Thomas Morton (surgeon)

Born 20 March 1813 in the parish of St. Andrew, Newcastle upon Tyne, he was the youngest son of Joseph Morton, a master mariner, and brother of Andrew Morton the portrait painter. He was apprenticed to James Church, house-surgeon to the Newcastle Infirmary, and then in 1832 became a medical student at University College, London.[1]

Admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England on 24 July 1835, Morton was appointed house-surgeon at the North London Hospital under Samuel Cooper, unusually being reappointed when after one year of office. In 1836 he was made demonstrator of anatomy jointly with Mr. Ellis, a post he held for nine years. In 1842 he became assistant surgeon to the hospital, the first student of the college to join the staff.[1]

In 1848 Morton was appointed full surgeon to the hospital on the resignation of James Syme. He was also surgeon to the Queen's Bench prison in succession to Cooper, his father-in-law. He was a candidate for the professorship of surgery at University College when James Arnott was appointed.[1]

Morton committed suicide on 29 October 1849, at his house in Woburn Place, London.[1]

"A dissection of the groin, showing the fascia, blood-vessels", illustration to The Surgical Anatomy of the Groin (1839) by Thomas Morton and William Cadge

Grave of Thomas Morton in Highgate Cemetery

Morton's works were:[1]

• Surgical Anatomy of the Perinseum, London, 1838.
• Surgical Anatomy of the Groin, London, 1839.
• Surgical Anatomy of Inguinal Herniæ, London, 1841.
• Anatomical Engravings, London, 1845.
• Surgical Anatomy, with William Cadge, London, 1850.

They were illustrated by his brother Andrew Morton,[1] and lithographed by William Fairland.[2]

Morton married Mary Ann, the only daughter of Samuel Cooper, the author of the Surgical Dictionary,[1] and they had one daughter.[3]

He is buried with his brother Andrew on the west side of Highgate Cemetery.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1894). "Morton, Thomas (1813-1849)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.