| Description | Hamilton was baptised on 19 February 1739 at Fordoun, Kincardineshire, the son of Alexander Hamilton, a retired army surgeon. In 1758 he became assistant to John Straiton, surgeon, of Edinburgh. On his master's death in 1762 he became a member of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons, and settled in practice in Edinburgh. After gaining an MD he became a licentiate, and subsequently a fellow, of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In 1772 he was elected physician to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. In 1777, as deacon of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons, he made a strenuous effort to establish a chair of surgery in the university, but failed, owing to the opposition of Monro secundus. After lecturing on midwifery with success for some years, in 1780 he was appointed joint professor of midwifery in the University of Edinburgh with Dr Thomas Young, and sole professor in 1783 on Young's death. In 1793 he was instrumental in establishing the Lying-in Hospital.
Hamilton had two sons, Henry Parr Hamilton and James Hamilton. In 1800 he resigned his professorship and he was succeeded by his son James. He died on 23 May 1802.
[Source: Dictionary of National Biography]
Contents: 'Consiliarum sive historarum sylloge' transcriptions of cases of [Herman] Boerhaave, 1750s; registers of students, 1780-1802 |