John Addington Symonds (10 April 1807 – 25 February 1871) was an English physician and writer.

Life

He was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, where his father John Symonds was a medical practitioner. His mother was Mary Williams, of

Aston, Oxfordshire Aston is a village about south of Witney in West Oxfordshire, England. The village is part of the Civil parishes in England, civil parish of Aston, Cote, Shifford and Chimney. The southern boundary of the parish is the River Thames. The Unite ...

. Symonds was educated at Magdalen College School; at the age of sixteen he went to 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 ...

for medical training, and graduated M.D. in 1828. Returning to Oxford, Symonds began the practice of his profession as assistant to his father. In 1831 he moved to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, where he was soon appointed physician to the general hospital, and lectured on

forensic medicine Forensic medicine is a broad term used to describe a group of medical specialties which deal with the examination and diagnosis of individuals who have been injured by or who have died because of external or unnatural causes such as poisoning, assa ...

at the Bristol medical school. He exchanged in 1836 for the lectureship on the practice of medicine, which he held till 1845. He retired from active service on the hospital staff in 1848. In 1853 he was elected an associate 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 ...

, and in 1857 a Fellow. In 1859 he secretly forced Charles Vaughn to resign as headmaster of Harrow School, after learning about the latter's affair with a pupil. In the autumn of 1868 his health began to fail. In 1869 he delivered an address on health when presiding over the health section of the Social Science Association at the meeting at Clifton. He finally abandoned practice early in 1870, and died on 25 February 1871.

Thomas Woolner Thomas Woolner (17 December 1825 – 7 October 1892) was an English sculptor and poet who was one of the founder-members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was the only sculptor among the original members. After participating in the found ...

sculpted a bust of Symonds.

Works

In his early years at Bristol Symonds contributed to the ''

Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine The ''Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine'' was a British monthly medical journal, first published in 1832. It was divided into alphabetical articles, and came to four volumes, part-published and then completed by 1835. The volumes were: #Abd–Ele ...

'', the '' British and Foreign Medical Review'', and other professional periodicals. A close friend of

James Cowles Prichard James Cowles Prichard (11 February 1786 – 23 December 1848) was a British physician and ethnologist with broad interests in physical anthropology and psychiatry. His influential ''Researches into the Physical History of Mankind'' touched upon ...

, Symonds in an essay on ''Criminal Responsibility'', published in 1869, supported Prichard's opinions as to the existence of a condition of

moral insanity Moral insanity referred to a type of mental disorder consisting of abnormal emotions and behaviours in the apparent absence of intellectual impairments, delusions, or hallucinations. It was an accepted diagnosis in Europe and America through the s ...

. He also devoted attention to the relations of mind and muscles, and to the phenomena of dreams and sleep, analysing the interaction of memory, association, and imagination in the formation of dreams. Symonds prepared in 1849 a life of his friend Prichard for the Bath and Bristol branch of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association (printed in their ''Journal'', 1850, vol. ii.), and published lectures and essays in separate volumes, including: * ''Knowledge: an introductory address'', London and Bristol, 1846. * ''Sleep and Dreams: two lectures delivered at the Bristol Literary and Philosophical Institution'', London, 1851; 2nd ed. 1857. * ''The Principles of Beauty'', London, 1857. * ''Ten Years: an inaugural lecture delivered at the Bristol Institution for the Advancement of Science'', London, 1861. A collected edition of his essays, with some occasional verses and a memoir by his son, appeared under the title of ''Miscellanies'' in 1871.

Family

In 1834 he married Harriet Sykes, eldest daughter of James Sykes of

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

. She died in 1844. They had five children, one of whom was

John Addington Symonds John Addington Symonds Jr. (; 5 October 1840 – 19 April 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists. Although mar ...

the poet and literary critic (1840–1893). Their daughter, the education promoter,

Charlotte Byron Green Charlotte Byron Green (born Charlotte Byron Symonds, 12 August 1842 – 4 September 1929) was a British promoter of women's education. She supported Somerville College from its foundation. Life Green was born at Berkeley Square in Bristol in 18 ...

married

Thomas Hill Green Thomas Hill Green (7 April 183626 March 1882), known as T. H. Green, was an English philosopher, political radical and temperance reformer, and a member of the British idealism movement. Like all the British idealists, Green was influe ...

the philosopher.

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Symonds, John Addington 1807 births 1871 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors People from Oxford