Sir William Hale-White (7 November 1857 – 26 February 1949) 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 medical

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

. He was the son of writer Mark Rutherford.

Career

Hale-White was appointed an assistant physician at

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

in 1886, a physician in 1890 and consulting physician from 1917. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was a colonel in the

RAMC The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

and was created KBE in 1919. He was elected president of the

Medical Society of London The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies (being organisations of voluntary association, rather than regulation or training) in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthro ...

(1920–), the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

(1922–1924) and of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland (1930).

Retirement

Hale-White remained active in

history of medicine The history of medicine is both a study of medicine throughout history as well as a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to explore and understand medical practices, both past and present, throughout human societies. More than just histo ...

following retirement. In this field, he is best known for his categorising of

William Withering William Withering FRS (17 March 1741 – 6 October 1799) was an English botanist, geologist, chemist, physician and first systematic investigator of the bioactivity of digitalis. Withering was born in Wellington, Shropshire, the son of a surg ...

's letters, bequeathed by

William Osler Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of phys ...

to The History of Medicine Society at The Royal Society of Medicine, London. His literary contributions also include works on

René Laennec René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (; 17 February 1781 – 13 August 1826) was a French physician and musician. His skill at carving his own wooden flutes led him to invent the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker ...

and John Keats.

Family life

In 1886, Hale-White married Edith Fripp the daughter of Alfred Downing Fripp and sister of Sir Alfred Fripp, surgeon to Edward VII and George V. The couple had three sons: Alfred, Leonard (who died in 1917 when H.M.S. ''Natal'' exploded) and Reginald – who became a physician. His wife died in 1945 and Hale-White died at his home in Oxford on 26 February 1949 aged 91.

Books

*''Great Doctors of the Nineteenth Century'', 1935 *''Keats as Doctor and Patient'', 1938 *''Materia medica, pharmacology and therapeutics'' (assisted by

Arthur Henry Douthwaite Arthur Henry Douthwaite (13 February 1896 – 24 September 1974) was a British medical doctor, Vice President of the Royal College of Physicians and a prolific medical textbook writer. He was described as the foremost expert on heroin in Britain in ...

), London, Churchill, 1949, 1959, 1963. *Translation of selected passages from ''De l'auscultation mediate'', Rene Laennec, 1923.

References

External links

BiographySketch
by Sir

William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hale-White, William 1857 births 1949 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors Royal Army Medical Corps officers British Army personnel of World War I Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Presidents of the Royal Society of Medicine 20th-century English medical doctors