Thomas Wakley

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Thomas Wakley

Thomas Wakley (11 July 1795 – 16 May 1862) was an English surgeon. He gained fame as a social reformer who campaigned against incompetence, privilege and nepotism. He was the founding editor of The Lancet, a radical Member of Parliament (MP) and a celebrated coroner.

Early life

He was born in

Taunton Grammar School.[1]

When he was eleven, he sailed on a ship captained by a family friend to

Calcutta.[1] He joined the ship on 7 March 1807 as one of six midshipmen. He was discharged on 18 August 1808.[3] When he returned, he attended school at Wiveliscombe, Somerset.[2] At fifteen, he was apprenticed to a Taunton apothecary and then later to surgeons in Beaminster and Henley-on-Thames.[1] Young Wakley was a sportsman and a boxer: he fought bare-fisted in public houses.[4]

In 1815, he then went to London, where he attended anatomy classes at St Thomas's Hospital, and enrolled in the United Hospitals of

Member of the Royal College of Surgeons
(MRCS) in 1817.

A surgeon at 22, he set up in practice in

James Goodchild Wakley, and his middle son, Thomas Henry Wakley
, became joint editors of The Lancet.

All through his career, Wakley proved to be a man of aggressive personality, and his experiences had a sensational beginning. In August 1820 a gang of men (reputedly, the

Cato Street conspiracy, whose supporters believed (wrongly) that the hangman was a surgeon.[4]: 24–32  Wakley was indirectly accused by the insurance company, which had refused his claim, of setting fire to his house himself. He won his case against the company.[7]

Lancet years

In 1823, he started the now well-known medical weekly, The Lancet, with William Cobbett, William Lawrence, James Wardrop and a libel lawyer as associates. It was extremely successful: by 1830, it had a circulation of about 4,000. In 1828, one of his accounts of medical negligence accused Bransby Cooper (the nephew of Sir Astley Cooper, the General Surgeon) of incompetence in causing a patient immense suffering as he attempted to extract a bladder stone through a cut beneath the scrotum. Such operations were regularly completed in only a minute's time by excellent surgeons such as the previous century's William Cheselden, but Cooper took more than an hour and was seen to have great difficulty in locating the stone. The magazine account led to a libel case, Cooper v Wakley, which would raise the profile and popular prestige of Wakley and his magazine. The court found in Cooper's favor, but awarded him much smaller damages than requested, which was generally taken as an acknowledgment that Wakley's accusations of incompetence and nepotism were justified.[8]

At first, the editor of the Lancet was not named in the journal, but after a few weeks, rumours began to circulate. After the journal began printing the content of Sir Astley Cooper's lectures without permission, the great man paid a surprise visit to his former pupil to discover Wakley correcting the proofs of the next issue. Upon recognising each other, they fell immediately into laughter[9] or perhaps an altercation.[10] Either way, they reached an agreement that was mutually satisfactory.[2]: 85 

The libel lawyer was certainly needed for a series of attacks on the jobbery in vogue among the medical practitioners of the day. In opposition to the hospital surgeons and physicians, he published reports of their lectures and exposed their malpractices. He had to fight a number of lawsuits, but they only increased his influence. He attacked the whole constitution of the Royal College of Surgeons and obtained so much support from among the general body of the profession, now roused to a sense of the abuses that he exposed, that in 1827, a petition to Parliament resulted in a return being ordered of the public money granted to it.[7]

Wakley as Jackdaw plucking feathers from the peacocks of his times. Punch 1841

Wakley's campaigning was rough and outspoken:

[We deplore the] "state of society which allows various sets of mercenary, goose-brained monopolists and charlatans to usurp the highest privileges.... This is the canker-worm which eats into the heart of the medical body" Wakley, The Lancet 1838–39, 1, p2–3.
"The Council of the College of Surgeons remains an irresponsible, unreformed monstrosity in the midst of English institutions – an antediluvian relic of all... that is most despotic and revolting, iniquitous and insulting, on the face of the Earth". Wakley, The Lancet 1841–42, 2, p246.

