Sir William Tennant Gairdner (8 November 1824 – 28 June 1907) was a Scottish Professor of Medicine in the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

Early life

William Tennant Gardiner was born 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 ...

, the son of physician

John Gairdner Dr John Gairdner FRCS (18 September 1790 – 12 December 1876) was a Scottish physician. Life He was the eldest son of Captain Robert Gairdner of the Bengal artillery, and brother of William Gairdner (physician), William Gairdner, born at Mou ...

and his wife, Susanna Tennant.''Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950'' He was the elder brother of the historian

James Gairdner James Gairdner (22 March 1828 – 4 November 1912) was a British historian. He specialised in 15th-century and early Tudor history, and among other tasks edited the '' Letters and Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII'' series. Son of John Gairdne ...

. He was educated at the Edinburgh Institution and then in his father's profession 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 as M.D. in 1845. Immediately after his graduation he went to Rome for six months. He was taught surgery by Prof Monro and Dr

Robert Halliday Gunning Robert Halliday Gunning FRSE Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, PRPSE FSA Legum Doctor, LLD (12 December 1818 – 22 March 1900) was a Scottish surgeon, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He did much to improve social conditions in Brazil and al ...

Medical career

In 1850 he was elected a Fellow 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 ...

; and a year or two later was appointed physician and pathologist to

the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 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 Com ...

(RIE). During his time at the RIE he was a lecturer at the

Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine Extramural medical education in Edinburgh began over 200 years before the university medical faculty was founded in 1726 and distance learning, extramural teaching continued thereafter for a further 200 years. Extramural is academic education wh ...

. In 1862 he accepted an invitation to take the professorship of medicine in the

, together with the post of physician to the

Western Infirmary The Western Infirmary was a teaching hospital situated in Yorkhill in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland, that was managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. It was opened in 1874 and closed in 2015. History After the University of Glasgow moved ...

. In the following year much attention was directed in Glasgow to the insanitary state of the city; and Dr. Gairdner, at considerable pecuniary sacrifice, undertook the duties of medical officer of health, which he discharged for ten years in such a manner as brought about a total change in the conditions which he found existing. From this time forward he devoted himself to the duties of his professorship and to his increasing consulting practice. The professor of medicine in a University like that of Glasgow is expected, almost as a matter of course, to become an important contributor to the advancement of the science which he teaches, and his duty Gairdner abundantly fulfilled. He did excellent work in this direction both as a sanitarian, as an original investigator of diseases of the heart, and in opposition to the excessive alcoholic stimulation of fevers, which had been rendered fashionable for a time by the teaching of Dr. Todd. His personal influence over successive generations of students was, however, greatly more remarkable and more important than his purely medical achievements. In 1852 Gairdner 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 1870. In 1893, he was elected President of the

and 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 ...

The same year he was appointed honorary physician in ordinary in Scotland to Queen Victoria, receiving the corresponding appointment on the accession of King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

. He was made Knight Commander of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

in 1898, and in 1890 resigned his professorship and took up his residence in Edinburgh. He was president of the

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union and professional body for physician, doctors in the United Kingdom. It does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The BMA ...

in 1888, representative of the University of Glasgow in the

General Medical Council The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of physician, medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the pu ...

for ten years from 1893 to 1903, and among other distinctions received the degree of

LL.D. A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

Edin. in 1883 and that of

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

Dublin (''honoris causa''), with the honorary Fellowship of the

Royal College of Physicians of Ireland The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI), () is an Irish professional body dedicated to improving the practice of general medicine and related medical specialty, medical specialities, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by e ...

, in 1887. In 1900 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 ...

Works

His principal works were ''Clinical Medicine'', 1862; ''Public Health in Relation to Air and Water'', 1862; ''On Some Modern Aspects of Insanity'', ''Lectures to Practitioners'' (jointly with Dr. J. Coats), 1868; ''The Physician as Naturalist'', 1889; and ''The Three Things that Abide'', 1903. At the time of his death it was stated that "his book ''The Physician as Naturalist'', if not written with any idea of self-portraiture, at least contains a large amount of self-revelation; while his last publication, ''The Three Things that Abide'', is made up of lay sermons on faith, hope, and love, of no common interest and beauty."

Personal life

In 1870, he married Helena Bridget Wright, of Norwich, Norfolk who survived him. He had four sons ( William Henry Temple, Hugh Montgomerie, Eric Dalrymple, and Anthony Philip) and three daughters (Helen Christian, Ailsa Bridget, and Dorothea).Scottish 1891 census. Parish: Glasgow Govan; ED: 121; Page: 4; Line: 1; Roll: CSSCT1891_280; Year: 1891. Douglas Montagu Temple Gairdner was his grandson.

Early life

Medical career

Works

Personal life

References

Further reading