William Lister

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

LRCP (5 April 1756 – 3 February 1830) was a British physician who became Governor of

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

Life

He was born at

Ware, Hertfordshire Ware is a town in Hertfordshire, England close to the county town of Hertford. It is also a civil parishes in England, civil parish in East Hertfordshire district. Location The town lies on the north–south A10 road (Great Britain), A10 road ...

on 5 April 1756. He was sent north to Scotland to study medicine at 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 ...

gaining a doctorate in 1781. He then began working at various hospitals in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 1788 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Dugald Stewart, James Russell and Henry Duncan. In 1789 he moved as head physician to the London Smallpox Hospital. In 1795 he moved to

in London, replacing Dr Crawford, and stayed there until retiral in 1817. At this point he was made Governor of the hospital, a role requiring no work. Lister died of heart disease on 3 February 1830 at his home in

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

Family

In February 1793 he married Elizabeth Solly, daughter of Isaac Solly, a wealthy London merchant, and sister to

Isaac Solly Isaac Solly (1769 – 22 February 1853) was a London merchant in the Baltic trade. During the Napoleonic Wars his company Isaac Solly and Sons were principal contractors supplying hemp and timber to government dockyards. Early life and family He ...

, a Baltic trader. He was uncle by marriage to Samuel Solly FRS. The couple had at least three daughters, including Sarah (1803–1810). His son, Nathaniel Lister, was also a doctor at St Thomas Hospital.

Artistic Recognition

His bust by William Behnes stands in the entrance of

St Thomas's Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

in London. The bust was created around 1820 (during Lister’s time as Governor) and presented to the hospital in 1869 by his son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lister, William 1756 births 1830 deaths People from Ware, Hertfordshire Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 18th-century British medical doctors 19th-century British medical doctors Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh