John Gairdner (1790-1876)
ED.CS.2010.92
Gairdner, John (1790-1876). Portrait in oil in oval gilt frame. 1867. Artist: Barclay, James Maclaren.
John Gairdner's father was a Captain in the Bengal Artillery. He was educated at Ayr Academy and Edinburgh University and, after graduating, he worked in London with Charles Bell before returning to Edinburgh in 1813.
He was for many years Treasurer of the College and was a 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’. He also helped to negotiate the purchase of the Bell Collection on behalf of the College.
He was elected President from 1830 to 1832 and presided at the formal opening of Surgeons' Hall in Nicolson Street in July 1832.
He was involved in an extraordinary event in 1818 when he was assaulted in his own home. The assailant attacked him with a whip, being aggrieved that he had been failed by Dr. Gairdner in a College examination. The offender was charged with assault and hamesucken (beating a person within his own house). The man's father, a minister, apologised to Dr. Gairdner and to the College and begged the College not to bring his son to public trial if that were possible or, if not, that any punishment by the High Court should be as lenient as possible. The College supported his plea for clemency. The young man was sentenced to seven years ‘transportation beyond the seas’ but it was thought to be unnecessary to carry the sentence into execution.
His son, Sir William Tennant Gairdner, was an eminent Glasgow physician and that city's first Medical Officer of Health.
