Clement, William James (1804 - 1870)
by
 
Royal College of Surgeons of England

Asset Name
E001196 - Clement, William James (1804 - 1870)

Title
Clement, William James (1804 - 1870)

Author
Royal College of Surgeons of England

Identifier
RCS: E001196

Publisher
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England

Publication Date
2011-06-02

Subject
Medical Obituaries

Description
Obituary for Clement, William James (1804 - 1870), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Language
English

Source
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Full Name
Clement, William James

Date of Birth
1804

Date of Death
29 August 1870

Place of Death
Shrewsbury, UK

Occupation
General surgeon

Titles/Qualifications
MP
 
MRCS December 3rd 1824
 
FRCS (by election) August 26th 1844
 
JP

Details
The eldest son of William Clement, a practitioner long established in Shrewsbury. He was educated at Shrewsbury School under Dr Butler, at the Middlesex Hospital under Sir Charles Bell, and at the University of Edinburgh. He settled in practice in his birthplace, Shrewsbury, where he acquired a large consulting practice as a surgeon, and became an important public character, being first an Alderman and twice Mayor (1854 and 1864). He was the first of the Fellows in point of time to sit in Parliament, having been elected MP for Shrewsbury in the Liberal interest in 1865, heading the poll again in the general election of 1868. He would doubtless have continued to represent the Liberal voters of Shrewsbury for years to come had not his health given way rather suddenly. He died at Shrewsbury, where his address was The Council House, on August 29th, 1870. At the time of his death he was also a Magistrate for Salop, Magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant for Merionethshire, Surgeon to the 1st Battalion Shropshire Rifle Volunteers, and a FSA. He was greatly respected as a practitioner, a magistrate, and a Member of Parliament, and in 1864 was presented with a magnificent piece of plate weighing upwards of 1000 oz, which was subscribed for by all classes in Shropshire. His literary tastes were cultivated to a high degree, and he was on terms of intimacy with Dickens, Macaulay, and F Talfourd. He was a member of the British Medical Association, taking much interest in the Shropshire Ethical Branch, the members of which he entertained not long before his death. He married, in 1845, Tryphena, second daughter of W P Freme, of Wefere Hall, Flintshire. Clement claimed to have been the first surgeon in Great Britain who successfully opened the ascending colon for intestinal obstruction. Although never connected with a public hospital, he obtained the largest consulting practice in Shropshire, especially as an operating surgeon. He was the first medical man elected Member of Parliament who continued to practise his profession; and he often said that he particularly valued the honour as a compliment paid to the whole profession, in the choice falling on one of its working members. Publications: *Observations in Surgery and Pathology.* "An Essay on the Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology of the Urinary Organs," for which he obtained the Fothergillian Gold Medal in 1834. "Two Cases of Intestinal Obstruction, in which the Operation for Artificial Anus was successfully performed: one in the Ascending Colon (the first Operation of the kind in Great Britain); the other in the Descending Colon." - *Trans. Roy. Med.- Chir. Soc.*, 1852, xxxv, 209. The operation was performed on Oct 10th, 1841. "Account of Case of Successful Amputation at the Hip-joint for Tumour affecting the Upper Third of the Thigh." - *Brit. Med. Jour.*, 1850, i, 4.

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/E001100-E001199

URL for File
373379

Media Type
Unknown