Born on June 5th, 1843, the elder son of John Pearse (b 1818), of Chilton Lodge, Wilts; he was admitted to Westminster School on September 27th, 1855. He then studied at Westminster Hospital, where he gained in 1862 the Silver Medal for Anatomy and Chemistry and in 1864 the Chadwick Prize. He was Prosector at the Royal College of Surgeons, and subsequently House Surgeon and House Physician at Westminster Hospital. After acting as House Surgeon at the Manchester Infirmary and as Resident Superintendent of the Ardwick and Ancoats Hospital he was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at Westminster Hospital. There he was elected Assistant Surgeon in 1869, and Surgeon from 1871-1873. Meanwhile he lectured on anatomy and on surgery. In 1873 he resigned the post of Surgeon and entered upon general practice at 4 Princes Mansions and 15 Queen's Mansions, Victoria Street, Westminster. He was a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical, Zoological, and Pathological Societies. His younger brother, Francis James Pearse (1848-1907), practised in Warwick Square and was Surgeon to the 'A' Division of the police. His uncle George Pearse (1812-1892), who had been educated at King's College and Westminster School, practised in St George's Square, SW. The whole family in the two generations had been at Westminster School. Ill health caused his retirement from practice in 1900, and he lived at Homefield, Merton, Surrey, where he died on January 13th, 1904, and was buried in Norwood Cemetery.