The Demography of Royal Navy Surgeons: Some Views on the Process of Prosopography

Christopher H Myers

doi:10.5195/jwhi.2015.13

Abstract

This study is a brief social biography and demography of British naval doctors during the nineteenth century, asking why Scottish-educated surgeons were so prominent. Understanding the demography and changing dynamics of naval surgeons’ labor illuminates the complex relationship among the military, discrimination, and nationalism that shaped this influential labor market. This study reviews how to collect demographic information from multiple types of sources: university archives, matriculation records, digitized medical journals, and student rolls. It also uses chi-square tests to show the significance of the demographic information collected. The results show us the entangled relationship between database conceptualization, data collection, and data analysis.

Highlights

This study is a brief social biography and demography of British naval doctors during the nineteenth century, asking why Scottish-educated surgeons were so prominent
In January 1850, the medical journal The Lancet protested against Scottish surgeons’ “clannish” domination of the Royal Army and Navy medical services, claiming that 55% of Inspectors and Surgeons, and 71% of Assistant Surgeons appointed during the 1840s were Scottish.[1]
I found that the broader societal lenses of British medical education and labor dynamics best help to make sense of these demographic trends

Summary

Introduction

This study is a brief social biography and demography of British naval doctors during the nineteenth century, asking why Scottish-educated surgeons were so prominent. My project uses a quantitative, data-driven approach to naval medical officers’ demographic backgrounds in the hope of shedding new light on broader developments in naval and British medicine, especially in relation to education and professionalization.[2] I had to look well beyond the Royal Navy to factors including sub-national identities, ethno-national discrimination, medical education and labor dynamics to help explain naval surgeons’ demography.

Results

Conclusion