Sir William Gull, 1st Baronet
| Sir William Withey Gull, Bt | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
31 December 1816 Colchester, Essex, England |
| Died | 29 January 1890 (aged 73) 74 Brook Street, London, England |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | Medicine |
| Institutions | Guy's Hospital, London |
| Known for | Naming of Anorexia nervosa, discovery of Gull-Sutton syndrome, seminal research into paraplegia and myxoedema, |
Sir William Withey Gull, 1st Baronet (31 December 1816 – 29 January 1890) was a 19th-century English physician. Of modest family origins, he rose through the ranks of the medical profession to establish a lucrative private practice and serve in a number of prominent roles, including Governor of Guy's Hospital, Fullerian Professor of Physiology and President of the Clinical Society. In 1871, having successfully treated the Prince of Wales during a life-threatening attack of typhoid fever, he was created a Baronet and appointed to be one of the Physicians-in-Ordinary to HM Queen Victoria.
Gull is remembered for a number of significant contributions to medical science, including advancing the understanding of myxoedema, Bright's disease, paraplegia and anorexia nervosa (for which he first established the name).
A widely discredited masonic/royal conspiracy theory created in the 1970s alleged that Gull knew the identity of the perpetrator of the unsolved 1888 Whitechapel murders case, or even was identical with the notorious Jack the Ripper. Although dismissed by scholars, its dramatic nature let the theory evolve and remain popular among producers of fictional works, despite Gull being 72 years old and of ill health when the murders were committed. Examples for his portrayal as Jack the Ripper include the 1988 TV film Jack the Ripper starring Michael Caine as well as the 1996 graphic novel From Hell and its subsequent film adaptation.
William Withey Gull was born on 31 December 1816 in Colchester, Essex. His father, John Gull, was a barge owner and wharfinger and was thirty-eight years old at the time of William's birth. William was born aboard his barge The Dove, then moored at St Osyth Mill in the parish of Saint Leonards. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Chilver and she was forty years old when William was born. William's middle name, Withey, came from his godfather, Captain Withey, a friend and employer of his father and also a local barge owner. He was the youngest of eight children, two of whom died in infancy. Of William’s surviving five siblings, two were brothers (John and Joseph) and three were sisters (Elizabeth, Mary and Maria).
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