Gardner, John (1804-1880): Manuscript Notebook

Manuscript notebook entitled 'Autobiography' written by John Gardner, which covers the period July 1804 - October 1842, with typed transcript, and a framed coloured pencil drawing of Gardner.

John Gardner was a Nonconformist physician, born in Coggeshall, Essex in 1804. His medical training in London consisted of a five year apprenticeship from 1825, with hospital attendances at St George's Hospital and St James's Dispensary. After his training he practised medicine as a general practitioner in London and became a licentiate in 1829 of the Society of Apothecaries, London, and in 1860 of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. In 1844 Gardner played a part in forming the Royal College of Chemistry, later part of Imperial College London, and was it's Secretary until 1846. Gardner was a fellow of the Chemical Society and the Ethnological Society and had connections with the General Apothecaries' Company.

Gardner's main publications were The Great Physician: the Connexion of Diseases and Remedies with the Trusths of Revelation (1843), a translation and edited version of Familiar Letters on Chemistry by Jutus Liebig (1843), Household Medicine (1861, which reached thirteen editions by 1898, and Longevity: the Means of Prolonging Life after Middle Age (1874). He died in 1880.

For further biographical details see Gardner's DNB entry.