He was especially severe on whomever he regarded as quacks. The English Homeopathic Association were "an audacious set of quacks" and its supporters "noodles and knaves, the noodles forming the majority, and the knaves using them as tools".[4]: 145 

London College of Medicine

One of Wakley's best ideas came in 1831, when a series of massive meetings were held to launch a rival to the Royal Colleges. Though successful, not eventually unsuccessful, and the LCM incorporated ideas that formed the basis of reforms in the charters of the main licensing bodies, the Apothecaries, the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and Physicians. Firstly, there was to be one Faculty: the LCM was to include physicians, surgeons and general practitioners; teachers at private medical schools and naval surgeons would also be included. Secondly, the structure was to be democratic: there would be no restrictions by religion (e.g. the Anglican restrictions of Oxford and Cambridge Universities) or by institution (e.g. membership of hospitals). Its officers and Senate would be decided by annual ballot. The cost of diplomas would be set low; those already qualified would be eligible to become Fellows so, for instance, those qualified in Scotland would be received without re-examination. Appointments to official (public) positions were to be by merit, eliminating nepotism and the hand-placing of protégées. All Fellows would carry the prefix 'Dr', removing artificial divisions between members.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the LCM did not succeed against the united opposition of the established Colleges and other institutions. Nevertheless, the strong case for reform had been made in the most public manner. Subsequent legislation and reforms in governing charters were, for many years, influenced by this campaign.[11]: 104–7 

Miscellany

In its early years, the Lancet also had other content of a non-medical kind. There was a chess column, the earliest regular chess column in any weekly periodical: The Chess Table.[12] There were also occasional articles on politics, theatre reviews, biographies of non-medical persons, excerpts of material in other publications &c. None of that diminished its huge impact on surgery, hospitals and the Royal Colleges, which were opened up to public view as never before. Wakley also played a leading role in the reform of the London Veterinary College and the creation of the Society of Coroners. In addition to his work on The Lancet he also published a number of pamphlets and short guides, including "The Mother's Medical Adviser", published by Wilson and Company, New York, 1844.

Member of Parliament

Reform in the College of Surgeons was slow, and Wakley now set himself to rouse the

rotten boroughs
(rough equalisation of electoral districts). Apart from annual Parliaments, but it took time. The effect was to give ordinary citizens a direct say in how the country was governed. Wakley was one of many campaigners; his influence was greater than most because he was now inside Parliament.

Illustrated London News
1862

As an

Anglican and a regular church-goer, Wakley's opposition to aspects of the Lord's Day Observance legislation was based not on secularism but on his sympathy for the ordinary man. In his day, men worked a full six days each week and could not shop on pay nights. If all shops closed for the whole of Sunday, it was clearly unfair to working men. Also, he advocated that places of education, such as museums and zoos, should be open to all on Sundays.[2]
: 304  The working week became five days long around 1960, and it was even later before shops were able to open on Sundays.

Medical coroner

Wakley also argued for medical coronerships, and when they were established, he was elected Coroner for West Middlesex in 1839. Consistent with his views, he held inquests into all sudden deaths, including deaths in police custody. He was indefatigable in upholding the interests of the working classes and advocating humanitarian reforms as well as in pursuing his campaign against medical restrictions and abuses, and he made the Lancet not only a professional organ but a powerful engine of social reform.[7] During his term as coroner he held between 25,000 and 30,000 investigations, sometimes delegating responsibility to his son Henry Membury Wakley. Charles Dickens, a frequent guest at Wakley's dinner table, is said to have derived material for "Oliver Twist" from Wakley (inquest on Eliza Burgess, held St. Marylebone Workhouse, January 1840) and was juror on more than one Wakley inquest. Details of many of his cases are held in the reference sections of a number of north and west London reference and local history libraries under the collective title of "Coroner Wakley's Casebook", a series of books published by C. B. Wakley between 2015 and 2017.

