Wikipedia

Thomas Michael Greenhow

Thomas Michael Greenhow MD MRCS FRCS (5 July 1792 – 25 October 1881) was an English surgeon and epidemiologist.

Greenhow in 1880

Career

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Greenhow studied at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals
 
Greenhow and Queen Victoria's anaesthetist, John Snow (above) undertook "dedicated research" on the cholera pandemics of the Victorian era[1]

Greenhow was the second son of Edward Martin Greenhow, an army surgeon from North Shields. He was a medical graduate of the University of Edinburgh and became MRCS (London) in 1814,[2][3][4] having been a surgery student at London's Guy's and St Thomas's Hospitals.[5][6]

Greenhow spent much of his working life in Newcastle. He and fellow surgeon Sir John Fife are recorded together in 1827 as being Eminent Persons of Newcastle and Gateshead.[7] Greenhow's surgical inventions were heralded by London surgeons in the 1830s.[8] Debrett's records that Greenhow was a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, having become, in 1843, one of the original 300 fellows.[9][10][11]

Greenhow worked in all areas of surgery and had a particular interest in obstetrics[12] and gynaecology; in 1845, he controversially published detailed accounts regarding his views on the gynaecological status of Harriet Martineau, who was both his patient and sister-in-law.[13][14]

Greenhow was a pioneer in the establishment of the Durham University and in 1855 was a lecturer at the Newcastle's Medical College, in connection with Durham University.[15] He and Sir John Fife founded what would become the Newcastle University College of Medicine.[16] The two men also founded Newcastle's Eye Infirmary.[17][18][19] Greenhow worked as the senior surgeon at the Newcastle Infirmary, later renamed the Royal Victoria Infirmary, for many years and was instrumental in its expansion in the 1850s. While working there, he trained John Snow.[20][21] Greenhow and Snow both advocated for the usage of chloroform when performing major surgery and undertook "dedicated research" to end the London cholera pandemic.[22] Greenhow's son, surgeon Henry Martineau Greenhow, reported in The Lancet his father's surgical success involving chloroform.[23]

Greenhow and his nephew, physician Edward Headlam Greenhow, undertook much research into medical hygiene and public health, publishing papers throughout the 1850s warning of further impending cholera pandemics.[24][25] The archives of King's College London hold an 1866 letter from E. H. Greenhow concerning the 1849 cholera breakout in Manchester, with which both men were greatly involved.[26][27][28][29] The Lancet records that at a meeting in 1855 of the Epidemiological Society of London, John Snow responded to a paper being read out by Edward Headlam Greenhow in which the research of his uncle, Thomas Michael Greenhow, concerning the 1831–32 cholera epidemic in Tynemouth was outlined.[30][31] On 6 May 1856, Thomas Greenhow delivered a lecture on this topic at his alma mater, St Thomas' Hospital, where Snow was working as an anaesthetist.[31][32] In October 1856, Edward Headlam Greenhow became Lecturer on Public Health at St Thomas'.[33][23][34]

Thomas Greenhow retired to Leeds in 1860, dying there on 25 October 1881 at Newton Hall.[17][35][10][36][37]

Family

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Greenhow's first wife was Elizabeth Martineau (1794–1850), who succumbed to tuberculosis after producing four children.[38] She was a daughter of Thomas Martineau and Elizabeth Rankin, of the prosperous, socially reformist Martineau family, mainly based in Birmingham. His wife's siblings included the religious philosopher James Martineau and the sociologist and political theorist Harriet Martineau.[39][40]

Greenhow's first child[38] and only daughter, Frances, was born in 1821. She married into the Lupton family of Leeds, wealthy wool manufacturers and Unitarians, a branch of English Dissenters. She worked to open up educational opportunities for women, and, more prominently, their access to universities.[19] Her eldest son's first daughter was Olive Christiana Middleton (née Lupton), the great-grandmother of Catherine, Princess of Wales.

