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Resource Name:
Resource Type:
External Resource
Metadata
Asset Name:
E001733 - Fife, Sir John (1795 - 1871)
Title:
Fife, Sir John (1795 - 1871)
Author:
Royal College of Surgeons of England
Identifier:
RCS: E001733
Publisher:
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England
Publication Date:
2011-12-14
Description:
Obituary for Fife, Sir John (1795 - 1871), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Language:
English
Source:
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows
Full Name:
Fife, Sir John
Date of Birth:
1795
Place of Birth:
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
Date of Death:
15 January 1871
Occupation:
Titles/Qualifications:
Knight Bachelor July 1st 1840

MRCS September 2nd 1814

FRCS December 11th 1843, one of the original 300 Fellows

Hon MA Durham 1857

JP
Details:
Born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where his father was a medical practitioner. He served for a few months at Woolwich as an Army Assistant Surgeon, but joined his father at Newcastle in 1815. He soon gained a reputation as a surgeon and was renowned for the long distances he would ride to visit his patients. When the original Newcastle-upon-Tyne School of Medicine and Surgery was founded in 1834 he took an active part with his brother George in its establishment, and being already Surgeon to the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Infirmary, was appointed Lecturer on Surgery, a post he held from 1832-1838. Before the crisis at the School in 1851 he joined the minority party and assisted in establishing the College of Medicine and Practical Science, becoming President and Lecturer on Surgery. On the reunion of the rival schools in 1857 to become the medical faculty of the University of Durham, Fife was placed on the Council, elected Professor of Military Surgery, and given an honorary MA degree. He retained his office as Professor until 1870. In politics Fife was so advanced a Liberal that he was stigmatized as a Chartist in his younger days. He was influential in forming the Northern political union which agitated for the Reform Bill. He was elected one of the first members of the new corporation of Newcastle in 1835, was immediately chosen an Alderman, and was elected Mayor in 1838. He displayed conspicuous courage and sound judgement in suppressing the dangerous Chartist riots at Newcastle in July, 1839, and received the honour of knighthood for his public services on July 1st, 1840. He was elected Mayor for a second time in 1843, and continued a member of the Corporation until 1863. He was also Deputy Lieutenant for the counties of Argyll and Northumberland. He was a promoter of the Volunteer movement in Newcastle in 1859, became Lieutenant-Colonel, and was presented by the regiment with a silver centrepiece of the value of £100 on resigning his commission in 1868. He was also President of the Newcastle Mechanics Institute. He married Miss Bainbridge, by whom he had four sons. The eldest, Henry William Fife, became Demonstrator of Anatomy and Lecturer on Operative Surgery in the Newcastle School of Medicine and lectured on Operative Surgery in the College of Medicine and Practical Science. The second son was Joseph Bainbridge Fife (qv). Sir John Fife retired to Reedsmouth, North Tyne, in 1870 and was there operated upon for stone in the bladder by Sir William Fergusson (qv). He died on January 15th, 1871.
Sources:
Embleton's *History of the Medical School, afterwards the Durham College of Medicine, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne*, 8vo, 1890

*Dict. Nat. Biog.* et auct. ibi cit
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/E001000-E001999/E001700-E001799
Media Type:
Unknown