Edwin Bramwell

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

FRCPE The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that set the specialty (medicine), specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was establish ...

(11 January 1873 – 21 March 1952) was a British

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

. He was President of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that set the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by royal charter i ...

from 1933 to 1935.

Life

He was born in

North Shields North Shields ( ) is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. The population of North Shields at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom cens ...

on 11 January 1873 the son of Martha (née Crighton) and Sir Byrom Bramwell. He was educated at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

. He then studied medicine at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

graduating MB ChB in 1896. After graduation he began working at the

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire."In Comi ...

then moved to the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He then did a years further postgraduate study in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

in Germany. In 1900 he settled in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

as a consultant and in 1902 moved to work in

Leith Hospital Leith Hospital was situated on Mill Lane in Leith, Edinburgh, and was a general hospital with adult medical and surgical wards, paediatric medical and surgical wards, a casualty department and a wide range of out-patient services. It closed in 1 ...

as Assistant Physician. In 1907 he returned to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary as Assistant Physician. In 1906 Bramwell was elected a member of the

Harveian Society of Edinburgh The Harveian Society of Edinburgh was founded in April 1782 by Andrew Duncan (physician, born 1744), Andrew Duncan. The Society holds an annual Festival in honour of the life and works of William Harvey, the physician who first correctly des ...

and served as President in 1934. In 1906 he was also elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were

Daniel John Cunningham Daniel John Cunningham, (15 April 1850 – 23 July 1909) was a Scottish physician, zoologist, and anatomist, famous for ''Cunningham's Text-book of Anatomy'' and ''Cunningham's Manual of Practical Anatomy''. Biography Cunningham was born ...

John Chiene John Chiene, Order of the Bath, CB, Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, FRCSEd (25 February 1843 – 29 May 1923) was a Scottish people, Scottish surgeon, who was Professor of Surgery ...

George Chrystal George Chrystal FRSE FRS (8 March 1851 – 3 November 1911) was a Scottish mathematician. He is primarily known for his books on algebra and his studies of seiches (wave patterns in large inland bodies of water) which earned him a Gold Meda ...

and Alexander Bruce. At this time he lived at 24 Walker Street in Edinburgh's West End. In the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served in the 2nd Second General Hospital treating the returning wounded. He began to specialise in brain injuries and mental injuries such as

shell shock Shell shock is a term that originated during World War I to describe symptoms similar to those of combat stress reaction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which many soldiers suffered during the war. Before PTSD was officially recogni ...

and in 1919 began lecturing in

Neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...

at the

. In 1922 he became Professor of Clinical Medicine. In 1927 he was elected a member of the

Aesculapian Club The Aesculapian Club of Edinburgh is one of the oldest medical dining clubs in the world. It was founded in April 1773 by Dr. Andrew Duncan. Membership of the club is limited to 11 Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and ...

. He died in

on 21 March 1952. He is buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...

. The grave lies on the westmost outer wall of the first northern extension.

Publications

A keen fly-fisher, he wrote many articles for the Fishing Gazette under the pseudonym "The Professor".

Family

In 1908 he married Elizabeth Cumming Cunningham (1879-1960) daughter of

and granddaughter of Very Rev John Cunningham. They had four daughters and two sons. One daughter Margaret Claire Byrom Bramwell married Dr James Kirkwood Slater. His younger brothers were J. Crighton Bramwell and Byrom Stanley Bramwell.

References

1873 births 1952 deaths People educated at Cheltenham College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh British neurologists Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Burials at the Dean Cemetery Office bearers of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh Members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh {{Scotland-med-bio-stub