James Sawyer

Sawyer was born in Carlisle on 11 August 1844 the son of James Sawyer and his wife Ann George .[1][2] [3]His father was a chemist and his mother was the daughter of a saddler.[4] [5]

Sawyer's grandfather had moved to Carlisle from the south of England in the 1820's with the help and encouragement of his former commanding officer, Sir Hew Dalrymple Ross, under whom he had served at Waterloo and in many battles of the Peninsular War. [6][7] This grandfather kept the Old King's Head in Carlisle from 1826 to 1854.[8]

In 1854, Sawyer's grandfather moved to Sparkhill to live with his daughter, Sarah who had married Walter John Breach Scott, a wealthy Birmingham businessman. [8] [7] [9] [10] [11]This link with Birmingham influenced the next stage of Sawyer's life.[12]

in 1862, Sawyer enrolled as a student at the medical department of Queen’s College, Birmingham. [13]In 1863, he was placed in the first class at the matriculation examination of the University of London and he was elected as a Warneford scholar. [14] [15]In 1866, he was admitted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and in 1867, graduated as a Bachelor of Medicine. From 1867 to 1871, he was Resident Physician and Medical Tutor at the Queen’s Hospital. In 1871, he commenced private practice in Birmingham and was appointed honorary physician to the Queen's Hospital.[16]

He held a number of Professorships at Queen's College. Professor of Pathology from 1875 to 1878 ; Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics from 1878 to 1885; and Professor of Medicine from 1885 to 1891.[16] [17]

From 1881 to 1889, he was a senior physician at the Queen's Hospital.[16]

In 1891 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were George Alexander Gibson, William Smith Greenfield, Sir Byrom Bramwell, and Alexander Bruce.[18]

He retired in 1891 but delivered the Lumleian Lecture to the Royal College of Physicians in 1908 (Points of Practice in Maladies of the Heart). [19]

Sawyer and his wife were both active in local politics, working strenuously in support of the Conservative Party.[20] From 1886 to 1889, he was President of the Birmingham Conservative Association, resigning from the office because of a split within the organisation.[16]

In 1885, he was knighted by Queen Victoria in recognition of his standing in the medical profession and his services to the Queen's Hospital.[16]

In 1898, he was President of the Warwickshire Chamber of Agriculture [16]

In 1901, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries for his archaeological work and his research into the history of Haseley and the heraldry of Shakespeare. [21]

He was also a Freemason and a magistrate.[16]

On 13 May 1873, he married Adelaide Mary Hill, the daughter of Rev John Harwood Hill (Rector of Cranoe in Leicestershire from 1837 to 1886) and his wife, Ann Maria Jiggins (the daughter of a Cambridge innkeeper). [22] [23] [24] [25]

Sawyer and his wife had four children: James Edgar Hill, Maud, Amy, and Ralph Fitz James.[26]

Haseley Hall, Five Ways

In 1890, Sawyer bought Haseley Hall, at Five Ways, Hatton, Warwickshire, from a Mr Campbell (probably Daniel Colin Campbell) and lived there for the rest of his life.[27] [28] [29] Before moving in, he engaged Messrs Wood and Kendrick, architects of West Bromwich, to remodel the house.[28] One of the internal features of the house was a magnificent oak staircase next to a stained glass window that bore a coat of arms and the motto Cherche et tu trouveras ("Seek and thou shalt find").[28]

He also had a house built in central Birmingham, in 1902, on Cornwall Street (now number 93, and Grade II* listed), by the architects T W F Newton and Cheattle, in Arts and Crafts style.[30]

While living at Haseley Hall, Sawyer and his family pursued an aristocratic lifestyle. They celebrated the coming of age of their eldest son with a ball and garden party and presented their daughters at court.[31] [32] [33] They also hosted lavish parties for villagers and members of the Primrose League.

Sawyer died at Haseley Hall on 19 January 1919 aged 74.[34] His widow died at Burwash in 1934 aged 84.[35] [36]

In 1900, Sawyer argued that the increased rate of cancer in England and Wales was due to the excessive consumption of red meat.[37][38] He suggested in his 1912 book Coprostasis that colorectal cancer was practically unknown amongst agricultural labourers because they worked in fields and had the opportunity to defecate in the natural squatting position.[39]

• A Guide to the Physical Diagnosis of the Diseases of the Lungs and Heart (1870)
• Contributions to Practical Medicine (1886, 1912)
• Coprostasis: Its Causes , Prevention and Treatment (1912)[40]
• Insomnia: Its Causes and Treatment (1912)

• G. Cooke Adams
• Ernest H. Tipper