William James Erasmus Wilson

Sir William James Erasmus Wilson (25 November, 1809 – 7 August, 1884), generally known as Sir Erasmus Wilson, was born in London, studied at Dartford Grammar School before St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, and at Aberdeen, and early in life became known as a skilful surgeon and dissector.

It was his sympathy with the poor of London and a suggestion from Mr. Thomas Wakley of "The Lancet", of which he acted for a time as sub-editor, which first led him to take up skin diseases as a special study. The cases of scrofula, anemia, and blood-poisoning which he saw made him set to work to alleviate the suffering of persons so afflicted, and he quickly established a reputation for treating this class of patients. It was said that he treated the rich by ordering them to give up luxuries; the poor by prescribing for them proper nourishment, which was often provided out of his own pocket. In the opinion of one of his biographers, we owe to Wilson in great measure the habit of the daily bath, and he helped very much to bring the Turkish bath into use in Great Britain.

He wrote much upon the diseases which specially occupied his attention, and his books, "A Healthy Skin" and "Student's Book of Diseases of the Skin", though they were not received without criticism at the time of their appearance, long remained text-books of their subject. He visited the East in order to study leprosy, Switzerland to investigate the causes of goitre, and Italy with the purpose of adding to his knowledge of the skin diseases affecting an ill-nourished peasantry.

He made a large fortune by his successful practice and by skilful investments, and since he had no family he devoted a great deal of his money to charitable and educational purposes. In 1869 he founded the chair and museum of dermatology in the Royal College of Surgeons, of which he was chosen president in 1881, and which just before his death awarded him its honorary gold medal, which had been founded in 1800 and only awarded on six previous occasions. He also founded a professorship of pathology at the University of Aberdeen. After the death of his wife, the bulk of his property, some £200,000, went to the Royal College of Surgeons.

In 1878 he earned the thanks of the nation on different grounds, by defraying the expense of bringing the Egyptian obelisk inaccurately called Cleopatra's Needle from Alexandria to London, where it was erected on the Thames Embankment. The British Government had not thought it worth the expense of transportation. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1881, and died at Westgate-on-Sea in 1884.----"Text above was based on an entry from the 1902 edition of Britannica, It may need some updating or revision"