William Small

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For the Glasgow MP, see William Small (Scottish politician)

He was born on 13th October 1734 in Carmyllie, Forfarshire (now Angus), Scotland, the son of a Presbyterian minister, The Revd James Small and his wife Lillias Scott. He attended Marischal College, Aberdeen and was awarded his M.D. in 1765. In 1758, he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, then one of Britain’s American colonies.

Small is known for being Thomas Jefferson's professor at William and Mary, and for having an influence on the young Jefferson. Recalling his years as a student, Thomas Jefferson described Small as:

a man profound in most of the useful branches of science, with a happy talent of communication, correct and gentlemanly manners, and a large and liberal mind... from his conversation I got my first views of the expansion of science and of the system of things in which we are placed.

In 1764 he returned to Britain, with a letter of introduction to Matthew Boulton from Benjamin Franklin. He established a medical practice in Birmingham, and shared a house with Dr. John Ash.

Between 1765 and 1775, Small was Boulton's doctor and became a close friend of Erasmus Darwin, Thomas Day, James Keir, James Watt, Anna Seward and others connected with the Lunar Society.

He helped to bring the Theatre Royal to Birmingham in 1774.

He died in Birmingham on 25th February 1775, and is buried in St. Philips Church Yard, Birmingham.