| Biographical Notes | Physician, philanthropist and entomologist. Born in the Virgin Islands, to a Quaker family, but sent to England for his education. Apprenticed to a surgeon and apothecary in Yorkshire. Trained in medicine at St. Thomas's Hospital London. Upon his father's death Lettsom returned to the Caribbean to take possession of the family plantation. After freeing his slaves he went into medical practice in the West Indies. Returning to Europe he then embarked upon a medical career, studying at Edinburgh, visiting several continental universities and graduating MD at University of Leiden in 1769. Lettsom set up a successful medical practice in London, in addition to which he was a prominent philanthropist, and prolific author of medical and moral improvement tracts, pamphlets and books on topics as diverse as drunkenness, education, soup kitchens, poverty, and the evils of tea drinking. He was a founding member of the Medical Society of London in 1773. |
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