William Attree (died 1846): Royal and army surgeon who underwent amputation of the leg at Brighton, England (1807).

William Attree (1780-1846) came from a prominent family in Brighton, England. He studied medicine at St Thomas' Hospital, London, and there was unwell for nearly 6 months with severe 'spasms' of the hand/arm/chest (1801-1802). Attree qualified Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1803 and served as dresser to Sir Astley Paston Cooper (1768-1841). In 1806 Attree is recorded as 'Surgeon and Apothecary' of Prince's street, Westminster. In 1806 Attree's wife died in childbirth and the following year he underwent emergency amputation of the foot in Brighton following a road traffic accident. Attree served as surgeon in the Royal Horse Artillery at Hastings, presumably in a regimental or garrison hospital. He went onto become surgeon to the Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, and Surgeon Extraordinary to two Kings: George IV and William IV. In 1843 Attree was appointed as one of the original 300 Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons. He died in Sudbury, near Harrow. His son William Hooper Attree (1817-1875) was surgeon to Don Miguel de Braganza, the former King of Portugal. The medical literature appears to lack a history of nineteenth century doctors (especially military surgeons) with physical disability. Attree's biography goes a small way towards developing this field of enquiry.

What does the biography of Duncan Forbes MBE (1873-1941), Medical Officer of Health for Brighton (1908-1938), reveal about managing pandemics?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the national lockdowns of 2020/2021 illustrate how modern public health systems are founded on empirical evidence and contemporary understanding of disease transmission. Duncan Forbes was one of the earliest sanitarians in Britain to propose and implement a new understanding of infectious disease control. Starting his early career in Manchester and Cambridge, his eventual tenure as Brighton's longest-serving medical officer of health (MOH) left an indelible mark by challenging the entrenched tradition of terminal disinfection and by devising his "Brighton methods" for the care of tubercular patients. Forbes led Brighton's public health responses during World War I and the 1918/1919 "Spanish" influenza pandemic. Forbes also strove to improve health and housing in Brighton. His views on limiting access to contraception on the grounds of eugenics are also significant. Analysis of Forbes' work then allowed a discussion of both his legacy and of the applicability of his experiences to our own in tackling COVID-19. Forbes undeniably had a great influence in shaping modern public health practice in Britain and his challenges as MOH bear many similarities, as well as stark differences, to today's experience of COVID-19.

Unearthing a provincial medical school and its students - A history of the 1834 'School of Practical Medicine and Surgery' at the Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, England.

The 19th century was a period of rapid change in English medical education. Little is known about the important contribution of smaller, hospital-based, provincial medical schools which sprang up to provide important practical training opportunities for students, typically as a foundation for further training and examination in London. One such example is the 1834 Brighton 'School of Practical Medicine and Surgery', which was based at the Sussex County Hospital and recognised by the Royal College of Surgeons and Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. Unlike many other 19th century medical schools, the history of the Brighton school is largely undocumented. Although it remained dependent upon London through the 'College and Hall' examination system, this article shows that the school's pragmatic and adaptive educational approach allowed it to play an important role in educating future doctors in Brighton from 1834 into at least the early 20th century.

'Disciples of Aesclepius': Glimpses into lives of the 'Gentlemen of the Faculty' of medicine in Brighton, England 1800-1809.

