John Marshall (surgeon)

John Marshall
Portrait of Marshall by Alphonse Legros
Born	(1818-09-11)11 September 1818 Ely, Cambridgeshire, England
Died	1 January 1891(1891-01-01) (aged 72) Belle Vue House, Chelsea, London, England
Resting place	Ely public cemetery 52.4038°N 0.2732°E / 52.4038; 0.2732
Alma mater	University College London
Occupation(s)	Surgeon, teacher of anatomy
Known for	Galvanocautery Circular hospital wards Vein of Marshall Vestigial fold of Marshall
Title	MRCS (9 August 1844) LSA (1846) FCRS (7 December 1849) FRS (11 June 1857) Fullerian Professor of Physiology (1862–1865) President of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society (1882–1883) President of the GMC (1887) Hon. M.Ch., RUI (1887) LL.D., Edin.
Spouse	Ellen Rogers (1854–1891)
Children	Two sons, two daughters
Signature

John Marshall FRS FRCS (11 September 1818 – 1 January 1891) was an English surgeon and teacher of anatomy.

Early life and education

John Marshall was born in Ely,[1] Cambridgeshire. He was the second son and third child of the solicitor William Marshall (1776–1842) and Ann Cropley (c. 1793–1861), his second wife. Marshall entered University College, London, in 1838.[1]

Career

In 1847 Marshall was appointed assistant-surgeon at University College hospital, becoming in 1866 surgeon and professor of surgery. He was professor of anatomy at the Royal Academy from 1873 until his death. In 1883 he was president of the College of Surgeons, also Bradshaw lecturer (on "Nerve-stretching for the relief or cure of pain"), Hunterian orator in 1885, and Morton lecturer in 1889.[1]

Regarding Marshall's skills as a teacher and lecturer, the opinions of his former students appear to have diverged. One of them, Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, described him as "a good surgeon of the old school"[2] and as "a good friend" for whom he had "great respect and liking" but also as an "uninspiring teacher" whose lectures were "desperately dull".[3] However, another former student, Sir John Tweedy, strongly disagreed with Schafer and described Marshall's lectures as "informative and thought-awakening" and Marshall himself as "a cultured, critical and scientific surgeon, ever ready to try new paths and explore avenues of fresh knowledge".[4]

Sir William MacCormac wrote in his volume on the Centenary of the College of Surgeons (1900):

Marshall's fame, rests on the great ability with which he taught anatomy in relation to art, on the introduction into modern surgery of the galvano-cautery, and on the operation for the excision of varicose veins. He was one of the first to show that cholera might be spread by means of drinking water, and issued a report on the outbreak of cholera in Broad Street, St James's, 1854. He also invented the system of circular wards for hospitals, and to him are largely owing the details of the modern medical student's education.[1]

Publications

The Outlines of Physiology (1867)

References

1.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Marshall, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 772.
2. Sharpey-Schafer EA (10 November 1923). "Victor Horsley Lecture: The Late Prof. John Marshall, F.R.S.". The Lancet. 202 (5228): 1058. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)55686-4.
3. Sharpey-Schafer EA (27 October 1923). "The First Victor Horsley Memorial Lecture on the Relations of Surgery and Physiology". The Lancet. 202 (5226): 915–922. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)07666-8.
4. Tweedy J (3 November 1923). "Victor Horsley Lecture: The Late Prof. John Marshall, F.R.S.". The Lancet. 202 (5227): 1007–1008. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(01)29080-1.

Further reading

• O'Connor WJ (1988). "Chapter 6: The only full-time physiologist – Sharpey at University College, London". Founders of British physiology: a biographical dictionary, 1820-1885. Manchester: Manchester University Press ND. pp. 88–89. ISBN 0-7190-2537-0.
• Boase F (1892). Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons who Have Died Since the Year 1850, with an Index of the most Interesting Matter. Truro: Netherton & Worth.
• Bynum WF (September 2004). "Marshall, John (1818–1891)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18145. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

• Works by or about John Marshall at Wikisource

Academic offices
Preceded by Richard Owen	Fullerian Professor of Physiology 1862–1865	Succeeded by Thomas Henry Huxley