Pettigrew, Thomas Joseph (1791-1865)

The collection covers both Pettigrew's medical and antiquarian activities, which are intermingled in the material's arrangement.

The medical items include correspondence with many medical figures, medical jurisprudence (an Anniversary Oration delivered to the Medical Society of London), corpulence, hydrophobia and medical observations by army officers in India.

The antiquarian items include material on Kett's Rebellion, Hindu deities, the library of the Duke of Sussex and correspondence with the Italian antiquary Giovanni Spano (1803-1878) as part of Pettigrew's role as Vice-President of the British Archaeological Society.

Spanning the two areas is work done for his biography of John Coakley Lettsom M.D. Types of material held include notebooks, loose papers, correspondence and diplomas.

The papers are in English, with some Italian material in MSS.5979-5981.

MS.3666 comprises an autobiographical memoir of the philanthropist and prison-reformer James Neild (1744-1814), transcribed by Pettigrew and incorporated into his life of John Coakley Lettsom M.D.

MSS.3860-3867 comprise material by Pettigrew, held in chronological order of composition.

MSS. 5371-5372 comprise letters to Pettigrew and miscellaneous papers, of which MS. 5371 comprises loose letters and MS.5372 a bound volume.

MSS.5979-5981 relate to relations with the Italian antiquary Giovanni Spano: MS.5979 consists of printed works by Spano, MS.5980 of English translations of some of these works, and MS.5981 of letters to Pettigrew from Spano and Gaetano Cara, plus related papers.

MS.7406 comprises correspondence by Pettigrew (and one letter by Mary Pettigrew).

MSL.MS.129 consists of a volume of diplomas presented to Pettigrew, spanning his whole career.

In English, plus some Italian material in MSS.5979-5981.

Thomas Pettigrew was born in London in 1791, the son of William Pettigrew, a naval surgeon. He began medical studies in his teens as his father's assistant and as an apprentice, later studying at the Borough Hospitals. He became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1812 (and a fellow in 1843).

In 1808 he became a member of the Medical Society of London, in 1811 one of its Secretaries, and in 1813 its Registrar. During these years he was also involved in the founding of the City Philosophical Society and the Philosophical Society of London. He was Secretary of the Royal Humane Society during the years 1813-1820, through the influence of John Coakley Lettsom M.D. (1744-1815); shortly after Lettsom's death he published Memoirs of the life and writings of John Coakley Lettsom, M.D. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1817).

Through his position in the Royal Humane Society he came into contact with the Duke of Kent to whom he became surgeon in ordinary (vaccinating the Duke's daughter, the future Queen Victoria). He later also became surgeon to the Duke of Sussex and became involved in the cataloguing of the Duke's library.

He acted as Surgeon to a sequence of London hospitals until arriving at his forties. After this point he concentrated on private practice and increasingly upon his antiquarian interests: when the British Archaeological Society was founded in 1843 Pettigrew became its treasurer and moving spirit. On his wife's death in 1854 he retired from medicine entirely to concentrate on antiquarian matters. He died in 1865.

At Wellcome Collection:

MSS.3721, 3924 and 5373-5374 were acquired at the same time as the material described above and formed part of the Pettigrew Collection sold at this time. MS.3721 comprises a collection of drawings of exotic birds by an unknown hand, with a note by Pettigrew in the front. MS. 3924 consists of memoranda made by James Plumptre (1770-1832) concerning Pettigrew's life of John Coakley Lettsom. MSS.5373-5374 comprise notes and correspondence by Nicholas Carlisle (1771-1847), antiquary, for an unpublished second edition of his A concise description of the endowed grammar schools in England and Wales (London, 1818), which were later presented by Carlisle to Pettigrew for the latter's work on the seals of the grammar schools.