George Bodington (1799–1882) was a British general practitioner and pulmonary specialist.

Career

Born in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-eas ...

and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, he served a surgical apprenticeship then studied at St Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1825 he was licensed by the Society of Apothecaries, and became a

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 GP in Erdington (then in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, now West Midlands). His great professional interest was pulmonary

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

and in 1836 he acquired the asylum and

sanitorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are ofte ...

at Driffold House, Maney, Sutton Coldfield. In 1840 he published his essay, ''On the Treatment and Cure of Pulmonary Consumption'', condemning contemporary treatments and advocating instead dry frosty air, gentle exercise, and a healthy diet. This was attacked by reviewers in the Lancet and he became disenheartened with his work. He later turned to the treatment of insanity. In 1851 the local census recorded eleven "lunatics" and six staff, including the doctor and his family, at Driffold House. At some point the asylum was moved to the White House, Maney, which was demolished in 1935 to provide a site for an Odeon cinema (now part of the

Empire Cinemas Empire Cinemas Limited is a multiplex cinema chain in the UK. There are 14 Empire Cinemas across the country, with 131 screens in total. Ownership and management The ultimate beneficial owner of Empire Cinemas Ltd is Irish entrepreneur Thoma ...

group). In 1881 the Doctor was living at Manor Hill where his two daughters ran a girls boarding school. The census of that year shows nine pupils of which five were nieces. He was also a local politician and served on the Sutton Corporation for forty years (having as usual being appointed for life). He was the paternal grandfather of barrister Oliver Bodington and the great-grandfather of

Nicholas Bodington During the Second World War, Nicolas Redner Bodington OBE (6 June 1904 – 3 July 1974) served in the F section of the Special Operations Executive. He took part in four missions to France. Life Pre-war Nicolas Bodington was the son of Oliv ...

Works

References

* footnote 7 *
Warwickshire Asylums from the Rossbret Institutions website

External links

(2013) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bodington, George 1799 births 1882 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford People from Sutton Coldfield Alumni of the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital People from Birmingham, West Midlands Alumni of the University of Edinburgh

Career

Works

Further reading

References

External links