Person    | Male  Born 13/2/1728  Died 16/10/1793

John Hunter

Categories: Medicine

Countries: Scotland

Pioneer anatomist and surgeon. Born in East Kilbride, Scotland. He left school at the age of 13 and after an unremarkable childhood, journeyed south to London to work as a dissector for his brother William, a teacher of anatomy. He studied surgery at Chelsea and St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

He was a pupil and house surgeon at St George’s Hospital at Hyde Park Corner  from 1754 and in 1768 was appointed to the staff as a surgeon. He was a distinguished teacher and amongst his students was Edward Jenner.

His interest in surgery grew to such an extent that he formed a collection of 10,500 anatomical specimens, initially accommodated in his house in Leicester Square, now at the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1767 and has been called the founder of scientific surgery.

He collapsed and died at a meeting of St George’s Board of Governors at which he was involved in a heated discussion over the admission of students.

Londonist has mapped John Hunter's London, showing not just the memorials but all the important locations in his life. And the Library Time Machine has pictures and information about his house in Earl's Court.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
John Hunter

Commemorated ati

John Hunter bust - Tooting

This is a far better sculpture than our photo shows. Two versions of this bus...

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John Hunter - Gateway

{At the top of the gateway, below the bust:} John Hunter 1728 - 1793. Founded...

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John Hunter, Leicester Square

All four of the Leicester Square busts were removed in the 2010-12 redesign, ...

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John Hunter, Lincoln's Inn Fields

{The front of the stone plinth is inscribed:} Hunter {On a plaque attached ...

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John Hunter plaque

{On the main, round plaque:} LCC John Hunter, 1728 - 1793, surgeon, lived h...

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Other Subjects

Evelina Hospital for Sick Children

Evelina Hospital for Sick Children

The Evelina Children's Hospital was founded by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and named for his wife, who had died aged 27 with her child in labour in 1866. It was planned by Dr Arthur Farre in a pu...

Group, Children, Medicine

2 memorials
Royal Marsden Hospital

Royal Marsden Hospital

"Now gentlemen, I want to found a hospital for the treatment of cancer, and for the study of the disease, for at the present time we know absolutely nothing about it." - Dr William Marsden - 1851. ...

Group, Medicine

2 memorials
George Qvist

George Qvist

Surgeon to the Royal Free Hospital. Wrote a biography of fellow surgeon John Hunter. Married Dame Frances Violet Gardner (1913-1989), another medical consultant. AIM gives their impressive CVs. We'...

Person, Medicine

1 memorial
Dr John Waggett

Dr John Waggett

At Elsevier Ruth Richardson writes:"That year {1882}, Dr John Waggett MD FRCS (1818–1909) decided to donate funds sufficient to erect a drinking fountain on the crest of London’s Notting Hill. Dr W...

Person, Benefactor, Medicine

1 memorial
Sir Ronald Ross

Sir Ronald Ross

Born Almora, India. Died London, Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1902 "for his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism and thereby has laid the foundatio...

Person, Medicine, India

2 memorials