of Mr. Hale's character, and in opposition to Female Penitentiaries'', 1810 *''The Correspondence on the Formation, Objects, and Plan of the Roman Catholic Bible Society'', 1814 *''The Revival of Popery, its intolerant character, political tendency, encroaching demands, and unceasing usurpations, in letters to William Wilberforce'', 1819 *''A New Alphabet of Fifteen Letters, including the vowels,’ in William Harding's ‘Universal Stenography'' 2nd edit. 1824. *MS letters about his method of Secret Writing, containing original letters to him on the subject from the Right Hon. W. Windham, G. Canning, the Earl of Harrowby, J. Symmons of Paddington, and Michael Gage of Swaffham, with the whole of his system of ciphers, were sold at the dispersal of William Upcott's collection in 1846. For ''

'' he contributed articles on Surgery as well as: *Cipher, Vol 8, (1807) *Stenography, Vol 34, (1816)

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, William 1766 births 1822 deaths History of cryptography People from Lavenham