Sir William Rae (1786 – 8 April 1873) was a Scottish naval surgeon.

Biography

Rae was born in 1786. He was the son of Matthew Rae of Park-end, Dumfries. He was educated at Lochmaben and Dumfries, and afterwards graduated M.D. at

Edinburgh University 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 1582 ...

. In 1804 he entered the medical service of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, but in the following year was transferred as surgeon to the royal navy. He served first in the Culloden under

Sir Edward Pellew Admiral Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB (19 April 1757 – 23 January 1833) was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother Is ...

(afterwards Lord Exmouth). In 1807, when in the Fox, he took part in the destruction of the Dutch ships at Gressic in Java. Subsequently, when the squadron was becalmed in the Bay of Bengal, he contrived an apparatus for distilling water. When attached to the Leyden in 1812–13 he was very successful in his treatment of the troops suffering from yellow fever at Cartagena and Gibraltar, and received the thanks of the commander-in-chief and the medical board. In 1824 he was appointed to the Bermuda station. He became

M.R.C.S. Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (MRCS) is a postgraduate diploma for surgeons in the UK and Ireland. Obtaining this qualification allows a doctor to become a member of one of the four surgical colleges in the UK and Ireland, namel ...

in 1811, extra-licentiate of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

in 1839, and F.R.C.S. in 1843. He ultimately attained the rank of inspector-general of hospitals and fleets, and retired on a pension to a country practice near Barnstaple. He was created C.B. in 1855, and knighted in 1858. He died at Hornby Lodge, Newton Abbot, Devonshire, on 8 April 1873, and was buried at Wolborough. Rae married, in 1814, Mary, daughter of Robert Bell; and secondly, in 1831, Maria, daughter of Assistant-commissary-general R. Lee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rae, William 1786 births 1873 deaths 19th-century Scottish medical doctors 19th-century surgeons Scottish surgeons Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Royal Navy Medical Service officers British East India Company people Members of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England Companions of the Order of the Bath