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John Gairdner (1790-1876)

ED.CS.2012.15

John Gairdner (1790-1876), Fellow 1813, President 1830-1833 Oil on canvas, c.1830, by Sir Daniel Macnee (1806-1882) Gairdner gained his M.D. from the University of Edinburgh and his Licence from this College in 1811, became a Fellow of this College on the 5th October 1813, a few days after his 23rd birthday, and went on to be elected President here on the 18th September 1830, on his 40th birthday. John Gairdner was, and remains today, a major figure in this College’s history. His father was a Captain in the Bengal Artillery and after a Scottish education, Dr Gairdner worked in London, post-graduation, with the famous surgeon and anatomist, Sir Charles Bell. He then returned to Edinburgh in 1813, gaining his Fellowship here. He was closely involved with our College over many years, as Treasurer and as a particularly keen historian of its affairs, writing several pamphlets including a ‘Historical Sketch of the Royal College of Surgeons’ and a ‘List of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons 1581-1873’. John Gairdner’s meticulously researched annotated biographical list formed the basis of the very large membership biographical resource we in the Library maintain today, continuously adjusting it as new Members and Fellows join the College. Currently that list contains nearly 41,000 names. Gairdner negotiated the successful and important purchase of the Bell Collection on behalf of the College, which is still today the backbone of our historical military collections, including as it does Sir Charles Bell’s oil paintings of soldiers and their wounds, following the Battle of Corunna. As President here from 1830 to 1832, it was Gairdner who presided at the formal opening of our fine College building designed by William Playfair – our ‘Surgeons' Hall’ - in Nicolson Street in July 1832.

Nineteenth century, mid

John Gairdner (1790-1876), Portrait