Sir St Clair Thomson (28 July 1859 – 29 January 1943) was a British surgeon and professor of

laryngology Laryngology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders, diseases and injuries of the larynx, colloquially known as the voice box. Laryngologists treat disorders of the larynx, including diseases that affects the voice, swallowing, or upper ...

Life

Thomson was born at

Fahan Fahan (; ) is a district of Inishowen in the north of County Donegal, Ireland, located 5 km (3 miles) south of Buncrana. In Irish, Fahan is named after its patron saint, Saint Mura, first abbot of Fahan, an early Christian monastery. Hist ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

the seventh child of the five sons and three daughters of John Gibson Thomson of

Ardrishaig Ardrishaig ( gd, Àird Driseig) is a coastal village on Loch Gilp, at the southern (eastern) entrance to the Crinan Canal in Argyll and Bute in the west of Scotland. It lies immediately to the south of Lochgilphead, with the nearest larger to ...

, Argyllshire, Scotland civil engineer, a pupil of Thomas Telford, and his wife Catherine, a daughter of John Sinclair of

Lochaline Lochaline ( gd, Loch Àlainn) is the main village in the Morvern area of Highland, Scotland. The coastal village is situated at the mouth of Loch Aline, on the northern shore of the Sound of Mull. A ferry operates regularly over to Fishnish ...

House, Morven, Sound of Mull. He was educated at the village school in

till he was ten, when he went to study at

King's School, Peterborough Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

, later gaining medical experience in general practice while apprenticed to his eldest brother William Sinclair-Thomson MD. Thomson's medical studies, started privately, continued from 1877 at King's College London where he gained the qualifications MRCS (Member of the Royal College of Surgeons) in 1881 and MB (Bachelor of Medicine) in 1883. He then became house surgeon to

Joseph Lister Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of ...

King's College Hospital King's College Hospital is a major teaching hospital and major trauma centre in Denmark Hill, Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH". It is managed by ...

Career

Thomson went on to work at

Queen Charlotte's Hospital Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital is one of the oldest maternity hospitals in Europe, founded in 1739 in London. Until October 2000, it occupied a site at 339–351 Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith, but is now located between East Acton and Whit ...

and as a surgeon on ships operated by

Union-Castle Line The Union-Castle Line was a British shipping line that operated a fleet of passenger liners and cargo ships between Europe and Africa from 1900 to 1977. It was formed from the merger of the Union Line and Castle Shipping Line. It merged with ...

on routes to South Africa. This was followed by several years as a physician in Europe, practising medicine in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

and

St Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality ...

. In the early 1890s he developed his professional interests beyond general practice and turned towards the study of

. Famous laryngologists he visited in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

included

Leopold von Schrötter Leopold Schrötter Ritter von Kristelli, (name often given as Leopold von Schrötter in medical literature) (February 5, 1837 – April 22, 1908) was an Austrian internist and laryngologist born in Graz. He was the son of chemist Anton Schrött ...

and Karl Stoerk, along with the Austrian otologist

Ádám Politzer Ádám Politzer ( hu, Politzer Ádám; 1 October 1835, Albertirsa, Pest, Hungary – 10 August 1920, in Vienna) was a Hungarian and Austrian physician and one of the pioneers and founders of otology. Life Ádám Politzer was born in Alberti (no ...

. He also studied with German laryngologist

Gustav Killian Gustav Killian (2 June 1860 – 24 February 1921) was a German laryngologist and founder of the bronchoscopy. Life and death His father Johann Baptist Caesar Killian (1820–1889), the son of a ''städtischen Wegeaufsehers'' an urban way oversee ...

at Freiburg. Thomson established himself as a consultant laryngologist following his return to London in 1893. After obtaining the further qualification

FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional certification, professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an wikt:intercollegiate, in ...

(Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons), he lectured in medicine, carried out research, and helped edit the journal ''The Laryngoscope''. His career in medicine and his chosen speciality advanced from surgeon (at the

Royal Ear Hospital Royal Ear Hospital was a hospital in Capper Street, London. It was managed by the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was founded by John Curtis, a naval surgeon, at Carlisle Street in 1816. It moved to ...

) and physician (at the Throat Hospital in

Golden Square Golden Square, in Soho, the City of Westminster, London, is a mainly hardscaped garden square planted with a few mature trees and raised borders in Central London flanked by classical office buildings. Its four approach ways are north and so ...

) to FRCP (1903) and "physician in charge" at King's College Hospital in 1905, culminating in the post of professor of laryngology at King's in 1908. Another peak of his career was his appointment as throat physician to King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

. Thomson was knighted in 1912. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

he was appointed a Commander of the

Order of Leopold Order of Leopold may refer to: * Order of Leopold (Austria), founded in 1808 by emperor Francis I of Austria and discontinued in 1918 * Order of Leopold (Belgium), founded in 1832 by king Leopold I of Belgium * Order of Leopold II, founded in Congo ...

for services to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. After his retirement from medical practice at King's in 1924, he held positions at the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

as examiner and member of the council. He lectured on tuberculosis of the larynx, and received the 1936 Weber Parkes Medal for his tuberculosis research. Thomson also lectured and wrote on the subject of Shakespeare and medicine. Major publications that Thomson authored or co-authored included ''Diseases of the Nose and Throat'' (1911) and ''Cancer of the Larynx'' (1930). Professional societies in which he held positions included the

Medical Society of London The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies (being organisations of voluntary association, rather than regulation or training) in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthro ...

(President in 1915-16) and the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association's headquar ...

. He was also president of the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

from 1925 to 1927 and president of its History of Medicine Section from 1933 to 1935. Thomson had married in 1901, but his wife Isabella died less than five years later in 1905. Thomson never remarried. His home in

Wimpole Street Wimpole Street is a street in Marylebone, central London. Located in the City of Westminster, it is associated with private medical practice and medical associations. No. 1 Wimpole Street is an example of Edwardian baroque architecture, comple ...

in London, kept by his elder sister Matilda (Maud) Louisa Sinclair-Thomson, housed his collection of Shakespearian prints, miniatures and pharmacy jars. Photographic portraits of Thomson, taken in 1938 by British photographer

Howard Coster Howard Sydney Musgrave Coster (27 April 1885 – 17 November 1959) was a British photographer, opening a London studio in 1926. He was a self-styled 'Photographer of Men'. Collections After a childhood in the Isle of Wight, he was introduced t ...

, are held at the National Portrait Gallery. Having settled in Scotland following wartime damage to his London home, Thomson was killed in a street accident in Edinburgh on 29 January 1943 at the age of 83.

References

External links

Sir St Clair Thomson (1853–1943), Surgeon and Professor of Laryngology
(National Portrait Gallery)
Sir St Clair Thomson (1853-1943)
(obituary in Royal College of Surgeons England - Lives of the Fellows)

(obituary in the British Journal of Surgery)
Matilda (Maud) Louisa Sinclair-Thomson (1853-1944), Sister of Sir St Clair Thomson and housekeeper
(National Galleries Scotland) {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Saint Clair 1853 births 1943 deaths Alumni of King's College London British otolaryngologists Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons Medical doctors from Derry (city) Presidents of the Royal Society of Medicine Presidents of the History of Medicine Society