Benjamin Guy Babington (5 March 1794 – 8 April 1866) was an English physician and epidemiologist.

Life

Benjamin Babington was born on 5 March 1794, the son of the physician and mineralogist William Babington (1756–1833) and his wife, Martha Elizabeth (née Hough) Babington. After serving as a midshipman and studying at

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

from 1803 to 1807 and then the

East India Company College The East India Company College, or East India College, was an educational establishment situated at Hailey, Hertfordshire, nineteen miles north of London, founded in 1806 to train "writers" (administrators) for the East India Company. It provi ...

at Haileybury until 1812, he worked in government at

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, India. Returning to England, he studied medicine at

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1831. He then became Assistant Physician at Guy's but resigned after a disagreement in 1855. During his career, he invented several medical instruments (including the first laryngoscope) and techniques. He performed the first

laryngoscopy Laryngoscopy () is endoscopy of the larynx, a part of the throat. It is a medical procedure that is used to obtain a view, for example, of the vocal folds and the glottis. Laryngoscopy may be performed to facilitate tracheal intubation during ge ...

with his ''glottiscope'' in 1829. He became a Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

. According to

Henry Morley Henry Morley (15 September 1822 – 14 May 1894) was an English academic who was one of the earliest professors of English literature in Great Britain. He also authored a popular book featuring biographies of notable English writers. Life The ...

, he also "distinguished himself by inquiries into the cholera epidemic in 1832". He was Secretary to The

Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...

and in March, 1828 elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. In 1834–1836 he was President of the

Hunterian Society The Hunterian Society, founded in 1819 in honour of the Scottish surgeon John Hunter (1728–1793), is a medical society based at the Medical Society of London, London. Established by William Cooke, a general practitioner, and Thomas Armiger ...

. He was a censor and

Croonian Lecture The Croonian Medal and Lecture is a prestigious award, a medal, and lecture given at the invitation of the Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians. Among the papers of William Croone at his death in 1684, was a plan to endow a singl ...

r (1841) at the

. In 1850 he was elected the founding President of the

Epidemiological Society of London The Epidemiological Society of London was a British medical society founded in 1850 with the objective of investigating the causes and conditions which influence the origin, propagation, mitigation, and prevention of epidemic disease. In 1907 it m ...

and served in that capacity to within months of his death. At least one authority refers to the founding as the beginning of modern epidemiology. In 1853–1855 he was president of the

Pathological Society of London The Pathological Society of London was founded in 1846 for the "cultivation and promotion of pathology by the exhibition and description of specimens, drawings, microscopic preparations, casts or models of morbid parts." Its first meeting was he ...

and 1863 was also president of the

Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society The Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London (RMCS), created in 1805 as the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, was a learned society of physicians and surgeons, that received a Royal charter in 1834, and a supplement charter in 190 ...

. Babington died on 8 April 1866.

Publications

He wrote several papers, and translated several others, including: * four papers from Justus Friedrich Karl Hecker's ''Epidemics of the Middle Ages''. * Ernst, Baron von Feuchtersleben's ''Principles of Medical Psychology.''

Family

Babington was named after his father's best friend Benjamin Fayle, and the fact that he was born in Guy's Hospital. He married Fayle's daughter Anna Mary, who gave him four children. He also became a director of B. Fayle and Co. (Merchants) together with his sister-in-law (Charlotte Fayle) and his brother-in-law (Rev. Richard Fayle). Benjamin Guy Babington's son - Stephen Piele Babington also became a director of B.Fayle & Co.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Babington, Benjamin Guy 1794 births 1866 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School British East India Company civil servants 19th-century English medical doctors Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians Fellows of the Royal Society

Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

Physicians of Guy's Hospital