Carpenter, William Benjamin (1813-1885)

William Benjamin Carpenter (1813-1885), biologist and university administrator, was born in Exeter to a family of strong Unitarian belief. His father, a Unitarian minister moved to Bristol when William was four and established a school, where his son was educated. It was well known for advanced teaching, in the sciences as well as the classics. William was apprenticed to the family friend and doctor John Bishop Estlin, with whom he travelled to the Caribbean in 1833. On his return he studied at the Bristol medical school and then before studying for his MD in Edinburgh in 1839. During this time, he began a career teaching and writing about science and medicine, rather than practicing it. He embarked on a heavy burden of writing, especially the several editions of The Principles of General and Comparative Physiology (1838), The Principles of Human Physiology (1842), and a Popular Cyclopaedia of Natural Sciences (3 vols., 1841-3). After his appointment to the Fullerian professorship in physiology at the Royal Institution in 1844, when he also became FRS, he moved to London. He there gained appointments at University College, contributed extensively to the British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review , and integrated himself into the dynamic scientific network in the city. From 1853 to 1859 he was principal of University Hall, and from 1856 to 1879 the registrar of University College, where he became an unyieldingly through administrator during the creation of the modern University of London, contributing notably to the expansion of science degrees.