Sir James Earle (1755–1817) was a celebrated British

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

, renowned for his skill in

lithotomy Lithotomy from Greek for "lithos" (stone) and "tomos" ( cut), is a surgical method for removal of calculi, stones formed inside certain organs, such as the urinary tract (kidney stones), bladder (bladder stones), and gallbladder (gallstones), t ...

. Earle was born in London. After studying medicine at

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 by Rahere, and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by ...

, he became the institution's assistant surgeon in 1770. Due to the temporary incapacity of one of the hospital's surgeons, Earle performed one-third of St Bartholomew's operations between 1776 and 1784. At the end of this phenomenal feat, Earle was elected a surgeon on 22 May 1784 and remained until 1815. Just two years later, he was appointed surgeon-extraordinary to

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

. In March 1794 Earle was 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 ...

. He was knighted in 1807. He married the daughter of

Percivall Pott Percivall Pott (6 January 1714, in London – 22 December 1788) was an English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopaedics, and the first scientist to demonstrate that cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen, namely chimney sweeps ...

, the hospital's senior surgeon, and their third son, Henry Earle, also became a surgeon at St Bartholomew's. Earle wrote a memoir of Pott that was subsequently attached to his complete works (1790) and a biography of William Austin. Earle was renowned for his surgery skills, particularly in

. He also published several medical works: ''A Treatise on the Hydrocele'' (1791, with additions in 1793, 1796, and 1805), ''Practical Observations on the Operation for Stone'' (1793), ''A New Method of Operation for Cataract'' (1801), and ''Letter on Fractures of the Lower Limbs'' (1807).Moore, Norman and Michael Bevan.
Sir James Earle
" ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

''. Oxford University Press (2004). Retrieved on 21 July 2007.

References

1755 births 1813 deaths English surgeons Fellows of the Royal Society {{UK-med-bio-stub