Here we present newspaper accounts from the Sussex Advertiser to consider hitherto largely unknown Brighton doctors active between 1800 and 1809. This body of physicians, surgeons and apothecaries comprised Brighton's 'Gentlemen of the [medical] Faculty', whom the newspaper also dubbed the 'Disciples of Aesclepius'. Members are considered under three broad categories. First, are Brighton-based clinicians (Mr Barratt, Mr Bond, Charles Bankhead, Thomas Guy, John Hall, John Newton, Benjamin Scutt and Sir Matthew Tierney). Second are London clinicians, probably in attendance to the Prince of Wales (John Hunter and Thomas Keate), More widely, two dentists (Dr Durlacher and Mr Bew) and two Royal Navy surgeons (Robert Chambers and Thomas Thong) also recorded at Brighton are considered. Other aspects of medical life are described: recruiting an apprentice, anatomy training at Joshua Brooke's London museum, midwifery, a description of a surgeon's bag and the last reference to the Royal Sussex Jennerian Society (which disappears from the newspaper record in 1807). Clinical cases described include: resuscitation from near-drowning, post-mortem examinations, death from the 'gravel and stone' and accounts of suicide. The primary sources presented in this paper offer rare glimpses into medical life in Brighton at the very start of the nineteenth century.

Robert Henderson: Scottish doctor who was appointed Physician to the Forces (1795) and practised at Brighton, England.

Robert Henderson was a Scottish physician who qualified Doctor of Medicine at Aberdeen in 1786. By 1792, Henderson was working in Brighton on the south coast of England. He was admitted Licentiate of the College of Physicians of London in 1793. At Brighton he probably worked as a parish doctor. In 1795 Henderson was appointed Physician to the Forces and probably served as a garrison doctor. In Brighton, he is noted as an advocate of chalybeate water therapy (i.e. mineral spring water containing iron salts). Henderson undertook basic experiments into the chemistry of mineral water and a few, very brief, clinical observations may be his. In Henderson's time, the chalybeate in question was part of the 'Wick estate' to the North West of Brighton. Today the site of the spring is located within St Ann's Well Gardens, Hove and this article briefly considers its history. Circumstances link Henderson to Sir Lucas Pepys MD (1742-1830), physician-general to the army and closely associated with both the College of Physicians and the town of Brighton. Henderson died in Brighton on the 3rd April 1808. Henderson's daughter Sophia Janet married Captain William John Thompson Hood who served at Trafalgar aged eleven.

Leslie Wallace Lauste MBE (1908-2001): Brighton surgeon and prisoner of war in occupied Europe.

Leslie Wallace Lauste (1908-2001) was an English surgeon of French ancestry who practised in Brighton. This article used his memoirs and interviews to describe his life during the Second World War. In 1940, after declining evacuation by the Royal Navy, he was captured at Boulogne- Sur-Mer. Lauste went on to work in the following hospitals, of which most were attached to prisoner of war (POW) camps: Dannes-Camiers (France), Lille (France), Enghien (Belgium), Malines (Belgium), Dieberg (Germany), Klein-Zimmern (Germany), Stadtroda (Germany), Treysa (Germany), Kloster Haina (Germany), Lamsdorf (Poland), and Moosburg (Germany). Lauste's memoirs indicate that most surgical work was routine rather than trauma-related. He gained considerable freedoms in camp and attended external hospitals to give a surgical opinion. Lauste witnessed the consequences of allied bombing raids on German cities and considered these a "genocide." Lauste's life offers insight into the Nazi mistreatment of Russian prisoners, management of a typhus outbreak, camp liberation, and extraordinary journeys within occupied Europe. His memoirs provide new insight into the life of a British POW surgeon and reveals personal courage, kindness to others, and passion for medicine. Lauste never married. He died in Brighton in 2001.

Britain's forgotten military medical school at Fort Pitt, Kent (1860-1863).

This article considers the history of Fort Pitt (1780-1922), its military hospital (founded 1814) and, in particular, its Army Medical School (1860-63). The museum and library were the work of the hospital's first directors: Dr David MacLoughlin and Sir James McGrigor, the latter the renowned reformer of military medical education. Central to the foundation of the medical school was Florence Nightingale who visited the site in 1856. The school opened in 1860 with five sets of students attending before it was transferred in 1863 to the Royal Victoria hospital, Netley, Hampshire. Fort Pitt was a "practical" medical school with students attending for 4-9 months of clinical experience. This included "instruction in tropical medicine" delivered by members of the Indian Medical Service. The foundation of a military medical school fulfilled an ambition dating back to at least 1796. Nightingale's role (exerted through Sidney Herbert) was omitted from contemporary newspaper reports. Fort Pitt continued as a military hospital until 1922 when it was converted to a school. The medical school constitutes a landmark in British military medicine, a response to the failure of British medical care in the Crimean war (1853-1856) and a forgotten legacy of Florence Nightingale.

