Aurora borealis academica : Aberdeen University appreciations, 1860-1889.

Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Aurora borealis academica : Aberdeen University appreciations, 1860-1889. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    him the credit of having first called attention to the privileges of which the students were being deprived, and to the necessity for reform. The career of this remarkable man shows how much can be done by the energy of an individual. Born at Montrose in January, 1777, he studied medicine at Aberdeen, at Edinburgh, and in London, and became a Member of the College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, in 1796, and a Doctor of Medicine of Marischal College in 1799. He was appointed assistant surgeon in the marine service of the East India Company, and in India he was able to render important services through his knowledge of chemistry and medicine. He subsequently obtained civil employment, and was publicly thanked by Lord Lake for the efficiency of his services. He returned to England in 1808, and was first returned to Parliament for Weymouth in 1812, next for the Aberdeen Burghs in 1818, during which time he joined the great reforming party in the North of Scotland, and remained one of the most useful in- dependent members of the legislature until his death in 1854. He had been elected member for his native city of Montrose in 1842, and continued to represent it until his death. It is interesting to note that after his term of office in the rectorship, the reforms that he advocated were allowed to lapse, and he wrote from London “ deeply concerned that