Sir William Lawrence | |
|---|---|
 William Lawrence in 1839 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 July 1783 Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England |
| Died | 5 July 1867 (aged 83) Westminster, London, England |
| Spouse |
Louise Lawrence
(m. 1828; died 1855) |
| Children | Sir Trevor Lawrence, 2nd Baronet |
| Education | Elmore Court School |
| Profession | Surgeon |
Sir William Lawrence, 1st Baronet FRCS FRS (16 July 1783 – 5 July 1867) was an English surgeon who became President of the Royal College of Surgeons of London and Serjeant Surgeon to the Queen.
In his mid-thirties, he published two books of his lectures which contained pre-Darwinian ideas on man's nature and, effectively, on evolution. He was forced to withdraw the second (1819) book after fierce criticism; the Lord Chancellor ruled it blasphemous. Lawrence's transition to respectability occurred gradually, and his surgical career was highly successful.[1][2] In 1822, Lawrence was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.[3] He was President of the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London in 1831.
Lawrence had a long and successful career as a surgeon. He reached the top of his profession, and just before his death in 1867 the Queen rewarded him with a baronetcy (see Lawrence baronets).
- ^ Mudford P.G. (1968). "William Lawrence and The Natural History of Man". Journal of the History of Ideas. 29 (3): 430–436. doi:10.2307/2708453. JSTOR 2708453.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
j1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 5 April 2021.