William Borthwick (surgeon)

William Borthwick of Pilmuir (1641-1689) was a Scottish surgeon who, having studied at Leiden and Padua, was the first to bring an international perspective to the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He served as Deacon (President) of the Incorporation from 1675-1677 and again from 1681-1683.

William Borthwick was the eldest son of Alexander Borthwick of Maysheill and Pilmuir. He was surgical apprentice to James Borthwick, who would later become his father-in-law. On 15th November 1665 he was elected a Freeman or Fellow of the Incorporation of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He went on to study at Padua in 1666 and then at Leyden, where at the age of 26 he matriculated in September 1667.

In 16 June 1679 Borthwick was commissioned as "Chirurgeon Major of His Majesty's Forces in Scotland" and he was listed as surgeon to the 21st Regiment of Foot (Royal Scots Fusiliers) in 1682.

Borthwick was Deacon (President) of the Incorporation from 1675 to 1677 and again from 1681 to 1683. In 1677 he was appointed with Robert Sibbald, Andrew Balfour and Archibald Stevenson, (all of whom were to be made Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh when it was founded in 1681), to be ‘visitors’ of the ‘phisicall gardin’. This garden for medicinal herbs was in land which belonged to the Trinity Hospital. The site of this garden can be found by platform 11 in Edinburgh Waverley Station, where there is a commemorative plaque. The garden was looked after by James Sutherland, later Professor of Botany at the University. In 1687 John Monro was ‘booked as servant in order to be prenticed’ to William Borthwick, the first connection the Monro family had with surgery.

Borthwick owned the Pilmuir estate in East Lothian. His country home, Pilmuir House, was built in 1627. Some 300 years later it was bought by Sir Henry Wade who left it in Trust to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. In addition to his property at Pilmuir, Borthwick owned a stone house in Edinburgh which had a dining room, "four bedchambers a dark closet and a kitchen", which had cost 6600 merks Scots (£330 sterling).

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