George Buchanan (physician)
| George Buchanan | |
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| Born | 5 November 1831 Myddleton Square, Islington, London, UK |
| Died | 5 May 1895 (aged 63) Fitzroy House, Fitzroy Square, London, UK |
Sir George Buchanan, FRS (5 November 1831 – 5 May 1895) was an English physician, epidemiologist and civil servant. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, president of the Epidemiological Society of London (1881–1883), and Chief Medical Officer of the United Kingdom (1879–1892).
Buchanan was the elder son of George Adam Buchanan, general medical practitioner, and Sarah Mary. He received his medical degrees from the University College London and the University of London, graduating in 1854.
Between 1855 and 1860 he worked as an assistant physician at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children. In 1858 he also became a member of the Royal College of Physicians of London, and opened his own practice at Gower Street. Between 1861 and 1968 he worked as physician at the London Fever Hospital. In 1866 Buchanan was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, where he served as censor (1892–1894) and Lettsomian lecturer (1867). He was president of the Epidemiological Society (1881–1883), and in 1882 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
Buchanan was mostly noted for his public health service. In 1856 he was made first medical officer to St Giles, which held the highest death rate among London districts. Based on his observations there he wrote several highly praised reports on the causes and prevention of infectious deceases, eventually becoming a national authority in the field. In particular, his work on vaccination against smallpox led to the Vaccination Act of 1867, and his notes on the causes of typhus during the Lancashire Cotton Famine of 1862 helped fight the decease in Liverpool and Warrington in the late 1860s and eventually eradicate it nationwide after 1870s. Buchanan reasonably attributed the spread of typhus to overcrowding and squalor in big cities. He later noted that reducing soil dampness through drainage works reduced mortality from respiratory tuberculosis.
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