| Description Of Item | Oil on canvas, 71 x 78.7 cm
Born in Edinburgh, Andrew Combe was the son of George Combe, a brewer. He was educated at Edinburgh's High School and attended classes in Latin and Greek at Edinburgh University.
At the age of 15 he commenced three years' apprenticeship to an Edinburgh surgeon and attended lectures in anatomy and chemistry. He received the Diploma of Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1817 followed by study in Paris under Dupuytren and Spurzheim. He graduated Doctor of Medicine at Edinburgh in 1825 and nine years later was elected to the Fellowship of the College. In 1820 he developed pulmonary tuberculosis and it was not until three years later that he was able to start practice in Edinburgh. Combe proved himself to be a capable, conscientious and popular general practitioner. He was a founder member of The Phrenological Society. In 1836 he was made Physician in Ordinary to the King and Queen of the Belgians and attended the Royal family in Brussels. In 1844 he became one of Her Majesty's Physicians in Ordinary in Scotland.
Artist: John Partridge |