Joseph Fayrer

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Sir Joseph Fayrer, 1st Baronet

FRSE FRCS FRCP KCSI LLD (6 December 1824 – 21 May 1907) was a British physician who served as Surgeon General in India. He is noted for his writings on medicine, work on public health and his studies particularly on the treatment of snakebite, in India. He was also involved in official investigation on cholera, in which he did not accept the idea, proposed by Robert Koch, of germs as the cause of cholera.[1]

Early life

Cover of his book on venomous snakes

The second son of Robert John Fayrer (1788–1869), a Commander in the Royal Navy, and wife Agnes Wilkinson (d. 1861) he was born at

Ernest Augustus Edgcumbe, 3rd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, in the course of which he saw fighting at Palermo and Rome. He then resumed his study of medicine at Rome and received an MD in 1849.[3]

India

bookplate
of "Sir Joeseph Fayrer, Bart. K.C.S.I. M.D. F.R.S." "NE TENTES AUT PERFICE" from his copy, Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal of 1868

Appointed an assistant surgeon in the Indian Medical Service of

Prince of Wales made his tour in India he was appointed to accompany him as physician. He was later appointed Physician Extraordinary to King Edward VII in 1901.[5] Returning to England in 1872, he acted as president of the Medical Board of the India office from 1874 to 1895, president of the Epidemiological Society for 1879-1881 and on 7 February 1896 he was created a baronet.[2][3] Fayrer held a position against the germ theory of cholera which had led to the idea of quarantine (which he considered as evil) and preferred the idea that disease was restricted to particular locations, with factors such as air, water, and weather being responsible.[6]

Fayrer's home in Lucknow (after 1857)

He was President of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1867 and proposed a scheme for a zoological garden in Calcutta. This was finally opened by the Prince of Wales in 1875. He took considerable interest in the wild animals and wrote a book on the tiger and procured living specimens of the

poisonous snakes of that country and on the physiological effects produced by their venom (Thanatophidia of India, 1872).[8] He researched snake venom along with Thomas Lauder Brunton in 1867 with assistance of Dr F. C. Webb. The book was printed by the Indian government and illustrated by artists from the Calcutta School of Art. In 1879, he spoke on The progress of epidemiology in India (published in 1880). In 1900 he published his autobiography, Recollections of my Life. Fayrer knew Persian, several Indian languages and Italian. He also took an interest in anthropology and interacted with Thomas Henry Huxley on the topic. He proposed that an Ethnological Congress be held by the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1866. Although this exhibition was not held, the idea of an Ethnographic survey was realized a few years later by Herbert Hope Risley
.

After retirement he took an interest in deep-sea fishing and yachting. He died at his home, Belfield, Wood Lane, Falmouth, Cornwall, on 21 May 1907.[3]

Honours and arms

Fayrer was appointed a

Knight Commander (KCSI) in 1876.[10] In 1876 Fayrer was incharge of the health of the Prince of Wales on his visit to India.[8]

Sir Joseph was created a

St Marylebone in the County of London on 11 February 1896.[11]

Coat of arms of Joseph Fayrer
Crest
In front of a sword erect Proper pommel and hilt Gold a horse-shoe Or between two wings Gules.
Escutcheon
Argent on a bend inverted Sable between in chief an Eastern crown Gules and in base the staff of AEsculapius Proper enfiled with a like crown three horse-shoes Or.
Motto
Ne Tentes Aut Perfice [12]

Family

On 4 October 1855, he married Bethia Mary Spens. They had six sons and two daughters. He was succeeded as second baronet by Sir Joseph Fayrer, 2nd Baronet.[13]

His daughter Bethia Marion Fayrer (1857-1892) married William Dobrees Herries and is buried in Canongate Kirkyard in Edinburgh.

Select Bibliography

In Popular Culture

Fayrer appears as a supporting character in the 1977 Hindi film "

Sir James Outram about the annexation of Oudh by the East India Company. He is played by Indian theatre director and teacher Barry John
.

References

  1. PMID 11623058
    .
  2. ^ a b Anon ("K.M.") (1907). "Obituary Notice - Surgeon-General Joseph Fayrer, Bart., K.C.S.I., M.D., L.L.D., F.R.C.S., F.R.C.P." Transactions of the Epidemiological Society. 26 (1906–07): 176. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  3. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33099. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  4. ^ Fayrer, Joseph (1859). "On amputation at the hip-joint and excision of the head of the femur". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ "No. 27300". The London Gazette. 29 March 1901. p. 2194.
  6. S2CID 36382485
    .
  7. S2CID 4117638
    .
  8. ^
    PMID 8711752
    .
  9. ^ "No. 23452". The London Gazette. 22 December 1868. p. 6775.
  10. ^ "No. 24303". The London Gazette. 7 March 1876. p. 1787.
  11. ^ "No. 26709". The London Gazette. 14 February 1896. p. 858.
  12. ^ Burke's Peerage. 1959.
  13. ^ Cholmeley, Henry Patrick (1912). "Fayrer, Joseph" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co.

External links

Wikisource logo Works by or about Joseph Fayrer at Wikisource

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Devonshire Street)
1896–1907 		Succeeded by
Joseph Fayrer
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