Thomas Reid | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1791 |
| Died | 21 August 1825 Pentonville, London |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation | Royal Navy surgeon |
Thomas Reid (1791–1825), was an Irish-born naval surgeon in the Royal Navy. Educated near Dungannon, County Tyrone, he joined the Navy in around 1811 and passed the examinations of the Royal College of Surgeons in London in 1813.
Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth.
A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the people aboard a naval ship at sea. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail.
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years War against the Kingdom of France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is known as the Senior Service.
On 10 January 1814 he was appointed as a naval surgeon. In the role as a surgeon superintendent he made two trips on prison ships, one in the convict ship Neptune carrying male prisoners departed 16 December 1817 [1] and arrived om 5 May 1818 at Sydney and on Morley, which departed London carrying female prisoners on 22 May 1820 and arrived on 29 August 1820 at Hobart with further travel to leave prisoners at Sydney.
Neptune was a merchant ship built at Whitby, England in 1810. She made two voyages transporting convicts from England to Australia before she was broken up in 1821.
Morley was a merchantman launched in 1811 at Deptford as a West Indiaman. In 1813 she was under contract to the Transport Board she captured an American vessel, which capture gave rise to an interesting court case. In early 1815 an American letter of marque captured, plundered, and released her. She then made six voyages to Australia transporting convicts. On her fifth voyage she introduced whooping-cough to Australia. After her sixth voyage she sailed to China and then brought a cargo back to England for the British East India Company (EIC). She continued to sail to Australia and elsewhere and is last listed in 1855.
Reid was a close associate [2] of the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry and it was at the suggestion of Fry that Reid had taken on the role of surgeon superintendent for these journeys. [3] It was to Fry that Reid dedicated his book, Two voyages to New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.
Elizabeth Fry was an English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Christian philanthropist. She has often been referred to as the "angel of prisons".
On his return to London he subsequently revisited Ireland on a long tour in 1822, the record of which he documented in a book, Travels in Ireland in the year 1822, exhibiting a brief sketches of the Moral, Physical and Political state of the Country published in London in 1823.
