This is a list of presidents of the Hunterian Society, founded in London in 1819 in honour of the surgeon and anatomist John Hunter. Between 1940 and 1945 there was no president. Several were based at St Thomas' Hospital, Guy's Hospital, and the London Hospital. Thirty-six of the society's first 48 presidents delivered the Hunterian Society Oration.
1819 - 1840 Portrait Name TermOration/notesBase 1 Sir William Blizard – Founding memberFowler, pp. 3-5Having been a pupil of Hunter, he suggested the title of the "Hunterian Society" rather than the initially proposed "London and Medical Physical"Fotherby, pp.24-28Elected president for three consecutive yearsLondon Hospital 2 Benjamin Robinson (d. 1828)– During his presidency, the annual dinner was established, combined with the annual report and oration.Formerly, he had been the society's first treasurer.In the year before becoming president, he noted that percussion of the chest could be used to detect diseases of the lung.Fotherby, pp.29-33Died a fortnight after he delivered the Hunterian oration in 1828. London Hospital 3 William Babington – Founding member.Elected president for three consecutive yearsGuy's Hospital 4 Sir Benjamin Travers – Simultaneously served as president of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, and delivered the society's Hunterian oration 1837.St Thomas' Hospital 5 Archibald Billing– Joined the Society in 1822."An essay on auscultation of the heart" (1932)London Hospital 6 Thomas Callaway – A former apprentice to Astley Cooper, Callaway delivered the society's oration to a large audience including Sir Robert Peel, nine days after Coopers death.Guy's Hospital 7 Charles Aston Key– Key had shared his knowledge of a disorder of heart valves with his colleague Thomas Hodgkin, who subsequently gave the first accurate description of what became known as aortic insufficiency; In 1827 and 1829, Hodgkin read out his letters to the Society on what he called "retroversion of the valves of the aorta".Fotherby, pp.65-67Guy's Hospital 8 Benjamin Guy Babington– The son of William Babington, a former Hunterian Society president, he served in the Indian Civil Service prior to returning to England to study medicine.26 years before Manuel García, Babington described to the society a mirror to inspect the throat.Guy's Hospital 9 Bransby Blake Cooper –Nephew of Astley Cooper.Guy's Hospital10 John Whiting(d. 1863)– Fotherby p.3311 John Scott –
1841 - 1851 Portrait Name TermOration/notesBase12 William Cooke –Having co-founded the society, he retained position as its secretary for 20 years. St Bartholomew's Hospital13 James Luke –Joined the society in 1827Upon the death of William Blizard, was appointed a principal surgeon at the London Hospital.London Hospital 14 Richard Bright – 15 Years before elected president, he had address the society on the topic of puerperal inflammation.15 Gilbert Wakefield Macmurdo– 16 Francis Henry Ramsbotham – 17 Edward Cock – 18 Henry Marshall Hughes– Studied under Astley Cooper, Richard Bright, and Thomas Addison, and later took over as full physician upon Babington's retirement.Guy's Hospital
1851 - 1863 Portrait Name TermOration/notesBase 19 John Adams – At the society's centenary in 1919, he was awarded a silver medal for his work on congenital syphilis. 20 Henry Greenwood – 21 John Hilton – 22 John Charles Weaver Leve – 23 Thomas Blizard Curling –In 1848 he had addressed the society with "The Advantages of Ether and Chloroform in Operative Surgery", he argued that surgical pain was unequivocally "an evil" dismissing the idea that endurance of suffering reflected moral courage, and that examples of those who perversely relished suffering demonstrated that pain itself possessed no moral virtue. 24 George Hilary Barlow – 25 Samuel Solly – 26 William James Little – 27 D. Henry Walne – 28 Sir James Risdon Bennett – 29 George Critchett –
1863 - 1872
Portrait Name TermOration/notesBase30 Thomas Mee Dalby – 31 Alfred Smee – 32 Stephen Henry Ward – 33 John Jackson – 34 Thomas Bevill Peacock – 35 Jonathan Hutchinson – 36 Dennis De Berdt Hovell –"The power above matter"
