Everything about John Pringle totally explained
Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet,
FRS, (
April 10,
1707 -
January 18,
1782) was a
Scottish physician who has been called the "father of military medicine" (although
Ambroise Pare (1510-90) and
Jonathan Letterman (1824-72) have also been accorded this
sobriquet).
Biography
Youth and early career
John Pringle was the youngest son of
Sir John Pringle, 2nd Baronet, of
Stichill,
Roxburghshire (1662 - 1721), by his spouse Magdalen (d. Dec 1739), daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot, of Stobs.
He was educated at
St Andrews, at
Edinburgh, and at
Leiden. In 1730 he graduated with a degree of Doctor of Physics at the last-named university, where he was an intimate friend of
Gerard van Swieten and
Albrecht von Haller.
He settled in
Edinburgh at first as a physician, but between 1733 - 1744 was also Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University.
In 1742 he became physician to the
Earl of Stair, then commanding the British army in
Flanders. About the time of the
battle of Dettingen in Bavaria in June 1743, when the British army was encamped at
Aschaffenburg, Pringle, through the Earl of Stair, brought about an agreement with the
Duc de Noailles, the French commander, that military hospitals on both sides be considered as neutral, immune sanctuaries for the sick and wounded, and should be mutually protected. The
International Red Cross, as constituted by the modern Geneva Conventions, developed from this conception and agreement.
In 1744 he was appointed by the
Duke of Cumberland physician-general to the forces in the
Low Countries. In 1749, having settled in a smart house in
Pall Mall,
London, he was made physician in ordinary to the Duke of Cumberland.
He married April 1, 1752, Charlotte (d. Dec 1753) second daughter of Dr
William Oliver (1695-1764) of
Bath, the inventor of
Bath Oliver biscuits, but they'd no issue.
On
June 5,
1766 John Pringle was created a baronet, and in 1774 he was appointed Physician to His Majesty King
George III.
Academia
His first book,
Observations on the Nature and Cure of Hospital and Jayl Fevers, was published in 1750, and in the same year he contributed to the
Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society three papers on
Experiments on Septic and Antiseptic Substances, which gained him the
Copley Medal. Two years later he published his important work,
Observations on the Diseases of the Army in Camp and Garrison, which entitles him to be regarded as the founder of modern
military medicine.
In November 1772 he was elected president of the Royal Society, a position he held until 1778. In this capacity he delivered six discourses, which were afterwards collected into a single volume (1783).
Pringle was a regular correspondent and friend of
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, the Scottish philosopher. Monboddo was an important thinker in pre-evolutionary theory, and some scholars actually credit him with the concept of
evolution; however, Monboddo was also quite eccentric, which was one reason for Monboddo's not receiving credit for the evolution concepts. It was in a letter to Pringle in 1773 that Monboddo revealed he didn't really hold to a belief of men being born with tails, which was the chief point of his ridicule.
After passing his seventieth year he went, briefly, to Edinburgh in 1780, but returned to London in September 1781, and died in the following year.
Legacy
There is a monument to Pringle in
Westminster Abbey, executed by Nollekens. At Sir John's death his baronetcy became extinct.
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Pringle'.
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