List of former Aesculapian Club members


The Aesculapian Club has had many notable former members. The following sections give a list of former members of the Club in chronological order of their year of election.

1770's

There are two individuals called James Lind who were Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh at this time. The older James Lind was born in 1716 and is most famous for conducting research into the cause and treatment of scurvy. His younger cousin James Lind was born in 1736 and was a physician with interests in natural sciences and botany. He was a similar age to the other founding members making it more likely that he was the Aesculapian. Aesculapian Lind resigned membership of the club after only 11 months in March 1774. In 1774, the younger James Lind is known to have failed to secure a professorship in Edinburgh. Andrew Duncan 'The Elder' and Daniel Rutherford were also applicants.

1790's

There is no record of a William Harkness being a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, but a Walter Harkness became a Fellow in 1792.
There is no record that William Greenfield was a Fellow of either the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh or the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh in 1793 and it was a custom of that Society that non-medical guests who joined in heartily with the proceedings could be invited on multiple occasions and became honorary members by acclamation.
It appears that Thomas Wood was re-elected to the Club in 1796 having resigned membership in 1784.

1830's

1840's

The Aesculapian Club photograph album entry for Charles Bell erroneously includes a copy of the portrait of Charles Bell, whose name is given to unilateral paralysis of the facial nerve. Bell died in 1842 and was not a member of the Aesculapian Club. Aesculapian Charles Bell was the nephew of Sir Charles and the younger brother of Aesculapian George Hamilton Bell.

1880's

1890's

In March 1895 Alexander Peddie was elected a member of the club. His photograph was added to the club's album and his name was included in printed list of members for that year. However, he did not attend any dinners and the minutes from October 1895 record that after due consideration Peddie had declined to become a member. In December 1895, Francis Cadell was elected in his place. Cadell was a surgeon and father of the Scottish colourist Francis Cadell.

1930's

1970's

James Thomson was appointed a consultant surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1964.