The Reputation of William Cullen (1710 – 1790): Family, Politics, and the Biography of an ‘Ornate Physician’

Abstract

Recent work by medical historians has demonstrated how John Thomson and his sons wrote their biography of William Cullen in the light of nineteenth-century medical concerns, though that biography remained silent on Cullen's personal life. A deliberate decision was made by John Thomson and the Cullen family to obscure the painful aftermath of Cullen's death. In spite of his distinction and his substantial income from books, teaching, and consultations, Cullen died virtually bankrupt, leaving his daughters without financial support. In March 1791, a case was brought in the Court of Session against William Cullen's eldest son, Robert by the rest of the family, for the return of money due by him to their father's estate, as a result of debts held jointly. The case was finally unravelled, and William Cullen's debts paid, only after Robert's death in 1810. These financial conflicts were accompanied by fundamental social and political differences between the two sides of the family. This history reveals different aspects of William Cullen's own later years. On the one hand, he was ambitious to join a landed elite whose patronage he valued and sought for his family, and within whose polite lifestyle a culture of debt was accepted. Yet he also respected professionalism, domesticity and frugality. Future biographies of this major figure of the Scottish Enlightenment will require the integration of his personal, social and political context with his medical ideas and achievements.