William Borthwick of Pilmuir (1641-1689) was a Scottish surgeon who, having studied at Leiden and Padua, was the first to bring an international perspective to the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He served as Deacon (President) of the Incorporation from 1675-1677 and again from 1681-1683.
William Borthwick was surgical apprentice to James Borthwick, who would later become his father-in-law. [1] On 15 November 1665, he was elected a Freeman or Fellow of the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh. [1] He went on to study at Padua in 1666 and then at the University of Leyden, where at the age of 26 he matriculated in September 1667. [2]
On 16 June 1679, Borthwick was commissioned as "Chirurgeon Major of His Majesty's Forces in Scotland" and he was listed as surgeon to the 21st Regiment of Foot (Royal Scots Fusiliers) in 1682. [3]
Borthwick was Deacon (President) of the Incorporation from 1675 to 1677 and again from 1681 to 1683. [4] In 1677, he was appointed with Robert Sibbald, Andrew Balfour and Archibald Stevenson, (all of whom were to be made Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh when it was founded in 1681), to be ‘visitors’ of the ‘phisicall gardin’. [5] This garden for medicinal herbs was in land, which belonged to the Trinity Hospital. The site of this garden can be found by platform 11 in Edinburgh Waverley Station, where there is a commemorative plaque. The garden was looked after by James Sutherland, later Professor of Botany at the University. In 1687, John Monro was ‘booked as servant in order to be prenticed’ to William Borthwick, the first connection the Monro family had with surgery. [1]
Borthwick owned the Pilmuir estate in East Lothian. His country home, Pilmuir House, was built in 1627. Some 300 years later it was bought by Sir Henry Wade who left it in Trust to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. In addition to his property at Pilmuir, Borthwick owned a stone house in Edinburgh which had a dining room, "four bedchambers a dark closet and a kitchen", which had cost 6600 merks Scots (£330 sterling).
After finishing his apprenticeship he married Marionn Brothwick, eldest daughter of his surgical master, on 12 June 1666 at Edinburgh. Their daughter Margaret married John Campbell of Knockreoch who was to become Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh on three occasions - in 1715, 1719 and 1723. William Borthwick married on two subsequent occasions, Marjory Steuart, daughter of Harie Steuart, brother of Sir Thomas Steuart of Grantully and lastly Eupheme Young.
Borthwick was the first Edinburgh surgeon to bring an international perspective to the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Having studied at Padua and Leyden, he encouraged one of his apprentices, John Monro to study in Leyden. Monro returned to Scotland, inspired and determined to set up a medical school in Edinburgh based on the Leiden model.
Alexander Monro tertius of Craiglockhart, FRSE FRCPE FSA (Scot) MWS, was a Scottish anatomist and medical educator at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. According to his detractors, Monro was an uninspired anatomist who did not compare with his brilliant father or grandfather as a teacher or scientist. His students included Charles Darwin who asserted that Monro "made his lectures on human anatomy as dull as he was himself."
Alexander Monroprimus was a Scottish surgeon and anatomist. His father, the surgeon John Monro, had been a prime mover in the foundation of the Edinburgh Medical School and had arranged Alexander's education in the hope that his son might become the first Professor of Anatomy in the new university medical school. After medical studies in Edinburgh, London, Paris and Leiden, Alexander Monro returned to Edinburgh, and pursued a career as a surgeon and anatomy teacher. With the support of his father and the patronage of the Edinburgh Lord Provost George Drummond, Alexander Monro was appointed foundation Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh. His lectures, delivered in English, rather than the conventional Latin, proved popular with students and his qualities as a teacher contributed to the success and reputation of the Edinburgh medical school. He is known as Alexander Monro primus to distinguish him from his son Alexander Monro secundus and his grandson Alexander Monro tertius, who both followed him in the chair of anatomy. These three Monros between them held the Edinburgh University Chair of Anatomy for 126 years.
John Monro of Bearcrofts (1670-1740) was a Scottish surgeon who was the progenitor of the Monro dynasty of anatomists in Edinburgh. He is credited with conceiving and playing a major role in founding the University of Edinburgh Medical School. He served as Deacon (President) of the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
Sir Robert Lauder of Beilmouth, Knt., was an armiger, lawyer and Clerk of Exchequer in Scotland. In 1683 he was made a Justice of the Peace for Haddingtonshire. As Robert Lauder of Belhaven he was in the old Scottish parliament for Haddington in 1685, and, as Sir Robert Lauder of Beilmouth, in 1704. He was also Commissioner of Supply for Haddington in 1689 and 1690.
Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a number of notable Edinburgh residents are interred at Greyfriars. The Kirkyard is operated by City of Edinburgh Council in liaison with a charitable trust, which is linked to but separate from the church. The Kirkyard and its monuments are protected as a category A listed building.
The Munros of Auchinbowie are a distinguished branch of the Scottish, highland Clan Munro. From this family three Professors of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland were produced, as well as several other doctors and military officers.
John Lauder (1683–1737) was a Scottish surgeon, who was Deacon (President) of the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh for four separate terms of office. His portrait c.1700 by the artist William Aikman (painter) is on display at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
James Rae (1716–1791) was a Scottish surgeon, known as the earliest lecturer on surgery in Edinburgh and with a particular reputation as a dental surgeon.
Gilbert Primrose was a Scottish surgeon who became Surgeon to King James VI of Scots and moved with the court to London as Serjeant-Surgeon to King James VI and I on the Union of the Crowns. He was Deacon of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh on three occasions.
James Russell FRSE RSA (1754–1836) was a Scottish surgeon who was the first professor of clinical surgery at the University of Edinburgh. He was president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and was a co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 1805 he published one of the earliest descriptions of direct inguinal hernia. His collection of anatomical specimens was donated to the Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh and is now known as the James Russell Collection.
Christopher Irvine of Bonshaw was a Scottish physician and surgeon who was the first medically qualified member of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh. A prolific author, he became historiographer to King Charles II and to King James II and VII.
James Borthwick of Stow (1615-1675) was a Scottish surgeon who was the first teacher of anatomy in the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh. He was Deacon (President) of the Incorporation on two occasions and a member of the Scottish Parliament. Borthwick was largely responsible for the formal creation of the surgeon-apothecary in Edinburgh.
John Naysmith was a Scottish surgeon who became surgeon to King James VI of Scotland and was appointed Royal Herbalist in London when the monarch became King James VI and I at the Union of the Crowns. He was Deacon (President) of the Incorporation of Surgeons and Barbers of Edinburgh.
Gideon Eliot (1664-1713) of North Sintoun in Roxburghshire was an Edinburgh surgeon. He served as surgeons to the 26th Regiment of Foot. He was elected Deacon (President) of the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh on two occasions.
The Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh are the trade and craft bodies of the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, in much the same way as the Livery companies are in The City of London, but on a much smaller scale. The Incorporations are not "guilds", that term being properly reserved in Scotland for the merchant bodies in the various burghs. The Incorporations have never referred to themselves as guilds; indeed they came into existence, mostly in the latter part of the fifteenth century, in order to counter the growing power of the merchant guild, known as the Royal Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh. By 1562 the Incorporations formed what became known as The Convenery of Trades of Edinburgh, an umbrella body that still exists and which looks after the interests of all the Incorporated Trades of the burgh. The Convenery consists, in the narrow sense of the word, of the Deacons of each of the Incorporations, plus the two Trades Councillors. In the broad sense of the word, however, the term "Convenery of Trades" embraces all the Freemen of all the Incorporated Trades of the Burgh, together with their journeymen and apprentices, in a convivial fellowship of mutual support.
Alexander Monteith of Auldcathie (1660-1713) was an Edinburgh surgeon, who in his three terms as Deacon (President) of the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh, presided over some of the most important changes in its history. These included obtaining the rights to perform anatomical dissection on the bodies of prisoners dying in jail, the granting of a Royal Charter by William and Mary in 1695, and the construction of the original Surgeons' Hall, the first permanent home of the Edinburgh Surgeons.
Adam Drummond of Binend (1679-1758) was a Scottish surgeon-apothecary who was appointed, jointly, as the first Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh.
Sir William Binning of Wallyford (1637–1711) was a 17th-century Scottish landowner who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1675 to 1677.
George Lauder, was an Edinburgh surgeon who was deacon (president) of the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1744. During the Jacobite rising of 1745-46 he cared for the wounded after the Battle of Prestonpans, acted as surgeon with the Jacobite army on its march into England and retreat to Scotland, where he cared for wounded after the Battle of Falkirk.