Samson Gemmell

Samson Gemmell FRFPS (1848 – 2 April 1913) was a Scottish paediatrician who became Regius Professor of Practice of Medicine at the University of Glasgow.

Life Gemmell was born in Catrine in 1848 and was educated at Glasgow High School. He applied to the University of Glasgow to study art, with a goal of joining the Civil Service, but a childhood deformity precluded this career move, and forced Gemmell to switch career to Medicine,

Gemmell died on 2 April 1913, possibly from a heart attack.

Chair Gemmell had a brother called William Gemmell, who donated bequeathed £20,000 to the university, to be used either in the medical or science faculties. £20,000 was a substantial sum of money at the time, equivalent to £624,980 in August 2018. The money was used to establish the first Chair of Paediatrics in Great Britain. The first occupant in 1924, was Leonard Findlay. The Chair of Paediatrics was renamed in 1947 to the Samson Gemmell Chair of Child Health.