Gilbert Blane

Sir Gilbert Blane of Blanefield, 1st Baronet FRSE FRS MRCP (29 August 174926 June 1834) was a Scottish medical doctor who instituted health reform in the Royal Navy. He was President of the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London in 1813.

Life

Born in Blanefield, by Kirkoswald, in Ayrshire, he was the fourth son of Gilbert Blane of Blanefield (d.1771) and Agnes McFadzen.

He studied medicine at Edinburgh University and Glasgow University (MD 1778) which established the importance of fresh fruit and vegetables in preventing scurvy, the Admiralty had not implemented his recommendations, and scurvy remained a significant cause of sickness in the Fleet. Later lemons were replaced by limes which could be obtained from Britain's Caribbean colonies, and for this reason, "limey" became a common slang word for a British person.

On his return to Britain, he became Physician to St Thomas' Hospital (1783–1795), Physician Extraordinary to the Prince of Wales (1786) and Physician in Ordinary to the King (George IV and William IV). He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1784 and delivered their Croonian lecture in 1788 On the Nature of the Muscles, and on the Theory of Muscular Motion. By virtue of these court and hospital appointments, he built up a good practice for himself in London, and the government constantly consulted him on questions of public hygiene. In 1795 Blane was appointed as Commissioner on the Sick and Wounded Board of the Admiralty; the provision of soap, lemons, adequate ventilation and standardised medical stores have all been attributed to his reforms. and Elements of Medical Logic (1819).

Death He died at Sackville Street in the Piccadilly area of London on 26 June 1834. It is currently struck in gold-plated Sterling silver; the reverse side is inscribed with the motto 'Mente Manuque '; with mind and hand. Under the original terms, a pair of medals would be awarded biennially. Blane himself judged the first award of a pair of medals in 1832; to Dr John Liddell of HMS Asia for his preparations for the 1827 Battle of Navarino and to Dr William Donnelly of HMS Hussar for his examinations of the nature of syphilis and rheumatic fever. The Gilbert Blane Medal is awarded annually to this day, alternately by the Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Royal College of Physicians, upon the recommendation of the Medical Director General (Navy). The medal was last awarded in 2020 to Surgeon Commander Anton Fries, consultant plastic surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals, for his work on reconstructive transplantation surgery.