William Willis (physician)

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This article is about the physician. For other uses of this name, see William Willis.
Doctor William Willis, of the English Legation, managed the military hospital for the Satsuma forces during the Toba-Fushimi battle and throughout the Boshin war.
Doctor William Willis, of the English Legation, managed the military hospital for the Satsuma forces during the Toba-Fushimi battle and throughout the Boshin war.[1]

William Willis (1837–1894) was a British physician (medical doctor) who joined the British mission in Japan in 1861.

[edit] Biography

Willis treated the British nationals wounded in the Namamugi Incident and the Bombardment of Kagoshima.

Willis participated to the Boshin war as the head of medical operations for Satsuma domain During the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, he set a military hospital in the temple of Shōkokuji (相国寺[2]) in Kyoto, not far from the frontline. He continued to support the medical operations of the Satsuma side throughout the Boshin War.[3]

Willis was later appointed professor and clinical chief of the Igakko (later the faculty of medicine of Tokyo Imperial University.

In 1870, Willis resigned to become head of the hospital and medical school in Kagoshima at the invitation of Saigo Takamori. The institution later became the medical department of Kagoshima University. With the outbreak of the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877, he returned to Tokyo.

Willis returned to England in 1881, and later spent time with his great friend Ernest Satow in Bangkok.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Saigo Takamori and Okubo Toshimichi", p63
  2. ^ Shokokuji Temple
  3. ^ "Saigo Takamori and Okubo Tshimichi", p63. ISBN 4309760414)

[edit] See also