William Tennant Gairdner
Sir William Tennant Gairdner
Early life
William Tennant Gardiner was born in
Medical career
In 1850 he was elected a Fellow of the
The professor of medicine in a University like that of Glasgow is expected, almost as a matter of course, to become an important contributor to the advancement of the science which he teaches, and his duty Gairdner abundantly fulfilled. He did excellent work in this direction both as a sanitarian, as an original investigator of diseases of the heart, and in opposition to the excessive alcoholic stimulation of fevers, which had been rendered fashionable for a time by the teaching of Dr. Todd. His personal influence over successive generations of students was, however, greatly more remarkable and more important than his purely medical achievements.[5]
In 1852 Gairdner was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh and served as President in 1870.[9] In 1893, he was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh[10] and a Fellow of the Royal Society[11] The same year he was appointed honorary physician in ordinary in Scotland to Queen Victoria, receiving the corresponding appointment on the accession of King Edward VII.[12] He was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1898,[13] and in 1890 resigned his professorship and took up his residence in Edinburgh.[5]
He was president of the British Medical Association in 1888, representative of the University of Glasgow in the General Medical Council for ten years from 1893 to 1903, and among other distinctions received the degree of LL.D. Edin. in 1883 and that of M.D. Dublin (honoris causa), with the honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, in 1887. In 1900 he was elected a member of the Aesculapian Club.[14]
Works
His principal works were Clinical Medicine, 1862; Public Health in Relation to Air and Water, 1862; On Some Modern Aspects of Insanity, Lectures to Practitioners (jointly with Dr. J. Coats), 1868; The Physician as Naturalist, 1889; and The Three Things that Abide, 1903.
At the time of his death it was stated that "his book The Physician as Naturalist, if not written with any idea of self-portraiture, at least contains a large amount of self-revelation; while his last publication, The Three Things that Abide, is made up of lay sermons on faith, hope, and love, of no common interest and beauty."[5]
Personal life
In 1870, he married Helena Bridget Wright, of Norwich, Norfolk who survived him. He had four sons (William Henry Temple, Hugh Montgomerie, Eric Dalrymple, and Anthony Philip) and three daughters (Helen Christian, Ailsa Bridget, and Dorothea).[5][15][16] Douglas Montagu Temple Gairdner was his grandson.
References
- ^ "GAIRDNER, Sir William Tennant". Who's Who. 59: 651. 1907.
- ^ Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
- ^ "Death of Sir William T. Gairdiner". The Glasgow Herald. 1 July 1907. p. 4. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- hdl:1842/23911.
- ^ a b c d e f "Obituary. Sir W. Gairdner.(transcript)". The Times. No. 38373. London. 1 July 1907. p. 7; col D.
- ^ McC., J. (1912). "Sir William Gairdner". Canadian Medical Journal Association Journal. The Canadian Medical Association. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- PMC 2357828.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Watson Wemyss, Herbert Lindesay (1933). A Record of the Edinburgh Harveian Society. T&A Constable, Edinburgh.
- ^ Lee, Thomas Alexander. Seekers of Truth: The Scottish Founders of Modern Public Accountancy. p. 143.
- ^ Sir William Tennant Gairdner, Fellow of the Royal Society
- ^ "No. 27300". The London Gazette. 29 March 1901. p. 2194.
- ^ "New Year Honours". The Times. No. 35402. London. 1 January 1898. p. 6; col B., note that obituary incorrectly states 1880
- ^ Minute Books of the Aesculapian Club. Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
- ^ Scottish 1881 census. Parish: Glasgow Govan; ED: 108; Page: 5; Line: 1; Roll: cssct1881_238; Year: 1881.
- ^ Scottish 1891 census. Parish: Glasgow Govan; ED: 121; Page: 4; Line: 1; Roll: CSSCT1891_280; Year: 1891.