Andrew Halliday (physician)

Sir
Andrew Halliday
K.B.E., M.D.

A black & white photograph from a oil portrait of Sir Andrew Halliday, from Wellcome Library, London

Source: Wellcome Library, London
Born 17 March 1782
Copewood, parish of Dryfesdale, Dumfries, Scotland
Died 7 September 1839 (aged 57)
Dumfries, Scotland
Resting place
 Saint Michael's, Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, UK[1]
Nationality Scottish
Other names Andrew Hallidie
Alma mater University of Edinburgh
Occupation physician
Years active 1806-1837
Known for Royal physician to William IV and Queen Victoria, military surgeon, author, reformer
Notable work Annals of the house of Hanover; A General View of the Present State of Lunatics, and Lunatic Asylums; The West Indies: the Nature and Physical History of the Windward and Leeward Colonies
Title Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE)
Religion Presbyterian
Spouse(s) Helen Carmichael[2]
Parent(s) Thomas Halliday, esq. and Margaret Porteous[2]
Relatives Andrew Smith Hallidie, nephew

Sir Andrew Halliday (also spelt Hallidie; 17 March 1782, in Copewood, parish of Dryfesdale, Dumfries – 7 September 1839, in Dumfries) was a Scottish physician, reformer, and writer.[3][4][5]

Biography

When he was nine years old, Halliday had to earn his own living by tending cattle due to financial problems of his father. He later advanced himself by qualifying as a schoolteacher.[3] Halliday subsequently entered the University of Edinburgh and started training for the Presbyterian ministry, but switched to medicine, his preference. He graduated with an MD on 24 June 1806 with a thesis entitled De pneumatosi that he later published as a book. After travelling in Russia, he set up in practice at Halesowen, Shropshire.[6]

In 1807, he became a surgeon in the 13th Light Dragoons.[3] Whilst in the British Army, Halliday served in the Napoleonic Wars in Portugal, Spain, and the West Indies, at the Siege of Bergen op Zoom (1814) and the Battle of Waterloo.[6][7][8]

He was later the domestic physician to the Duke of Clarence (who became William IV), and traveled on the continent with him. In 1817, he was made a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and, in 1819, of the Royal College of Physicians, London. He was knighted by George IV in 1821. In August 1827 he was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.[6] In 1829, he helpd to establish King's College London.[3] He also served as the majesty's justice of the peace for the county of Middlesex.[2]

He was appointed Deputy Inspector-General of hospitals in the West Indies in 1832, but returned to his native Dumfries in 1837 because of ill health.[3] He died at Huntingdon Lodge in Dumfries on 7 September 1839.[6]

Halliday was the first physician to the Seamen's Hospital Society,[8] which was established in 1821 with the purpose of helping people currently or previously employed in the Merchant Navy or fishing fleets. Halliday was the royal physician to William IV[8] and to Queen Victoria.[9] Before and after his military service he publicized the deplorable state of British and Irish insane asylums.[4] He wrote Annals of the house of Hanover and The West Indies: the Nature and Physical History of the Windward and Leeward Colonies, published in 1826 and 1837, respectively.[4][5]

His nephew, Andrew Smith Hallidie, promoted the Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco, the world's first practical cable car system.[9]

Bibliography

Halliday also contributed obituaries to The Gentleman's Magazine.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Rumsby, John H (2011-05-14). "Memorial to Sir Andrew Halliday, Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals". ludos.leeds.ac.uk. Leeds, UK: University of Leeds. Retrieved 2014-02-20. gravestone of Sir Andrew Halliday KH, Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Burke, John (1835). "Hallidays, of Scotland". A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank, but uninvested with heritable honours 2. London, UK: Henry Colburn. p. 133. OCLC 10968098 and 851706868. Retrieved 2014-03-01. For a CD-ROM edition, see History of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. Chilmark: S&N. 2007. ISBN 9781847271747. OCLC 153551949.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Rogers, Charles (1871). Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland 1. London, UK: C. Griffin for the Grampian Club. pp. 287–288. OCLC 681882749. Archived from the original on 2007-09-13. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 ."Halliday". The Scottish Nation. Muskegon, MI, USA + Chatham, Ontario, Canada: Electric Scotland USA LLC. 6 May 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Houston, Robert A. (Winter 2006). "Poor Relief and the Dangerous and Criminal Insane in Scotland, c. 1740-1840". Journal of Social History (Fairfax, VA, USA: George Mason University) 40 (2): 453–476. doi:10.1353/jsh.2007.0017. Also available at R. A. Houston. "Poor Relief and the Dangerous and Criminal Insane in Scotland, c. 1740-1840". Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Moore, Norman. "Halliday, Andrew (1781-1839) (DNB00)" 24. pp. 110–111. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  7. ↑ Munk, William (1878). The roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London: comprising biographical sketches of all the eminent physicians whose names are recorded in the Annals 3 (2d ed., rev. and enl. ed.). London, UK: Royal College of Physicians of London. pp. 211–212. OCLC 681752020. Retrieved 2014-03-01.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Cook, GC (Aug 2004). "Andrew Halliday, Kt FRCPE (1781-1839): service in the Napoleonic Wars and West Indies, and first physician to the Seamen's Hospital Society". Journal of Medical Biography (London: Royal Society of Medicine Press Ltd) 12 (3): 125–6. ISSN 0967-7720. PMID 15257343. (subscription required (help)).
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Kahn, Edgar Myron (June 1940). "Cable Car Inventor - Andrew Hallidie - 1873". San Francisco: California Historical Society Quarterly. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  10. ↑ Moore, Norman (2004) [1890]. Halliday, Sir Andrew (1782–1839). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. revised by Patrick Wallis (Oxford University Press). Retrieved 4 Oct 2013. (subscription required (help)).

External sources