![Woodville_portrait](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Woodville_portrait.jpg)
William Woodville (1752 – 26 March 1805) was an English physician and botanist. Convinced by the work of
Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...
, he was among the first to promote vaccination. His four volume book on medical botany published between 1790 and 1794 with 300 illustrations of medicinal plants by James Sowerby was an important reference work for physicians in the nineteenth century with a second edition in 1810 followed by a revision in 1832 by
William Jackson Hooker and George Spratt.
Biography
William Woodville was born at
Cockermouth
Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...
in Cumberland in 1752 in wealthy Quaker family. He apprenticed to the apothecary William Birtwhistle before going to study medicine at
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...
, where he became the favourite pupil of
William Cullen
William Cullen FRS FRSE FRCPE FPSG (; 15 April 17105 February 1790) was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, and professor at the Edinburgh Medical School. Cullen was a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment: He was ...
, and graduated M.D. on 12 September 1775. After spending some time on the continent he began to practise at
Papcastle
Papcastle is a village and civil parish in the borough of Allerdale in the English county of Cumbria. The village is now effectively a northern extension of Cockermouth, which lies to the south of the River Derwent. It has its own parish counc ...
in his native county, but shortly afterwards moved to
Denbigh. In 1778 he accidentally shot a man in his garden through his window and this led to him being disowned by the Quakers. In 1782 he came to London, became physician to the
Middlesex dispensary, and was admitted a licentiate of the
College of Physicians A college of physicians is a national or provincial organisation concerned with the practice of medicine.
{{Expand list, date=February 2011
Such institutions include:
* American College of Physicians
* Ceylon College of Physicians
* College of Phy ...
on 9 August 1784.
On 17 March 1791 he was elected physician to the smallpox and inoculation hospitals at St. Pancras, in succession to
Edward Archer, and published the first volume of a projected two-part history of inoculation (
variolation
Variolation was the method of inoculation first used to immunize individuals against smallpox (''Variola'') with material taken from a patient or a recently variolated individual, in the hope that a mild, but protective, infection would result. Var ...
) in 1796. However, he became particularly interested in
Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner, (17 May 1749 – 26 January 1823) was a British physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines, and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms ''vaccine'' and ''vaccination'' are derived f ...
's introduction of what was soon to be known as
smallpox vaccine
The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox ...
, which used material obtained from cases of cowpox. He was one of the first to try the new method, but his results differed substantially from Jenner's, and there was disagreement about the effects of the new procedure. It was suspected at the time that Woodville's vaccine had become contaminated with material from his smallpox patients, a conclusion supported by detailed analysis of the evidence.
Woodville, who was elected a fellow of the
Linnean Society
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
in 1791, had a strong taste for botany, and appropriated two acres of ground at King's Cross belonging to the hospital as a botanical garden, which he maintained at his own expense. He wrote an important study of medical botany.
Woodville, who was a member of the Society of Friends, had his residence in Ely Place, Holborn, but died at the smallpox hospital on 26 March 1805, and was buried in the Friends' burial-ground,
Bunhill Fields, on 4 April. His portrait, by
Lemuel Abbott, was presented to the smallpox hospital. It was engraved by
William Bond.
Writings
*''Medical Botany'', 1790, vol 2, 1792, vol 3, 1793, Supp 1794. Second edition 1810, 3rd edition 1832.
*''History of the Inoculation of the Smallpox in Great Britain'', 1796.
*''Reports of a Series of Inoculations for the Variolæ Vaccinæ or Cow-pox; with Remarks and Observations on this Disease considered as a Substitute for the Smallpox'', 1799
*''Observations on the Cow Pox'', 1800
*''A Comparative Statement of Facts and Observations relative to the Cow-pox, published by Doctors Jenner and Woodville'', 1800.
He contributed 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 ...
'' a number of botanical articles, but the topics are not known.
Sources
*
External links
Scanned copy of ''Medical Botany''Images from ''Medical Botany''From The College of Physicians of Philadelphia Digital Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodville, William
1752 births
1805 deaths
18th-century British botanists
18th-century English medical doctors
People from Cockermouth
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical School
19th-century British botanists