Author: Shaw, John
Biography:
SHAW, John (1778-1809: ANBO)
Virtually all biographical facts about him are contained in the "biographical sketch" attached to the volume of poetry published by his friends after his death. Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," did not write the sketch but he is credited by name for information about Shaw's early years. He was the son of "a respectable gentleman" (unnamed) of Annapolis MD. He and Key were in the first class of St. John's College, which they attended from 1789 to 1796. Shaw started writing poetry as a boy and published his first poem in a Baltimore newspaper in 1795. He began medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania but within a month had instead signed on as a surgeon in a naval squadron destined for Algiers. He spent some time in Tunis and London and is said to have picked up several languages in the next year or so, then returned to Annapolis. But he soon departed again, this time to study medicine in Edinburgh--instead of which he went from Scotland to Canada in 1803 as physician for a colony of settlers organized by the Earl of Selkirk. (It is worth noting that he never actually qualified for a medical degree.) Back in Annapolis in 1805, he joined an old mentor in practice. In 1807 he married Jane Selby and moved to Baltimore, where he was elected physician to the Baltimore Dispensary and, together with two other practitioners, founded the College of Medicine of Maryland (later the University of Maryland). It is said to have been during experiments that involved exposure to cold water that he contracted the illness that led to his death, at sea, while en route to the Bahamas for his health. (ANBO 10 Sept. 2020; DAB) HJ