Byrom Bramwell

Sir Byrom Bramwell

"Melancholia" by Byrom Bramwell

’’Sporadic cretinism’’ by Byrom Bramwell

Sir Byrom Bramwell FRSE LLD (1847–1931) was an eminent British brain surgeon, medical author and artist. He was president of both the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians in London.

Life

He was born on 18 December 1847, in North Shields in northern England the son of Dr John Byrom Bramwell and Mary Young.^[1]

He was educated at Cheltenham College and then in 1865 travelled north to Scotland to study Medicine at Edinburgh University. Here he studied under the eminent anatomist, Sir John Goodsir, John Hughes Bennett, James Syme, and James Young Simpson, a truly luminary group of teachers, evidencing Edinburgh’s position in the forefront of medical education. A keen sportsman, Bramwell also captained Edinburgh University cricket team.^[2]

In 1869 he began the role of house surgeon under James Spence at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, but his father’s sudden illness caused him to return to North Shields to take up his role as the local GP. From this role, in 1874 he took over the role of surgeon and pathologist at Newcastle Royal Infirmary.

In 1879 he returned to Edinburgh to work as a surgeon, becoming a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1880. In 1885 he was living at 23 Drumsheugh Gardens, next door to Dr Kirk Duncanson.^[3] He became a lecturer in the extra-mural classes which included education of females as physicians (at that time banned from the main university), greatly helping to develop this field.^[4] He succeeded William Allan Jamieson as President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1910. He was knighted in 1924.

He died at his home, 10 Heriot Row in Edinburgh, on 27 April 1931 and was buried in Dean Cemetery close to his tutor Sir John Goodsir.

Publications

See^[5]

• ’’Diseases of the Spinal Cord’’ (1881)
• ’’Intracranial Tumours’’ (1888)
• ’’Atlas of Clinical Medicine’’ 3 vols (1892-6)
• ’’Lectures on Aphasia’’ (1897)
• ’’Anaemia and some Diseases of the Blood Forming Organs and Ductless Glands’’ (1899)

Positions Held

• President of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh 1910–1912
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1886)

Family

He married Martha Crighton (died 1919) in 1872. They had two daughters and three sons,^[6] J. Crighton Bramwell, a surgeon, Prof Edwin Bramwell FRSE (1873–1952), whose career closely followed that of his father, and Byrom Stanley Bramwell FRSE (1877–1948), who became an advocate.^[7]

References