Person Chisholm; Colin (1755 - 1825); surgeon and medical writer Chisholm Colin surgeon and medical writer 1755 - 1825 British Male Inverness, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe 1755 1755 Sloane Street, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe 1825 1825 Burial: St Luke's Church, Chelsea, London, England, United Kingdom, Europe (8 February 1825)

Physician; plantation and slave owner Medicine Education: King's College, Aberdeen (MD 1793) Career: Military surgeon to British forces in the American War of Independence; practiced medicine in Grenada (1783); published essays and papers on various subjects in the 'Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Review' (1786-1817); purchased a cotton plantation in Demerara (now part of Guyana) (1790); treatise on the causes and nature of disease (now recognised as Yellow Fever) in the West Indies, with observations on the island (1795); Surgeon General to HM Ordnance, Island of Grenada (1796-1798); attached to Ralph Abercromby's expedition of conquest in the Caribbean; spent five months in the Virgin Islands (1797); Inspector General of Hospitals, Grenada (1798-1800); retired to his estate in Demerara (1800-1803) which he later sold sometime after 1818; set up medical practice in Bristol Parents: William Chisholm and Janet Mackintosh Married: Elizabeth Cooper Children: William Henry Newton Chisholm, doctor for the East India Company. Chisholm wrote his account of a 'pestilential fever', now known as yellow fever, based on observations from Bolama, now in Guinea-Bissau, and identified the cause of the disease as contagion. This theory was considered contentious at the time and the debate around yellow fever continued into the 19th century. Chisholm is listed as the owner in 1818 of a plantation in Berbice, British Guiana [Guyana], which held a total of 114 enslaved people for labour. Fellow 24/11/1808 53 Submitted a couple of medical and anthropological papers for possible publication (1809) Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Wikipedia; UCL LBS; ODNB References: 'Colin Chisholm MD of Bristol', on Legacies of British Slave-ownership database [http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146633584; last accessed 16/12/2022] Curtin, P D. 1964. 'The Image of Africa: British Ideas and Action, 1780–1850. Vol.1.' (Univ of Wisconsin Press) International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 RCN: 33216 RCN: 33217 1755 - 1825 The past Fellows entries are under continuous revision. If you have queries or additional information to contribute, please contact Library@royalsociety.org. Content in external sources is not controlled by the Royal Society and historical sources may include content that is now unacceptable. Reviewed on 16/12/2022 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA3254 21/11/2001 Andyg pmab 23/01/2026 RS_NET\VidaM Yes http://viaf.org/viaf/71733673 5df07378-9586-4539-a20a-aa683c9fe111