Dr William Russell
FRCPE
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...
LLD, (22 April 1852 – 11 August 1940) was a Scottish pathologist and physician who became Professor of 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 ...
and president of the
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...
. He was the first to describe the cellular inclusion particles known as
Russell bodies. He was an early supporter of medical education for women.
Early life
Russell was born on 22 April 1852 in
Douglas, Isle of Man, the son of Isabella Ross Russell (née McPhail) and her husband, William Russell, a fishery officer, who were both originally from Caithness. When the family moved back to Caithness he went to school at Wick then to
Thurso High School
Thurso High School in Thurso, Caithness
Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Suthe ...
.
He studied 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 ...
graduating with an MD in 1875. He was awarded a gold medal for his thesis. He worked as house physician at the
General Hospital, Wolverhampton and as honorary physician at the Carlisle Dispensary in 1882. He was appointed lecturer on pathology at the
Extramural School of Medicine, Edinburgh and in 1890, was appointed pathologist to the
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...
.
He then went on to pursue a career in clinical medicine as assistant physician at the Royal Infirmary in 1892, and as a full physician from 1908.
In 1892 he studied with
Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the bacteri ...
in Berlin. He was awarded the Cartwright Prize by the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. The
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...
awarded him the Cullen Prize and appointed him a Gibson Lecturer.
Medical career
The paper which was to bring him eponymous fame was published in 1890. In this he gave the first description of what are now known as Russell bodies. He described what he thought was ‘a characteristic organism of cancer', believing it to be a fungus.
These intracellular particles were accepted into the literature of pathology, but subsequent studies have revealed that these are not specific to cancer, being also found in
chronic inflammatory conditions and consist largely of
immunoglobulins
An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...
.
He published papers on the nature of heart murmurs, and the successful treatment of pleural
empyema
An empyema () is a collection or gathering of pus within a naturally existing anatomical cavity. For example, pleural empyema is empyema of the pleural cavity. It must be differentiated from an abscess, which is a collection of pus in a newly fo ...
by aspiration. He later focussed on blood pressure, exploring the role of arterial constriction and peripheral resistance in
hypertension.
He was an ardent supporter of medical education for women, teaching at both the
Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women and the
Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women
The Edinburgh College of Medicine for Women was established by Elsie Inglis and her father John Inglis. Elsie Inglis went on to become a leader in the suffrage movement and found the Scottish Women's Hospital organisation in World War I, but whe ...
, and was one of the first physicians in the Royal Infirmary to open his wards to women students. His enthusiasm for the teaching standards of the extramural school of the Royal Colleges was such that he went so far as to describe it as 'the best training ground for professors and lecturers in the Empire'.
In 1911 he was elected a member of the
Aesculapian Club
The Aesculapian Club of Edinburgh is one of the oldest medical dining clubs in the world. It was founded in April 1773 by Dr. Andrew Duncan. Membership of the Club is limited to 11 Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh ...
. In 1911 he was living at 3 Walker Street in Edinburgh's
West End.
In 1913 he was appointed the first Moncrieff Arnott professor of clinical 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 ...
.
He was elected
President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1916, and during his presidency lobbied for the proper care of disabled soldiers. He continued to support the cause of women in medicine by allowing women to become members of the College. His friend and colleague
Byrom Bramwell
Sir Byrom Bramwell FRSE FRCPE LLD (18 December 1847 – 27 April 1931) was an eminent British physician and medical author. He was a general physician, but became known for his work in neurology, diseases of the heart and blood, and disorders of ...
, who succeeded him in both the chair of medicine and as president of the RCPE described Russell, in an obituary as ‘somewhat egotistical at times . . . an attractive trait, for one never knew whether or not he was laughing at himself’.
He retired from the University in 1919 being succeeded by Prof
Francis Darby Boyd.
[BMJ 22 April 1922]
Family and death
![The grave of Prof William Russell in Dean Cemetery](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/The_grave_of_Prof_William_Russell_in_Dean_Cemetery.jpg)
At the age of 42, he married Beatrice Ritchie (1873-1962), aged then 21, who had been one of his pupils in the extramural school. She had attended
Sophia Jex-Blake
Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake (21 January 1840 – 7 January 1912) was an English physician, teacher and feminist. She led the campaign to secure women access to a University education when she and six other women, collectively known as the Edi ...
's School of Medicine for Women and qualified with the
Triple Qualification
The Triple Qualification (TQ) was a medical qualification awarded jointly by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Faculty (later Royal College) of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow betwe ...
of the Scottish Royal Colleges.
During WW1 she worked in Edinburgh for the
Scottish Women's Hospitals
The Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Services (SWH) was founded in 1914. It was led by Dr. Elsie Inglis and provided nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, cooks and orderlies. By the end of World War I, 14 medical units had been outfitted and ...
, which had been founded by her fellow student
Elsie Inglis
Eliza Maud "Elsie" Inglis (16 August 1864 – 26 November 1917) was a Scottish doctor, surgeon, teacher, Women's suffrage, suffragist, and founder of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service, Scottish Women's Hospitals. She was the ...
. In 1925 she helped found the
Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital.
Of their six children four became doctors. Their infant son Ivan died of tuberculosis during the epidemic of tuberculous mastitis which had a particularly high incidence in Edinburgh.
Their third daughter emigrated to Russia.
Russell died in Edinburgh on 11 August 1940.
He is buried in the grave of his father-in-law, James Ritchie (1828-1913) in
Dean Cemetery. The grave lies near the south path of the Victorian north extension and was restored in the winter of 2017/18.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, William (physician)
1852 births
1940 deaths
People from Caithness
19th-century Scottish medical doctors
20th-century Scottish medical doctors
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical School