Hi there, I've just obtained a copy of the will of my great great great great great uncle, Dr William Henderson of Perth, who died at his home of Rose Terrace in 1870. He originally came from Kinclaven, and in his will, left a beneficiary fund for poor gentleman over the age of 60 residing in Perth, called Henderson's Mortification, which still exists to this day. The will is an amazing document, and is so detailed that it has confirmed my ancestry a further two generations back, to the mid 1700s. I am keen to find out more about Dr Henderson, and was wondering if anybody out there had relatives who had had dealings with him? I've come across one story on the internet which states that he performed a caesarian on a 30 year old lady in Perth in 1820, one of the first times the procedure had been performed in Scotland by a professional doctor. Unfortunately the lady giving birth did not survive, but the daughter did, and was christened Caesar Anna! Also, how would I go about finding where Henderson would have trained up to become a physician? I am intending to checjk for an obituary on him in the Perth papers at the AK Bell in Perth in the next few days, but what other resources would be worth checking? Many thanks in anticipation, Chris Paton

Hi Chris William Henderson should be listed in the Medical Register, Medical Directory and Medical Directory for Scotland of the day, and they should all identfy the body that granted his degree or licence. I don't know when the British Medical Journal began publishing obituaries of doctors, but that too is a possibility. You don't say how old WH was at his death. Edinburgh University (for instance) lists three possible William Hendersons among its medical graduates: they graduated in 1813, 1822 and 1831 respectively, but your man might have graduated at Glasgow, or Aberdeen, or St Andrews, or south of the Border, or in Dublin, or have trained at one of the Royal Colleges and bypassed the universities altogether. Hope this helps. Peter Peter B Freshwater MA MCLIP FSAScot Edinburgh, Scotland Email peter@hillfoot.demon.co.uk Researching ATKINS, BRUCE, FOX, FRESHWATER, PERKINS, SWINGLER (Beds, Hunts, Leics, & Northants,) HAUGHAN (Cumbria & Co. Durham) DOW, FINDLAY, GRAY, HUNTER, KENNEDY (Angus, Glasgow & Perth) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Paton" <chrispaton@btinternet.com> To: <PERTHSHIRE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 4:19 PM Subject: [PERTH] Dr William Henderson of Perth, died 1870 > Hi there, > > I've just obtained a copy of the will of my great great great great great uncle, Dr William Henderson of Perth, who died at his home of Rose Terrace in 1870. He originally came from Kinclaven, and in his will, left a beneficiary fund for poor gentleman over the age of 60 residing in Perth, called Henderson's Mortification, which still exists to this day. The will is an amazing document, and is so detailed that it has confirmed my ancestry a further two generations back, to the mid 1700s. > > I am keen to find out more about Dr Henderson, and was wondering if anybody out there had relatives who had had dealings with him? I've come across one story on the internet which states that he performed a caesarian on a 30 year old lady in Perth in 1820, one of the first times the procedure had been performed in Scotland by a professional doctor. Unfortunately the lady giving birth did not survive, but the daughter did, and was christened Caesar Anna! > > Also, how would I go about finding where Henderson would have trained up to become a physician? I am intending to checjk for an obituary on him in the Perth papers at the AK Bell in Perth in the next few days, but what other resources would be worth checking? > > Many thanks in anticipation, > > Chris Paton > > > ==== PERTHSHIRE Mailing List ==== > -------------------------------------------------- > Archiver search http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/perthshire/ > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/SCT/PERTHSHIRE.html > ------------------------------------- >