James Spence

James Spence FRSE FRCSEd (1812-1882) was a Scottish surgeon. He served as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 1867/68.

Life

He was born on 31 March 1812 at 12 South Bridge in Edinburgh, the son of James Spence, a perfumer, and his third wife.

He was educated at a boarding-school in Galashiels and afterwards at the Royal High School, Edinburgh. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, but left to be apprenticed to Messrs. Scott & Orr, a firm of Edinburgh chemists, at 100 South Bridge. He managed, however, to complete his medical education in the Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine and in 1832 received the diploma of Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

In 1852 Spence was elected a member of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh and served as President in 1871.

In 1864, he was given the chair of systematic surgery as Professor of Surgical Science at Edinburgh University in place of Prof James Miller In 1865 he was appointed Surgeon in Ordinary to Queen Victoria in Scotland and in 1867 was elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for 2 years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1866 his proposer being Sir David Brewster.

Later in life, Spence's leg was amputated. He asked to dissect the limb after the operation.

He died at home, 21 Ainslie Place on the Moray Estate in western Edinburgh on 6 June 1882. He was buried in the Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh. The graves lies in the main south-west section facing onto the south path. His wife and children lie with him.

Publications

He published Lectures on Surgery in 1871. with whom he had six sons and three daughters.

These included John George Spence (1854-1870), Helen Mary Spence (died an infant), Margaret Sarah Spence (d.1927), Thomas Fair Hetherington Spence, a physician (1851-1928), James Edward Kendall Spence (died at sea 1893), and Hamilton Robert Spence (d.1936).

Scientific recognition

The Tail of Spence, an extension of the tissue of the breast that extends into the axilla, is named after him.

Artistic recognition

He was photographed by Hill & Adamson around 1850.