Greenhow's first son and second child, Edward Meadows Greenhow, (1822–1840) died at the age of 18.[38] His second son, Henry Martineau Greenhow (1829–1912),[38] followed his father into medicine. He studied at University College London, and by 1854, he was a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.[41] He joined the Indian Medical Service spending his entire career in British India, and rising to surgeon major.[42][43]

Greenhow's third and youngest son, Judge William Thomas Greenhow (1831–1921)[38] received his Bachelor of Laws at Somerset House at King's College London in 1853.[44][45]

In 1854 at Leeds' Mill Hill Chapel, Greenhow married his second wife, Anne (1812–1905), daughter of William Lupton, the father-in-law of Greenhow's daughter Frances Lupton.[46][47]

References

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  1. ^ Tominey, Camilla (28 May 2020). "The Duchess of Cambridge's Ancestor Would Have Led The Fight Against Covid 19". Daily Telegraph. UK. PressReader. p. 25. Retrieved 28 June 2020. Based in Tynemouth, near Newcastle, Dr Greenhow, his nephew Dr EH Greenhow and Dr John Snow were founding members of the Royal Society of Medicine's Epidemiological Society in the 1850s, where emergency talks were held regarding the cholera pandemic...The dedicated research of [T.M. Greenhow] saw the London cholera epidemic end in 1854... Dr Snow was Dr Greenhow's former surgery apprentice and Queen Victoria's personal anaesthetist...
  2. ^ "Royal College of Surgeons - Plarr's Lives of the Fellows: Greenhow, Thomas Michael (1792 - 1881)". Royal College of Surgeons. 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2019. Titles/Qualifications:MRCS August 5th 1814
  3. ^ The Monthly Chronicle of... 1891. p. 251. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  4. ^ "Newcastle Medical Journal: The Journal of the Newcastle Upon Tyne and Northern Counties Medical Society, Volume 25". The Society. 1956. Retrieved 12 March 2019. Thomas Michael Greenhow (1792–1881) He was educated at Edinburgh University and became M.R.C.S. (London) in 1814
  5. ^ Knight, C. (1843). London, Volumes 5-6. C. Knight & Company. p. 376. Retrieved 26 March 2019. The importance of the great London Hospitals as schools of medicine is well known. ... From 1760 to 1825 the schools of surgery of St. Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals were united, and the fees paid by....
  6. ^ "Newcastle Medical Journal: The Journal of the Newcastle Upon Tyne and Northern Counties Medical Society, Volume 25". The Society. 1956. Retrieved 12 March 2019. Thomas Michael Greenhow (1792–1881) (Fig. 4) was born on 5th July, 1792, the son of Edward M. Greenhow, army surgeon, who had served under General Elliott during the siege of Gibraltar and who later practised at North Shields, Tynemouth. He was educated at Edinburgh University and became M.R.C.S. (London) in 1814, [...up until 1825....paid for training invariably at London's Borough Hospitals (The Borough hospitals of St Thomas's and Guy's cooperated for many years as the 'United Hospitals' - E. McInnes "St. Thomas' Hospital", 1963 - Page 86") combined with tuition at private establishments which was the practice for...]
  7. ^ Parson, W. (1827). "History, directory, and gazetteer of the counties of Durham and Northumberland". W. Parson. p. V. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  8. ^ "The Medical Quarterly Review". Oxford University. 1834. p. 153. Retrieved 12 March 2019. A dozen eminent London surgeons "have much pleasure in examining" the apparatus of Mr T. M. Greenhow M.R.C.S. London, 1833 pp22...
  9. ^ Mair, R. (1896). "Debrett's Illustrated House of Commons, and the Judicial Bench". Dean & son. Retrieved 12 March 2019. William Thomas Greenhow, son of the late T. M. Greenhow, Esq., M.D., F.R.C.S., of .....
  10. ^ a b "Thomas Michael Greenhow". The Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  11. ^ "The Durham University Journal, Volume 87". University of Durham. 1995. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  12. ^ "Royal College of Surgeons - Plarr's Lives of the Fellows: Greenhow, Thomas Michael (1792 - 1881)". Royal College of Surgeons. 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2019. ....was soon appointed Surgeon to the Lying-in Hospital, where he acquired much obstetrical experience.