William chambers: British army surgeon (Toulon, 1793) and his vaccination institution (1803) in Brighton, England.

Following Edward Jenner's research into cowpox, a wave of vaccination services emerged across England. Despite some resistance, these began to promote population prevention where variolation had failed. Sussex's first vaccine institution has long been considered to be that of Sir Matthew Tierney (1776-1845). Founded in 1804, Tierney's "Royal Sussex Jennerian Society for the Extermination of the Small-pox" comprised sixteen stations, including one in Kent. This article presents an earlier example: the 1803 "Brighton Royal Jennerian Institution", founded by a "Mr Chambers" to serve "the indigent poor". Given that both held royal and military appointments in Brighton, Tierney must have been aware of Chambers' efforts in vaccination. It is unclear why Tierney's 1804 plan for the Sussex Vaccine Institution makes no mention of Chambers. In 1803 Chambers also directed the establishment of Brighton's first military hospital and is noted as "surgeon extraordinary" to the Prince Regent. Chambers is identified as William Chambers of the 10th Royal Dragoons, who served at Toulon (1793) as a surgeon's mate. He is also documented at Corsica in 1794 where he examined Nelson's injured eye following the siege of Calvi. Mr Chambers' origin and more details of his biography remain unknown.

Gladys Mary Wauchope (1889-1966): Brighton physician and second female medical student at the London Hospital Medical College.

Gladys Mary Wauchope was a pioneering woman physician and general practitioner in London and Brighton. Descended from an ancient Scottish family, she was the second female medical student at the London Hospital Medical College after Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, enrolling during the brief period from 1918 to 1928 in which women were permitted to study medicine in mainstream London medical schools due to shortages of doctors caused by the First World War. Unperturbed by opposition to her gender from male colleagues, she was initially house physician on the firm of Sir Robert Hutchison at 'the London', and went on to hold an array of posts in large London hospitals at a time when finding such work was challenging for women doctors. She settled in Hove as a general practitioner in 1924, later becoming a consultant physician at several major Brighton hospitals. Made only the eighth female fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, she also set up the first diabetic clinic in Sussex and Kent. Gladys authored several books, including her autobiography 'The Story of a Woman Physician', which documents life through two world wars and the introduction of the National Health Service, whilst keenly observing the changing landscape of medicine and its place in society.

Sir Matthew Tierney and the foundation of the 1804 Sussex Vaccine Institution.

Irish physician Sir Matthew John Tierney (1776-1845) was a vaccine pioneer who learnt the procedure directly from Edward Jenner in Gloucestershire. In 1802 Tierney completed an MD at Glasgow on vaccination and moved to Brighton, where he was appointed physician to the Prince of Wales (the future King George IV). This paper considers Tierney's role in the foundation of the 1804 Sussex Vaccine Institution. Tierney was the first president of the Institution's Medical Council. His leadership lay in his knowledge of vaccination (including transporting cowpox material) and his close relationship with the Prince of Wales. The Institution's official name was the Royal Sussex Jennerian Society for the Extermination of the Small-pox and offered vaccination at 16 stations across the county and one in Kent. Vaccination was undertaken by local surgeons at their houses at set hours. In its first year, the Institution vaccinated 946 individuals, of whom 509 for free. Despite this, concerns were raised over uptake by poorer members of society. The Institution's Brighton station was probably absorbed into the new 1809 dispensary. Tierney's promotion of vaccination and instructions for new practitioners represent the embryonic beginnings of evidence-based medicine and modern medical education in Brighton.