Henry Burton (physician)
Dr Henry Burton FRCP (27 February 1799 – 10 August 1849) was a British physician and chemist, who is famous for his identification of blue discolouration of the gums, the eponymous Burton line, as a symptom of lead poisoning.
Dr Henry Burton MD, ML, MD, BS, FRCP | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 February 1799 |
| Died | 10 August 1849 |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Tonbridge School |
| Alma mater | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, St Bartholomew's Hospital |
| Occupation(s) | Physician, chemist |
| Known for | Burton line |
| Spouse |
Mary Elizabeth Poulton
(m. 1826) |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives |
|
Family
Henry Burton was a son of the London property developer James Burton and his wife Elizabeth Westley (1761 – 1837).[1] Henry was a brother of the gunpowder manufacturer William Ford Burton, the architect Decimus Burton, and the Egyptologist, James Burton.[1][2][3]
As the Cambridge Alumni Database identifies,[4] some sources, including the entry for Henry Burton in the Royal College of Physicians’s Lives of the Fellows,[5] incorrectly state that Henry Burton was the son of one ‘John Burton’. This is incorrect: he was the son of the aforementioned James Burton.[4][3][1][2]
On his father's side, his great-great grandparents were Rev. James Haliburton (1681–1756) and Margaret Eliott, daughter of Sir William Eliott, 2nd Baronet and aunt of George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield.[2] Henry was descended from John Haliburton (1573–1627), from whom Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet could trace his descent on the maternal side.[1] He was a cousin of the Tory MP Thomas Chandler Haliburton, and of the civil servant Arthur Lawrence Haliburton, 1st Baron Haliburton.[3][6][7]
Career
Henry was educated at Tonbridge School,[1] Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, at which he received the degrees MB, ML, MD, BS, and FRCP,[4][5] and later at St Bartholomew's Hospital.[4]
He went to sea on the 98-gun HMS Boyne before resigning from the Navy and entering the Gunpowder Office.[3] In September 1825, he became Professor of Chemistry at St Thomas' Hospital,[4][5][1] where he subsequently became Senior Physician. He was appointed Censor of the Royal College of Physicians in 1838 and later was appointed Consiliarius[4][5] He is famous for his discovery that a blue line on the gums, the eponymous Burton line, is a symptom of lead poisoning.[5][8][9]
Marriage
Henry Burton married Mary Elizabeth, eldest daughter of William Poulton of Maidenhead, at St. George's, Bloomsbury, in 1826.[2] She died in 1829, without issue, and Henry did not remarry.[3][2] Henry lived at 41 Jermyn Street, London,[4] and 58 Marina, St. Leonard's-on-Sea.[3][2]
References
- Whitbourn, Philip (2003). Decimus Burton, Esquire: Architect and Gentleman (1800 - 1881). Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-9545343-0-1.
- "Pedigree of Henry Burton, The Weald Archives".
- Burton, James (1783–1811). "The Diary of James Burton". The National Archives. Retrieved 18 June 2018 – via Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.
- "Burton, Henry (BRTN821H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- "Royal College of Physicians, Lives of the Fellows: Munk's Roll, Volume IV, p.8, Henry Burton". Royal College of Physicians. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- Davies, Richard A. (2005). Inventing Sam Slick: A Biography of Thomas Chandler Haliburton. University of Toronto Press. pp. 71–73.
- "Haliburton [Haleburton; formerly Burton], James (1788–1862), Egyptologist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11926. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Riva MA, Lafranconi A, D'Orso MI, Cesana G (2012). "Lead Poisoning: Historical Aspects of a Paradigmatic Occupational and Environmental Disease". Saf Health Work. 3 (1): 11–6. doi:10.5491/SHAW.2012.3.1.11. PMC 3430923. PMID 22953225.
- Pearce J.M.S. (2007). "Burton's line in lead poisoning". Eur. Neurol. 57 (2): 118–119. doi:10.1159/000098100. PMID 17179719. Retrieved 21 March 2009.