Holland, Sir Henry (1788-1873), British physician

Purchased from:

Glendining, London, August 1934 (acc.67834); Sotheby's, London, February 1930 (acc.52479), December 1919 (acc.67287) and July 1931 (acc.57468); Stevens, London, August 1931 (acc.68223); Bhajam Lal, Bharatpore, September 1935 (acc.69742); Mrs. Watson, Burnley, March 1945 (acc.72200), presumably once part of the Thomas Madden Stone autograph collection.

Provenance details not recorded (acc.67430 and acc.92291)

Transferred from Wellcome Historical Medical Museum offices c.1939, previous provenance unknown (acc.91800 and acc.91486).

Sir Henry Holland was born on 27 October 1788 at Knutsford, Cheshire. After being schooled in Newcastle upon Tyne and Bristol, he started a medical degree at Edinburgh in 1806. In 1810 he took part in an expedition to Iceland and he his doctoral thesis ‘De morbis Islandiae’ (1811) on the study of the diseases of the Icelanders.

He's had a private practice from 1816 and became a fellow of Royal College of Physicians in 1828. He was appointed physician-extraordinary to Queen Victoria in 1837. He travelled extensively and promoted science as president of the Royal Institution.

Holland was twice married and had two sons ( Henry Thurstan Holland and Francis James Holland) and two daughters from the first marriage and three daughters from the second marriage. He died in London on 27 October 1873.

At Wellcome Collection:

PP/HO/D/A2092; MS.5220/112; MS.6119/111.