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Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E000793 - Beaman, George (1803 - 1874)
Title:
Beaman, George (1803 - 1874)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E000793
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2009-12-11
Description:
Obituary for Beaman, George (1803 - 1874), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Beaman, George
Date of Birth:
1803
Date of Death:
1874
Occupation:
Titles/Qualifications:
MRCS September 6th 1822

FRCS July 6th 1852

LSA 1822

MD St Andrews 1854
Details:
Apprenticed to Peter Holland, of Knutsford, Cheshire, the father of Sir Henry Holland, and became a student at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals, where he attracted the attention of Astley Cooper. Subsequently he acted as Demonstrator of Anatomy under Grainger at the Webb Street School. He then joined in partnership with Thomas Ansaldo Hewson, practising at 8 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, later at 32 King Street, and acquired a lucrative practice, which reached £3000 to £4000 a year. Unfortunately, during the railway mania he speculated and became involved in a large debt which was only cleared off a few months before his death. There were then living in the neighbourhood many rich traders as well as visitors to the chief London hotels of the time. This brought Beaman in contact with consultants, Sir Astley Cooper, Frederick Tyrell, Sir Charles Clark, and others, about whom he had many anecdotes. As Medical Officer to the Strand Union and to the Parish of St Paul, Covent Garden, he was called upon to examine the body of an Italian boy, Carlo Ferrier, brought to the dissecting room of King’s College for Richard Partridge (qv), the Lecturer on Anatomy. The teeth had all been extracted after death and over the left eyebrow there was a wound penetrating to the bone without fracturing the skull. But the real injury was not apparent until after exposure of the back of the neck, when a quantity of extravasated blood was found superficial to the spinal column, with coagulated blood in the spinal canal, whilst the bones of the spine were uninjured. The boy had been killed by blows on the back of the neck by Bishop, Williams, and May, the resurrectionists, on Nov 5th, 1831. Beaman and Richard Partridge were the principal witnesses at the Old Bailey trial on Dec 2nd. In later life he was much engaged in official duties as Medical Officer to the South Western Railway from its commencement, and as Medical Adviser to the Board of Inland Revenue. He was also active with Thomas Wakley, senr, in founding the new Equitable Insurance Company, of which he became Chairman. On a visit to Paris he watched Civiale perform lithotrity and became strongly opposed to the operation as rough and inefficient. One of his patients was operated upon by Heurteloup for calculus by lithotomy and survived Beaman. One of his children suffered from epilepsy, and he was hopeful that he had almost discovered the remedy. In his book *Epilepsy and its Cure*, 1868, 4th edition, 1872, his enthusiasm led him to overrate the power of the means he employed, principally bromide of potassium. He rightly discountenanced the prevalent enfeebling measures, blood-letting, purging, blistering, and insertion of setons. His health was failing for two years before his death in 1874.
Sources:
*Med. Circular*, 1852, i, 192

*Lancet*, 1874, i, 146

*The Trial of Bishop, Williams and May, at the Old Bailey, December 2nd, 1831, for the murder of the Italian boy, Carlo Ferrier*, by W. Harding, 8vo, London, n.d., is preserved in the College Library Tracts 888(8)
Rights:
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England
Collection:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Format:
Obituary
Format:
Asset
Asset Path:
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E000000-E000999/E000700-E000799
Media Type:
Unknown