  13. ^ Hoecker-Drysdale, Susan (1992). Harriet Martineau, first woman sociologist. Berg. p. 79. ISBN 9780854966455. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  14. ^ Easley, A. (29 April 2011). Literary Celebrity, Gender, and Victorian Authorship, 1850–1914. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 160. ISBN 9781611490169. Retrieved 6 February 2019. Martineau's brother-in-law and physician Thomas Greenhow published a pamphlet titled "Medical Report of the Case of Miss Harriet Martineau (1845) ....he publicized the details of her gynecological symptoms in grotesquely graphic terms...
  15. ^ "The Ecclesiastical gazette, or, Monthly register of the affairs of the Church of England". Oxford University. 1855. Retrieved 18 March 2018. Lecturer in Medical Ethics: Thomas Michael Greenhow – The Newcastle-Upon-Tyne College of Medicine in connexion with the University of Durham (November 13th, 1855)
  16. ^ "Thomas Michael Greenhow". Plarr's Lives of the Fellows. The Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2019. (Greenhow) was appointed Surgeon to the Lying-in Hospital, where he acquired much obstetrical experience.
  17. ^ a b "Newcastle Infirmary Time Line 1801–1849". Newcastle University. Retrieved 19 July 2013. 1832: Thomas Greenhow appointed honorary surgeon to the Infirmary. He had already been surgeon to the lying-in hospital, and in 1822 had established the Eye Infirmary with John Fife.
  18. ^ Bettany, G. T. (2004). "Fife, Sir John (1795–1871), surgeon and politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  19. ^ a b Gosden, Peter (2004). "Lupton [née Greenhow], Frances Elizabeth (1821–1892), educationist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  20. ^ Brody, H. (2003). Cholera, Chloroform, and the Science of Medicine: A Life of John Snow. Oxford University Press. p. 30. ISBN 9780195135442. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  21. ^ Vinten-Johansen, P. "Cholera, Chloroform, and the Science of Medicine : A Life of John Snow" (PDF). Retrieved 18 March 2017. (page 30) The senior surgeon was Thomas Michael Greenhow who was also the surgeon at the Lying-in-Hospital, where (John) Snow's .....
  22. ^ Tominey, Camilla (28 May 2020). "The Duchess of Cambridge's Ancestor Would Have Led The Fight Against Covid 19". Daily Telegraph. UK. PressReader. p. 25. Retrieved 28 June 2020. Based in Tynemouth, near Newcastle, Dr Greenhow, his nephew Dr EH Greenhow and Dr John Snow were founding members of the Royal Society of Medicine's Epidemiological Society in the 1850s, where emergency talks were held regarding the cholera pandemic...The dedicated research of [T.M. Greenhow] saw the London cholera epidemic end in 1854... Dr Snow was Dr Greenhow's former surgery apprentice and Queen Victoria's personal anaesthetist...
  23. ^ a b Greenhow, Henry Martineau (14 July 1849). "Case in Surgery, Having Been Placed Under The Influence Of Chloroform – The Lancet". J. Onwhyn. p. 29. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  24. ^ Greenhow, E.H. (1855). "Cholera in Tynemouth (1831–32) .....The London Lancet". Burgess, Stringer & Company. p. 438. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  25. ^ Greenhow, Thomas M. (1852). "Cholera from the east. A letter [paper] addressed to Mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne James Hodgson, etc". E. Charnley. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  26. ^ Brockington, F. (1965). "Public health in the nineteenth century". E. & S. Livingstone. p. 241. Retrieved 12 March 2018. ...After his (Edward Headlam Greenhow) early education in schools in North Shields he (E H. Greenhow) was apprenticed to his grandfather, Edward Martin Greenhow, ... his studies at Montpelier before joining his father's practice at Tynemouth in 1835; here he was to remain for 18 years....His interest in public health may have been acquired from his uncle, Thomas Michael Greenhow (1791–1881), with whom he had experience of cholera at its first visit to England in 1831
  27. ^ "Letter from E. Headlam Greenhow (1814–1888), Apr 1866 relating to a 1849 report on cholera – College Archives » The Collection –". King's College London. 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2018. Letters to Sir John Simon, from Joseph Henry Green, [1850]; and letter from E. Headlam Greenhow (1814–1888), Apr 1866 relating to a 1849 report on cholera...
  28. ^ "Thomas Michael Greenhow". Plarr's Lives of the Fellows. The Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2019. (Greenhow studied) at the University of Edinburgh....(Greenhow) worked assiduously during the cholera epidemic of 1832, and published his views on the disease at some length.
