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Identity statement

Reference code(s)

GB0100 G/PP2/3-6

Title

BABINGTON, William (1756-1833)

Date(s)

[1790s]

Level of description

Collection (fonds)

Extent and medium of the unit of description (quantity, bulk, or size)

4 volumes

Context

Name of creator(s)

Babington, William, 1756-1833, physician and mineralogist

Administrative / Biographical history

William Babington was born at Portglenone, near Coleraine, Antrim, Ireland. Apprenticed to a practitioner at Londonderry, and afterwards completed his medical education at Guy's Hospital, London, but without at that time taking a medical degree. In 1777 he was made assistant surgeon to Haslar (Naval) Hospital, and held this appointment four years. He then obtained the position of apothecary to Guy's Hospital, and also lectured on chemistry in the medical school. He resigned the post of apothecary, and, having obtained the necessary degree of MD from the University of Aberdeen in 1795, was elected physician to Guy's Hospital. In 1796 he became a licentiate of the College of Physicians, and remained so till 1827, when he received the unusual honour of being elected fellow by special grace. In 1831 he was made honorary MD by the University of Dublin. He ceased to be physician to Guy's in 1811. He died on 29 April 1833. His son, Benjamin Guy Babington was also also physician to Guy's Hospital, and one of his daughters married the eminent physician, Dr. Richard Bright. Publications: Syllabus of the Course of Chemical Lectures at Guy's Hospital , 1789; A Systematic Arrangement of Minerals, founded on the joint consideration of their chemical, physical, and external characters, etc , London, 1795; A New System of Mineralogy, in the Form of Catalogue, after the manner of Baron Born's systematic catalogue of the collection of fossils of Mlle. Eleonore de Raab , London, 1799; A Catalogue, systematically arranged and described ... of the genuine and valuable collection of minerals, of a gentleman deceased ... comprising upwards of three thousand specimens ... now offered to the public for sale, etc . [Compiled by W. Babington and others.] Henry Fry: London, 1805; Outlines of a course of lectures on the practice of medicine,. as delivered in the medical school of Guy's Hospital , William Babington and James Curry, London,1802-1806; A syllabus of a course of chemical lectures read at Guy's Hospital William Babington, Alexander Marcet, and William Allen, ... 1816; Two Cases of Rabies Canina, in which opium was given, without success ... the one by William Babington ... the other by William Wavell ... Communicated by Dr. Babington; 'A Case of Exposure to the Vapour of Burning Charcoal' ( Med.-Chirurgical Transactions , vol. i. 1806).

Archival history

Acquired by Guy's Hospital Medical School Library

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Transferred from Guy's Hospital Medical School Library in 2002

Content & structure

Scope and content

Papers relating to William Babington, comprising four manuscript volumes of notes on lectures taken by unidentified writers, titled 'Babington's Lectures' (on chemistry); 'Babington's chemistry'; 'Lectures on therapeutics delivered at Guy's Hospital by William Babington MD, 1796'; 'Lectures on the materia medica delivered at Guy's Hospital by William Babington M D, 1796'.

System of arrangement

As outlined in scope and content.

Conditions of access & use

Conditions governing access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archive and Corporate Record Services.

Language/scripts of material

English

Finding aids

Detailed catalogue

Allied materials

Existence and location of originals

King's College London College Archives

Description control

Archivist's Note

Sources: British Library Public On-line Catalogue; Dictionary of National Biography CD-ROM (Oxford University Press, 1995). Compiled by Alison Field

Rules or conventions

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal Place and Corporate Names 1997.

This catalogue is made available under the Open Data Commons Attribution License. This catalogue may be updated from time to time in order to reflect additional material and/or new understandings of the material.

Date(s) of descriptions

June 2004