Person    | Male  Born 18/11/1828  Died 7/10/1896

Dr John Langdon Haydon Down

Categories: Medicine

Doctor specialising in mental illnesses who classified what is now called Down's Syndrome in 1862. We think the family used 'Langdon Down' as their surname.

Born Cornwall. Aged 18, he came to London to work for a surgeon. He was interested in a connection between ethnicity and mental health, hence the initial term 'Mongoloid' for Down's syndrome. More recently the term has been found offensive both to those with the syndrome and their families, and to the Mongol people so the term Down's Syndrome is preferred.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Dr John Langdon Haydon Down

Commemorated ati

Dr John Langdon Down

We could not get close enough to take easily legible photographs and initiall...

Read More

Other Subjects

Col. Sir James Cantlie, KBE, MA, MB, FRCS, RAMC (T)

Col. Sir James Cantlie, KBE, MA, MB, FRCS, RAMC (T)

Sir James Cantlie was a British physician. He was a pioneer of first aid, which in 1875 was unknown. He was also influential in the study of tropical diseases and in the debates concerning degenera...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration, China/Hong Kong, Egypt, Scotland

1 memorial
First purpose built nurses' home in London

First purpose built nurses' home in London

The Henriette Raphael Building at Guy's Hospital.

Place, Community / Clubs, Medicine

1 memorial
Dr Owen Lankester

Dr Owen Lankester

Chairman of the East End Maternity Hospital, 1902 - 1933.  His obituary in Medical News 6 January 1934 tells us:  Born Alfred Owen Lankester, brother to (the later) Sir Ray Lankester.  Died at home...

Person, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
John Sewell

John Sewell

Surgeon of Lower Marsh Lambeth active in 1848.

Person, Medicine

1 memorial
Edward Gustave Slesinger, OBE, BSc, MS, FRCS

Edward Gustave Slesinger, OBE, BSc, MS, FRCS

Chairman of the Board of Guy's Hospital in 1964. Born London. Edward Gustave Slesinger was born on 17 March 1888, the son of Gustave Schlesinger (1852-1903) and Louise Agnes Schlesinger née Sueski...

Person, Armed Forces, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial