Author: Stevenson, William
Biography:
STEVENSON, William (c. 1719-83: ODNB)
He came from Ireland and his father’s name was William Stevenson but nothing else is known about his parents, place of birth, and early education. A first cousin to Andrew Thomas Stewart of County Tyrone and, through his grandfather, related to the Stuart royal line, he was a lifelong Jacobite. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, earned his MD with a thesis on diabetes, and became a member of the Edinburgh Medical Society soon after its founding in 1737. He practised for a time in Coleraine, County Londonderry, before moving to Bath (where he was sceptical of the medicinal properties of the spa waters as a treatment for gout) and then to Newark, Northants. His medical writings took vigorous exception to some on the cherished medical practises of the day and he was regarded as a venomous quack by many of his colleagues. His Considerations on the Dangerous Effects of Promiscuous Blood-letting and the Common Preposterous Administration of Drugs (1783) was left unfinished on his death at Newark on 13 Apr. 1783. His Original Poems on Several Subjects was published in two volumes in 1765 and is dedicated to his father. (ODNB 19 Nov. 2021) SR