Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet
Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet | |
---|---|
Born | 6 August 1820 Framlingham, Suffolk |
Died | 18 April 1904 |
Occupation(s) | Surgeon, polymath |
Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet,
Medical career
Thompson was born at Framlingham, Suffolk. His father wished him to enter business, but he was eventually (by 1848) able to enrol in the Medical School of University College London. He obtained his medical degree in 1851 with the highest honours in anatomy and surgery[1] and set up a practice at 35 Wimpole Street in London, where he lived and worked until his death in 1904.
In 1853 he was appointed assistant surgeon at
After his return from Paris, Thompson soon acquired a reputation as a skilful surgeon in that class of disease.[2]
In 1863, when King
In 1874 Thompson helped in founding the Cremation Society of Great Britain, of which he was the first president; he also did much toward the removal of the legal restrictions on cremation. He denounced the prevailing methods of death certification in Great Britain; and in 1892 a select committee was appointed to inquire into the matter; its report, published the following year, was generally in line with his thinking.[4] Woking Crematorium finally became the first of its kind in the UK. Thompson's last public duty for the society, in 1903, was to open Birmingham Crematorium,[5] the country's ninth.[6] He died in April 1904 aged 83; his body was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium,[7] the first in London, which he had opened in 1902.[8]
Personal life
Thompson was also an artist, producing sketches and paintings, some of which were hung at the
He was also interested in
Sir Henry Thompson, knighted in 1867, received a baronetcy in 1899, in connection with his telescope gifts to the National Observatory.[4]
In 1851 he married
Thompson believed in an impersonal God. In his 1903 essay "The Unknown God?", he promoted the idea that an eternal source of energy exists in the universe that is beneficent and intelligent but not personal.[10] He argued that all the major religions which are regarded as "divinely" inspired are unsubstantiated and unsupported by evidence.[11]
Debate over vegetarianism
Thompson was incorrectly cited and misquoted by vegetarians as being a supporter of vegetarianism.[12] For example, he is cited as supporting a vegetarian diet in Gandhi's essay The Superiority of Vegetarianism. Thompson rejected excessive meat consumption and promoted a "lighter" diet but was not a vegetarian. He was involved in a debate over vegetarianism which led to controversy in the Nineteenth Century magazine.[13]
Thompson authored two articles on vegetarianism, in 1898. Thompson stated that those that consume only from the vegetable kingdom can be called "vegetarians", not those that consume animal products such as dairy and eggs. Josiah Oldfield responded to this by stating that eggs and milk "may rightly form an integral part of a vegetarian dietary" and vegetarianism does not equate to only vegetable eating.[14]
Bibliography
The Royal College of Surgeons in 1852 awarded Thompson the Jacksonian Prize for an essay on the Pathology and Treatment of Stricture of the Urethra (on
- Practical Lithotomy and Lithotrity,
- Tumours of the Bladder,
- Suprapubic Lithotomy, and
- Preventive Treatment of Calculus Disease,
- Moderate Drinking, 1877.
- Food and Feeding, 1879.
- Clinical Lectures on Diseases of the Urinary Organs, 1882.
- The Pathology and Treatment of Stricture of the Urethra and Urinary Fistulae, 1885.
- 'Why Vegetarian?', 1898.
- 'Why Vegetarian'?: A Reply to Critics, 1898.
- Diet in Relation to Age & Activity, 1901.
- "The Unknown God?": An Essay, 1903
He produced two successful novels, Charley Kingston's Aunt (1885) and All But (1886).
Notes
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911, p. 869.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 869–870.
- ^ "Obituary: Sir Henry Thompson". Medical Press and Circular. 77: 463. 1904. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g Chisholm 1911, p. 870.
- ^ "History of the Society". Cremation Society of Great Britain. 1 January 1999. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ "Birmingham Crematorium commemorates 110th anniversary". Dignity plc. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ "History of the Society: Death of Sir Henry Thompson". Cremation Society of Great Britain. 1 January 1999. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- ^ Historic England. "Golders Green Crematorium (1001575)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
- ^ "Alec de Candole | Home".
- ^ McCabe, Joseph. (1913). The Existence of God. Watts & Co. p. 120
- S2CID 220034701.
- ^ "The Anti-Kreophagists". The British Medical Journal. 1 (1953): 1475–1476. 1898.
- ISBN 978-1-84511-379-7
- ^ Oldfield, Josiah. (1898). Vegetarian Still: A Reply to Sir Henry Thompson. Nineteenth Century 44: 246-252.
Sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Thompson, Sir Henry". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 869–870. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- "Thompson, Sir Henry, Bart (1820 - 1904)". Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online.
External links
- History of the Astrographic Department of the Royal Greenwich Observartory highlights Sir Thompson's gifts of astronomical instruments.
- Thompson, Henry (1883). The Diseases of the prostate. J. & A. Churchill. pp. 157. Retrieved 17 May 2008.