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Single Person record details
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Back
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Person Code
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NA15330
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Forenames
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Robert
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Surname
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Liston
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Dates
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1794-1847
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Epithet
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surgeon
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Activity
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Robert Liston (1794-1847), surgeon, was the son of a minister at Ecclesmachan, Linlithgowshire. He matriculated at Edinburgh University in 1808, and two years later he began the study of medicine at 16 as a pupil of John Barclay. In 1815 he was appointed as House Surgeon to George Bell and three years later, he was admitted to the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and England. At this time he began to lecture on anatomy with James Syme as his demonstrator and assistant. In 1827, he was appointed surgeon to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and lecturer in Clinical Surgery. Liston was renowned for his speed and dexterity in operating and for his anatomical knowledge. In 1823 he removed a scrotal tumour weighing more than 20 kg. In 1833 he was defeated in a contest for the Chair of Clinical Surgery at Edinburgh University and two years later he accepted the Chair of Clinical Surgery at University College, London. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1841. In London he performed the first major operation under general anaesthesia (ether) in England on 21 December 1846. He died on 7 December 1847 at his house in London.
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Notes
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See Alastair H B Masson, 'Portraits Paintings and Busts in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh' (Edinburgh, 1995).
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