  29. ^ "Cholera Online, 1817 to 1900" "Disease Outbreaks" – History of the cholera in Manchester, in 1849: as reported to the Registrar ..... Author(s): Greenhow, T. M. (Thomas Michael), 1791–1881". U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 12 March 2017. History of the cholera in Manchester, in 1849: as reported to the Registrar ..... Author(s): Greenhow, T. M. (Thomas Michael), 1791–1881; Publication: ...
  30. ^ E. Headlam Greenhow (1855). "The London Lancet – Epidemiological Society, paper read by E. Headlam Greenhow on the cholera [epidemic] in Tynemouth (1831–32)..." Burgess, Stringer & Company. p. 438. Dr Snow said that the remarks of Dr Greenhow...
  31. ^ a b Hart, J. The National CV of Britain: A non-PC history of Britain. Edfu books. ISBN 9781905815616. Retrieved 19 March 2019. Anaeshesia – 1847 saw the full-time anaesthetist John Snow at St Thomas's Hospital
  32. ^ Smith, D. (15 May 2017). Water-Supply and Public Health Engineering. Routledge. ISBN 9781351873550. Retrieved 18 March 2018. St Thomas' Hospital in London was the first to establish a lectureship on Public Health ....The first appointment was Dr T. M. Greenhow who gave his first lecture on 6 May 1856....
  33. ^ "Association medical journal: 1856". Provincial Medical and Surgical Association. 1856. p. 918. Retrieved 18 March 2018. 25 October 1856 – GREENHOW Edward Headlam, lecturer on public health at St Thomas' Hospital
  34. ^ Greenhow, Thomas Michael (1849). "Dislocation of the Hip-Joint – Reduced under the Influence of Chloroform. T. M. Greenhow, September 1, 1849". Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal. 13 (21): 569. PMC 2488132.
  35. ^ "Newcastle Infirmary Time Line 1850–1888". Newcastle University. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  36. ^ Greenhow, Thomas Michael (21 April 1866). "Chloroform". The British Medical Journal. 1 (277): 427–429. JSTOR 25205580.
  37. ^ Greenhow, E.H. (1855). "Cholera in Tynemouth (1831–32) .....The London Lancet". Burgess, Stringer & Company. p. 438. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  38. ^ a b c d e "Elizabeth Greenhow (Martineau)". Geni.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  39. ^ "Thomas Michael Greenhow". The Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  40. ^ Reitwiesner, W. A. (April 2011). "Ancestry of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge". New England Historic Genealogical Society. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  41. ^ Moulds, A. (2018). "Henry Martineau Greenhow (1829–1912)". Victorian Periodicals and Scientists. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  42. ^ Thomas, W. (1859). "The Court Journal and Fashionable Gazette". William Thomas. pp. 262–263. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  43. ^ Entry in Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online, a biographical register of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, written by its librarian Victor Plarr (1863–1929), and hosted by the College [1]
  44. ^ Cassell, J. (1853). "The Popular Educator, Volume 3". John Cassell. p. 116. Retrieved 13 March 2017. On the 4th May, 1853, the ceremony took place in the large hall of King's College, Somerset House...
  45. ^ Mair, R. (1896). "Debrett's Illustrated House of Commons, and the Judicial Bench". Dean & son. p. 354. Retrieved 14 March 2018. HIS HONOUR JUDGE GREENHOW. William Thomas Greenhow, son of the late T. M. Greenhow, Esq., M.D., F.R.C.S., of Chapel Allerton, Leeds, and formerly .......His Honour Judge (W.T.) Greenhow....
  46. ^ "Weddings...At Mill Hill Chapel, Thomas Michael Greenhow, Esq., of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to Anne, 2nd daughter of the late Wm. Lupton, Esq., of Leeds". Leeds Intelligencer Yorkshire, England. 3 June 1854. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  47. ^ British Medical Journal, Volume 2. British Medical Association. 1881. p. 799. Retrieved 1 February 2019.

Further reading

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  • http://www.wargs.com/other/middleton.html
  • "We Are Amused". Northumberland & Durham Family History Society Journal. Summer 2019. pp. 82–85. Retrieved 28 June 2020. Northumberland & Durham Family History Society Journal - Summer 2019 Volume 44, Number 2, pages 82–85, Author - REED, Michael - "We Are Amused: How a breakthrough in medical research by the Duchess of Cambridge's Newcastle ancestors was personally appreciated by Queen Victoria"
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