Thomas Keith (1827-1895)
ED.CS.2010.128
Keith, Thomas (1827-1895). Portrait. Oil on canvas. 1871. Artist: Reid, George, Sir (1841-1913).
Thomas Keith, the son of a minister, was born in 1827 at St Cyrus near Montrose, and he received his early education at Aberdeen Grammar School and Marischal College. He is believed to have been the last of the medical apprentices (though there were a few surgical apprentices as late as 1872) being apprenticed to Dr J Y Simpson in 1845. His brother George, another of Simpson's apprentices, was present on the famous occasion in 1847 when Simpson, George Keith and Matthews Duncan discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform.
Thomas practised mainly obstetrics and gynaecology. He carried out his first ovariotomy in 1862 and was appointed ovariotomist to the Royal Infirmary in 1870. Between then and 1880, he carried out 136 such operations with 81% recovery. He also performed 33 hysterectomies with only three deaths, a remarkable feat at that time. He did not use antisepsis but depended on rigorous cleanliness even before the antiseptic era.
He was a very talented photographer and examples of his work can be seen in the College where there are sixteen calotypes of Edinburgh scenes. Calotypes are paper negatives which are laid on another sheet of paper coated with silver chloride and then exposed in sunshine. Keith used to wax his own paper negatives. Exposure time for his early photographs was thirty to forty minutes though later it was ‘only’ two to six minutes. Developing time averaged 45 minutes but could take ‘some hours’ if there was no hurry. He was a founder member of the Photographic Society of Scotland and exhibited some of his work at Edinburgh's first photographic exhibition in 1854. His photographs are noted for their technical and artistic excellence.
Throughout his life, he suffered greatly from bladder stones, some of which stuck in the urethra. He had operations at various times throughout his life but was left with a persistent sinus and intermittent episodes of obstruction, infection and bleeding.
