Michael Underwood

Michael Underwood (29 September 1737 – 14 March 1820) was an English physician and surgeon, born in West Molesey in Surrey. He is a relevant figure in the history of medicine and pediatrics for having given the first known description of several childhood diseases, infantile paralysis and polio included.

Early life Michael Underwood was born on 29 September 1737. He received a good education, first at West Molesey School in Surrey and then at Kensington, London. Underwood wished to continue enter the medical profession, and gained the attention of eminent surgeon Sir Cæsar Hawkins, 1st Baronet, who had served as sergeant-surgeon to George II. Hawkins secured Underwood an appointment as a house pupil at St. George's Hospital, where he studied under Hawkins for several years. In later life, Underwood expressed his indebtedness to this “long residence in one of the largest and best conducted hospitals in the metropolis."

Early career After living briefly in Paris, Underwood became a member of the Surgeon's Company and established a practice in both surgery and obstetrics in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square. He was later appointed surgeon to the British Lying‐in Hospital in London.

Career highlights In 1784, then working as physician rather than surgeon for the British Lying-in Hospital in London, Underwood published his most famous text, A treatise on the diseases of children, with general directions for the management of infants from birth. Underwood's book featured many new descriptions of pediatric diseases and illnesses, including sclerema neonatorum (which became known as Underwood's disease); it also contained the first description of infantile paralysis. Underwood's pediatric Treatise brought him fame and distinction. Over the next 60 years his book went through 10 editions, seven during his lifetime and three more after his death, edited by Samuel Merriman (1826), Marshall Hall (1835), and H Davies (1846). It was also published in France, Germany, and America. He was later elected a member of the Royal College of Physicians in London.

In 1796, Underwood was chosen as accoucheur at the birth of Princess Charlotte of Wales. In 1801, he fell sick and retired from his profession. That time was economically difficult for him, but, as a religious man, he later "regained its healthy tone, and he was enable to realize the hopes and consolations of the Gospel."

Death Underwood died at Knightsbridge on 14 March 1820, aged 82.

Posthumous publication His fame had not led to great wealth, and his widowed daughter was left unsupported by his death. In order to help her financially, friends published Extracts from the Diary of the late Michael Underwood, M.D. consisting of Mediation, Critical and Practical Remarks on various Passages of Scripture, Miscellaneous Essays, and Occasional Hymns in 1823. Underwood's diary (composed of 122 volumes) recounted the minutiae of his daily life, along with meditations on various other subjects, especially religious ones.

A review of the book in The Monthly Repository described the physician as "a man of sincere and deep piety; his creed was highly Calvinistic." The work was said to be mournful at times, and another review in The London Literary Gazette said that "its author seems to have overshadowed and bewildered his mind by painful metaphysical contemplation of the greatest mysteries of religion; but he displays a Christian, if a too intense, anxiety to arrive at truth and satisfy his soul."

Works Treatise upon ulcers of the legs, scrophulous sores and mammary abscesses (1783) See Surgical tracts, containing a treatise upon ulcers of the legs (1788) A Treatise on the Diseases of Children: With Directions for the Management of Infants; Extracts from the diary of the late Michael Underwood, MD (1823)