Carlisle, Sir Anthony (1768 - 1840), English surgeon and anatomist.

12 various dated and undated letters and invitations of both a personal and professional nature, including a letter dated 1829 from the Institut de France Academie Royale des Sciences in French. Other recipients include Sir Astley Cooper, artist Henry Fuseli, Nicholas Carlisle (brother), Robert Peel and Michael Faraday et al.

Carlisle, Sir Anthony was born on 15 February 1768 in Durham, England. In 1793 he became a surgeon at the Westminster Hospital, London and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1804. In 1808 he secured the post of professor of anatomy at the Royal Academy, where he had also studied art. Carlisle was one of the original members of the Royal College of Surgeons, and he served twice as president in 1829 and 1839. Through his appointment as surgeon to the duke of Gloucester, he became surgeon-extraordinary to the prince regent. When the latter became George IV in 1820, Carlisle was knighted.

In addition to publishing papers as an anatomist in the 'exotic and anomalous' and securing the collections of John Hunter for the RCS, Carlisle was a competent surgeon who wrote several papers on surgical topics, and introduced a few minor improvements to surgical technique such as the use of the thin-bladed, straight-edged amputating knife. In 1800, he and William Nicholson discovered electrolysis by passing a voltaic current through water, decomposing it into its constituent elements of hydrogen and oxygen. He died in London on 2 November 1840.

More information can be foundvia the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

At Wellcome Collection:

MS.5509; MS.7203/1-71; MS.7844/1-96