Anderson, James, 1771-1817 (Surgeon)
Dates
- Existence: 1771 - 1817
Biography
James Anderson was an Edinburgh-based surgeon. He was the second son of William Anderson and Agnes Greig and received a good education at the school called Watson's Hospital in Edinburgh. James wanted to become a doctor and served a regular apprenticeship to Robert Walker and his son John Walker. Then, at the age of twenty-three, he went to sea as a surgeon's mate in the service of the East India Company, in their ship Dutton, bound for Madras. His letters home to his father and brothers stand as a record of his experiences on board ship.
After returning to Edinburgh, James began working at the Royal Infirmary, assisting at operations and gaining experience. Before the end of 1795, he had been found sufficiently qualified to be admitted as a free Surgeon Apothecary of Edinburgh on payment of a fee of £43.6.8, and made a Burgess and Guild brother of the town in right of his father, William Anderson. In the same year, James became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
James played a part in the founding of the Edinburgh Philanthropic Society in 1797 by John Campbell and some of his friends. The Edinburgh Philanthropic Society was renamed the Magdalene Society in 1800, and the first Magdalene Asylum was situated in the Canongate Tolbooth; in 1805, the Lord Provost, Sir William Fettes, laid the foundation stone of a new building at 181 Canongate. For the last seventeen years of his life, Dr James Anderson was consulting physician to this Institution. About 1885, a fine new Magdalene Asylum was erected in Gorgie Road, just beyond Ardmillan Terrace.
James married Nanny Begbie and they had two sons and two daughters. Then, at the height of his career, he was struck down by apoplexy, like his mother before him, and died in his prime at the age of forty-six.