English Names
William Hunter
Date, City, and Country of Birth
May 23, 1718, Calderwood, East Kilbride
Date and City of Death
March 30, 1783, London
History of Life
When a family has two siblings which decide to enter the medical profession, it can often be the case that they compete and that one can overshadow the other. On the surface, the same situation appears to have faced the Hunter brothers, William and his probably more famous brother John. However, although there is a museum named after John and his collection, and a popular book The Knife Man also written about him, his older brother also has significant achievements and contributions to medicine and pathology that are deserving of recognition.
In 1718, William Hunter was born at Long Calderwood Farm near Glasgow. He was the son of John and Agnes Hunter and was one of nine children. He originally opted for a religious occupation and studied divinity at the University of Glasgow. However, in 1737 he rethought his career plans...
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References and Further Reading
Buchanan, W. W. (2003). William Hunter (1718-1783). Rheumatology, 42, 1260–1261.
Dunn, P. M. (1999). Dr William Hunter (1718–83) and the gravid uterus. Archives of Disease in Childhood. Fetal and Neonatal Edition, 80, F76–F77.
https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums-and-archives/hunterian-museum/about-us/william-hunter/
Hunter, W. (1774). The anatomy of the gravid uterus. Birmingham: Baskerville.
Hunter, W. (1794). In M. Baillie (Ed.), An anatomical description of the human gravid uterus and its contents. London: Johnson.
Moore, W. K. (2005). The knife man: Blood, body-snatching and the birth of modern surgery. London: Bantam.
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Clarke, M.T. (2016). Hunter, William (1718–1783). In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_3900-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_3900-1
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