Flogging

Wakley campaigned against

Erasmus Wilson, consulting surgeon the St Pancras Infirmary, who made it clear that the flogging and the death were causally connected.[2]
: 404  The jury concurred and added a strongly worded rider that expressed their "horror and disgust that the law of the land provided that the revolting punishment of flogging should be permitted upon British soldiers." Sprigge added that it was not Wilson's able scientific arguments that convinced the jury, but it was his assertion that had it not been for the flogging, White would be alive. The Army Act of 1881 abolished flogging as a punishment.

Adulteration of foodstuffs

Wakley's last campaigns were against the

adulteration of foodstuffs. This was common in Wakley's day, and his opposition was significant in bringing about much-needed reforming legislation.[4]: 159–75  To provide evidence, Wakley set up The Lancet Analytical and Sanitary Commission, which provided 'records of the microscopical and chemical analyses of the solids and fluids consumed by all classes of the public'. The methods were devised by Wakley, Sir William Brooke O'Shaughnessy and Dr Arthur Hill Hassall
, who was the Commissioner.

The first investigation showed that "it is a fact that coffee is largely adulterated".[14] Of 34 coffees, 31 were adulterated; the three exceptions were of higher price. The main adulteration was chicory, otherwise bean-flour, potato-flour or roasted corn was used. Moreover, it was found that chicory itself was usually adulterated. The Lancet published the names of the genuine traders and threatened the others with exposure if they failed to mend their ways. A second report (26 April 1851) actually carried out the threat. A third report showed that canister coffee was even more adulterated. Investigations of sugar, pepper, bread, tobacco and tea followed, then finally the purity of the water supply. The first Adulteration Act became law in 1860, the second in 1872. The Sale of Food and Drugs Acts of 1875 and 1879 followed. All was achieved by Wakley and his associates.

Death

pulmonary haemorrhage after a fall from a boat in the harbour.[13][15] He had been in declining health for about ten years, the symptoms being entirely consistent with tuberculosis.[4]: 494 [13][15] Wakley's three sons survived him, and the Lancet remained in Wakley hands for two more generations. His funeral was a very private affair, attendance restricted to family and close friends; the long-term consequences of his radicalism were eventually appreciated, at least to some extent. Wakley is interred in the catacombs of Kensal Green Cemetery (alcove 59, compartment 13) alongside his wife Elizabeth (alcove 59, compartment 16), who had died three years earlier.[16] There is a blue plaque on his house in Bedford Square
, London, and further plaques in the grounds of the Harefield Hospital in Uxbridge, Land Farm in Membury, and Membury parish church .

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 12 July 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^
    ISBN 9788591007912
    .
  3. S2CID 13937409
    .
  4. ^
    OCLC 4354169
    .
  5. ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 250.
  6. ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 250–251.
  7. ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911, p. 251.
  8. ^ Richardson, Ruth. Death, Dissection, and the Destitute.
  9. ^ Burch, D (2007). Digging up the dead: uncovering the life and times of an extraordinary surgeon. London: Chatto & Windus.
  10. ^ Hale-White, W (1935). Great Doctors of the Nineteenth Century. London: Edward Arnold.
  11. ^ a b Desmond, A. (1989). The politics of evolution: morphology, medicine, and reform in radical London. Chicago.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ^ Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth 1996. The Oxford companion to chess. 2nd ed, Oxford. 'Newspaper columns', p271, which notes a column in the daily Liverpool Mercury which started in 1813.
  13. ^
    PMID 19797597
    .
  14. ^ The Lancet, 4 January 1851
  15. ^ a b The concise DNB (Dictionary of National Biography). Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. p. 1351.
  16. ^ Paths of Glory. Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery. 1997. p. 102.

External links

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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Finsbury
1835–1852
With: Thomas Slingsby Duncombe 		Succeeded by
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