Record

Authorised form of nameCheselden; William (1688 - 1752)
Dates1688 - 1752
NationalityBritish
Place of birthBurrough, in Somerby parish, Leicestershire, England
Date of birth19 October 1688
Place of deathBath, Somerset
Date of death10 April 1752
DatesAndPlacesBurial:
The grounds of Chelsea hospital
OccupationSurgeon
ActivityEducation:
Apprenticed to Mr Wilkes of Leicester, later to William Cowper of London (1703) and Mr Ferne, surgeon to St Thomas's Hospital
Career:
Lecturer on Anatomy (1711); Surgeon in Colonel Pocock's Regiment (1717); Assistant Surgeon (1718), then Principal Surgeon (1719-1738), St Thomas's Hospital, London; Surgeon (1724-1733), then Consulting Surgeon (1733-1739), Westminster Hospital; devised new operations for the stone (one of which he performed in 54 seconds) and for cataract; the most celebrated surgeon and anatomist in England, many foreign doctors came to see him operate; John Douglas (FRS 1720) accused him unjustly of plagiarism in his 'Treatise on the high operation for the stone'; attended Sir Isaac Newton (FRS 1672) on his deathbed; Surgeon to Queen Caroline (1727); Surgeon (1733-1737), then Consulting Surgeon (1737), St George's Hospital, London; Surgeon, Chelsea Hospital (1737)
Memberships:
Company of Barber-Surgeons; Academie Royale des Sciences (Corresponding, 1729); Royal Academy of Surgery, Paris (first foreign associate)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election30/11/1711
RelationshipsSon of George Cheselden and his wife, Deborah, daughter of Major William Hubbert of Rearsby, Lincolnshire; married Deborah Knight of London
SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Hirsch; Dalton George I; Thomas
References:
John H Appleby, 'Human Curiosities and the Royal Society, 1699-1751' in NR 1996 vol 50 pp 13-27
Obituary, Gentleman's Magazine (1732), p.192.
P Fontes da Costa, 'The Culture of Curiosity at The Royal Society in the first half of the eighteenth century', NR 2002 vo l56 pp 147-166
Notes:
Proposed by Henry Plumptre
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/40161749
CodeNA6580
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
EL/F2/47John Ferguson to William Cheselden18 February 1734
IM/000825Cheselden, Williamnd
IM/000827Cheselden, Williamnd
LBO/23/58Copy letter from John Cagua to William Cheselden
CLP/23i/41Paper, 'Case of Master and Miss Eyles' by Mr [William] Cheselden1725
L&P/1/446Paper, 'Stones, 214 in all, found in the bladder' by William Cheselden1745
CLP/12ii/4Paper, 'Case of a fracture in the scull [sic]' by William Cheselden[1721]
DM/5/100A list of benefactors to the Library, to the value of £5 or upwards at one time c.1737
CLP/22ii/61Paper, Account of William Cheselden's 'Osteographia or Anatomy of the bones' by John Belchier 1733
CLP/12i/72List, anatomical observations by WC [William Cheselden][1710s]
EL/B2/115Letter, from John Burroughs to Mr Chiselden, dated at Bristol19 February 1725
CLP/12i/71Paper, 'Description of the stones on the aorta' by Will [William] Cheselden[1712]
CLP/12i/71/1Manuscript, 'Description of the stones on the aorta' by Will [William] Cheselden[1712]
CLP/12i/71/2Plate, diseased double spleens by unknown artist[1712]
CLP/12i/71/3Plate, aorta, cerebral falx, and bone between ventricles of heart by unknown artist[1712]
L&P/1/445Paper, 'Of a case of lateral cutting for the stone' by William Cheselden1745
EL/M2/60Letter, from Alexander Munro to William Cheselden, dated at EdinburghMarch 1726
EL/R1/56Letter, from Richard Russell to Mr [William] Cheselden21 October 1712
RBO/13/95'An Account of some Observations made by a young Gentleman who was born blind, or lost his Sight so early that he had no remembrance of ever having seen and was couched between 13 and 14 years of Age' by William Cheselden, surgeon to her majesty1728
EL/M2/59Letter, from Alexander Munro to William Cheselden, dated at Edinburgh28 May 1723
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