Doctor William Hunter of Long Calderwood, MD., FRS.

DOCTOR WILLIAM HUNTER OF LONG CALDERWOOD MD., FRS.

Land Owner at Long Calderwood in East Kilbride, Scotland; Anatomist; Surgeon in London; Physician; Accoucheur to the British Lying-in Hospital; Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, 1769-72; Physician Extraordinary to Queen Charlotte, 1764-83; Fellow of the Royal Society; Fellow of the Society of Arts

Doctor William Hunter, here treated, is the son of John Hunter of Long Calderwoodd and his wife Agnes Paul. He was born at Long Calderwood in East Kilbride on 23 May 1718, MGU: 244 and his baptism was registered on 1 June 1718, at East Kilbride in Lanarkshire, Scotland. His mother is not mentioned in his baptismal record. [National Records of Scotland, East Kilbride Baptisms, 1688-1754, reference OPR.643/1]

Evidence from the National Records of Scotland

23 February 1774: Signature of the lands of Over Calderwood etc granted to Dr William Hunter. National Records of Scotland, Register of Signatures, boxed series, reference SIG1/88/40

Evidence from the Lanark Sasine Registers

                   1

3 September 1751 X 10 December 1760: Doctor William Hunter of Long Calderwood, surgeon, London. [National Records of Scotland, Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, reference RS42/XVI/49]

                   2

3 September 1751 X 10 December 1760: Doctor William Hunter of Long Calderwood, surgeon, London. [National Records of Scotland, Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, reference RS42/XVI/402]

                   3

5 January 1761 X 28 June 1766: Doctor William Hunter of Long Calderwood, surgeon, London. [National Records of Scotland, Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, reference RS42/XVII/263]

                   4

3 September 1751 X 10 December 1760: Doctor William Hunter of Long Calderwood, surgeon, London. [National Records of Scotland, Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, reference RS42/XVII/264]

                   5

7 October 1722 X 23 November 1778: Doctor William Hunter of Long Calderwood, surgeon, London. [National Records of Scotland, Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, reference RS41/XX/411]

                    6

7 October 1722 X 23 November 1778: Doctor William Hunter of Long Calderwood, surgeon, London. [National Records of Scotland, Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, reference RS42/XX/446]

                   7

2 December 1778 X 27 December 1780: Doctor William Hunter of Long Calderwood, surgeon, London. [National Records of Scotland, Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, reference RS42/XXI/92]

                   8

2 December 1778 X 27 December 1780: Doctor William Hunter of Long Calderwood, surgeon, London. [National Records of Scotland, Particular Register of Sasines for the Sheriffdom of Lanark, reference RS42/XXI/190]

Biographical Summary by William Innes Addison

GULIELMUS HUNTER F. Johan. Hunter inter Dominos de Lang Calderwood. Born at Long Calderwood, Lanarkshire, 23d May, 1718. M.D. 1750. Sometime Practitioner at Hamilton, in partnership with William Cullen, M.D. of 1740. Physician, Accoucheur, and Lecturer on Anatomy in London. Accoucheur to the British Lying-in Hospital. Professor of Anatomy to the Royal Academy of Arts. Physician Extraordinary to Queen Charlotte. Founder of the Hunterian Museum in the University of Glasgow. F.R.S. 1767. F.S.A. 1768. Died at London, 30th March, 1783. Brother of John Hunter, the celebrated Anatomist and Surgeon ; brother-in-law of 3584 ; uncle of 3404 and of Joanna Baillie, the poetess ; cousin of grandfather of 7350. See also 6145, 710. Matriculation Albums of the University of Glasgow, 1728-1858: No. 244 on p. 7

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

William Hunter FRS (23 May 1718 – 30 March 1783) was a Scottish anatomist and physician. He was a leading teacher of anatomy, and the outstanding obstetrician of his day. His guidance and training of his ultimately more famous brother, John Hunter, was also of great importance.

Early life and career

He was born at Long Calderwood – now a part of East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire – the elder brother of John Hunter. After studying divinity at the University of Glasgow, he went into medicine in 1737, studying under William Cullen.

Arriving in London, Hunter became resident pupil to William Smellie (1741–44) and he was trained in anatomy at St George's Hospital, London, specialising in obstetrics. He followed the example of Smellie in giving a private course on dissecting, operative procedures and bandaging, from 1746. His courtly manners and sensible judgement helped him to advance until he became the leading obstetric consultant of London. Unlike Smellie, he did not favour the use of forceps in delivery. Stephen Paget said of him:"He never married; he had no country house; he looks, in his portraits, a fastidious, fine gentleman; but he worked till he dropped and he lectured when he was dying."

To orthopaedic surgeons he is famous for his studies on bone and cartilage. In 1743 he published the paper On the structure and diseases of articulating cartilages – which is often cited – especially the following sentence: “If we consult the standard Chirurgical Writers from Hippocrates down to the present Age, we shall find, that an ulcerated Cartilage is universally allowed to be a very troublesome Disease; that it admits of a Cure with more Difficulty than carious Bone; and that, when destroyed, it is not recovered”.

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'William Hunter (anatomist)', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 December 2013, 19:45 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Hunter_(anatomist...> [accessed 23 January 2014]

Freemasons Project Note: WM, unnamed and unnumbered L. at Swan, Ludgate Street, London.

Other References

• Hogg, Bruce; Freemasons and the Royal Society ed 2; Library and Museum of Freemasonry; January 2012; page 64