1872 - 1895 Portrait Name TermOration/notesBase37 Herbert Davies – 38 Thomas Bryant – 39 Robert Barnes– 40 William Sedwick Saunders – 41 Henry Isaac Fotherby– Joined the Society in 1854, became its secretary in 1857, and delivered the oration in 1969 on "The Rise, Progress, and Influence of the Society". Treasurer between 1872-1887.42 Arthur Edward Durham– 43 Sir Thomas Boor Crosby – 44 John Braxton Hicks – 45 John Couper – 46 Peter Lodwick Burchill – 47 John Hughlings Jackson – 48 Walter Rivington – Related to Sir William Blizard, Rivington had also previously delivered the society's oration. 49 Philip Pye-Smith – 50 Francis Mead Corner – 51 Henry Gervis – 52 Richard Clement Lucas – 53 Stephen Mackenzie – 54 Frederick Gordon Brown – 55 Charters James Symonds –
1896 - 1908
Portrait Name TermOration/notesBase56 George Ernest Herman – 57 John Sell Edmund Cotman – 58 James Dundas-Grant – 59 Alfred Lewis Galabin – 60 Stephen Herbert Appleford – 61 Frederick John Smith – 62 John Poland – 63 Francis Rowland Humphris–
1908 - 1915
Portrait Name TermOration/notesBase64 Arthur Templer Davies – 65 Thomas Horrocks Openshaw – 66 John Adams – 67 Richard Hingston Fox – 68 Alfred Herbert Tubby – 69 William J. McCulloch Ettles – 70 Thomas Glover Lyon –
1915 - 1930
Portrait Name TermOration/notesBase71 William Henry Kelson – 72 A.S. Currie – 73 Hugh Lett – 74 W. Langdon Brown– 75 A.C. Jordan 1– 76 Russell Howard – 77 R. Fortescue Fox– 78 Sir Bruce Bruce-Porter – 79 H.W. Carson – 80 F. Howard Humphris – 81 Albert Edward Mortimer Woolf – 82 Arthur Westerman – Joined the society in 1909. St Bartholomew's Hospital83 Ernest Young –
1931 - 1940
Portrait Name TermOration/notesBase84 A.W. Sheen – 85 David Ross – 86 Nathan Raw – 87 W.E. Tanner – 88 W. H. F. Oxley – 89 W. Brander – 90 H. L. Attwater – 91 D.C. Norris – 92 Andrew McAllister – 93 John Eyre –
1945 - 1960
94 Albert Edward Mortimer Woolf –95 J. Basil Cook – 96 Alexander Ernest Roche – 97 G.R. Mather Cordiner – "The role of radiology in the peptic ulcer problem"98 W. Thompson Brown– 99 Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt – 100 Basil T. Parsons-Smith – 101 William Heneage Ogilvie – 102 W.S.C. Copeman – 103 A. Dickson Wright – 104 Cecil D. Coyle – 105 John Ainsworth-Davis – 106 Francis Leslie – 107 Alec W. Badenoch –
1960 - 1970
108 Gordon B. Mitchell-Heggs – 109 Sir Cecil Wakeley –110 John Henderson Hunt – 111 A. Lawrence Abel – 112 W. Gordon Sears – 113 N. Asherson – 114 George Qvist – 115 Clement C. Chesterman – 116 Sir Eric Riches – 117 C.W. Kesson –
1970 - 1985
118 Reginald S. Murley – 119 Fred Wrigley – Introduced to the society by William Copeman, his presidential address was title "Mankind is Man" (146th session)120 Thomas Vangh Lee Crichow (1901-1988) – 121 Oliver Garrod – "Hibernation of mammals"122 Kenneth Owen – 123 Kenneth Heathfield – 124 Henry Thompson – 125 A. Kingsley Brown – 126 Douglas Langton Woolf – 127 David Morris – 128 G.W.E. Little – 129 David T.D. Hughes – 130 N.F.E. Burrows – 131 W.J.C. Currie –
1985 - 2000
132 Anne M. Jepson – 133 Georges Jantet – 134 C.H. Flood – 135 David W. Findlay– 136 Elliot Philipp – 137 Christopher Wastell– A member of the Hunterian Society, he delivered the society’s oration in 1988 on "John Hunter-a man of his time". Two years later he became its president and delivered his address, "Pedagogues and surgeons", in which he posed the question "are professors of surgery necessary?"138 Basil Helal – 139 A.E. Fyfe – 140 Derek W. Zutshi – 141 Michael Dulake – 142 R.M. Kirk – 143 Ravi Kunzru – 144 Sir Montague Levine – 145 Jeffrey Rosenberg – 146 Brian Owen-Smith –
2000 - 2015 Portrait Name TermOration/notes147 Barbara Ansell – 148 James P.S. Thomson – 149 Michael Laurence– 150 Brian Gibberd – 151 Harvey White – 152 John Maynard – 153 Stephen Challacombe – 154 Neil Weir – 155 Richard Cory-Pearce – 156 Nicholas Cambridge – 157 Ian Stephen – 158 Prokar Dasgupta – 159 Sue Weir–
2015 - 2026 Portrait Name TermOration/notes160 Nigel Thomas – 161 John Skipper – 162 Stephen Challacombe – 163 Susan Standring – 164 Richard Pusey– 165 Mike Gleeson –166 John Tricker – 167 Cathy Corbishley – 168 Roger Kirby 2026-
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