Sir William Church, 1st Baronet

Sir William Selby Church, 1st Baronet, KCB (4 December 1837 – 28 April 1928) was a British physician to St Bartholomew's Hospital, president of the Royal College of Physicians from 1899 to 1905 and president of the Royal Society of Medicine from 1907 to 1909 and also in 1893 (having briefly served after the death of Sir Andrew Clark, 1st Baronet earlier that year).[1] He is best remembered for his ability to direct policy of the associations he belonged to.[2]

Sir William Church, 1st Baronet

KCB
Born(1837-12-04)4 December 1837
Died28 April 1928(1928-04-28) (aged 90)
Education
SpouseSybil Constance Bigge

Biography

Church was born in 1837, the son of John Church.[3] He was educated at Harrow School, where he was captain of the cricket team and then went to Oxford University followed by a placement at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.[4] He was appointed a Physician to the St Bartholomew's Hospital and to the Royal General Dispensary.[2]

He was elected president of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society in 1893 to replace Sir Andrew Clark, who had died in office.[4] He chaired the executive committee of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund from its beginning in 1902 until July 1923.[2]

Church was created a baronet, of Woodside in the Parish of Bishop's Hatfield in the County of Hertford, of Belshill in the Parish of Bamborough in the County of Northumberland, and of Harley Street in the Borough of Saint Marylebone in the County of London, on 28 June 1901.[5] He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902,[6][7] and invested as such by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902.[8]

He received the honorary degree Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) from the Victoria University of Manchester in February 1902, in connection with the 50th jubilee celebrations of the establishment of the university.[9] Two months later, in April 1902, he received the degree D.C.L. from the University of Durham.[10]

From 1908 to 1910, he was elected president of the Royal Society of Medicine, which the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society had become since his previous brief presidency in 1893.[4] Church supported Sir William Osler in the founding of The History of Medicine Society at The Royal Society of Medicine, London in 1912.[11]

Family

Church married, in 1875, Sybil Constance Bigge, daughter of Charles J. Bigge. They had at least two sons, the eldest John William Church (b.1878) died before his father, and he was succeeded as 2nd Baronet by his second son Geoffrey Selby Church (1887–1979).

References
  1. A. E. Garrod, ‘Church, Sir William Selby, first baronet (1837–1928)’, rev. G. C. Cook, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 6 June 2013 Sir William Selby Church (1837–1928): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32412
  2. Rolleston, Humphry (5 May 1928). "SIR WILLIAM SELBY CHURCH, Br., K.C.B., D.M". Br Med J. 1 (3513): 778–780. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.3513.778. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2455800. PMID 20773872.
  3. Brown, G. H. (1928). "Sir William Selby Church". history.rcplondon.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  4. "The College of Physicians in the nineteenth century" (PDF). ClinMed. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  5. "No. 27328". The London Gazette. 28 June 1901. p. 4331.
  6. "The Coronation Honours". The Times. No. 36804. London. 26 June 1902. p. 5.
  7. "No. 27453". The London Gazette. 11 July 1902. p. 4441.
  8. "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36908. London. 25 October 1902. p. 8.
  9. "University intelligence". The Times. No. 36704. London. 1 March 1902. p. 12.
  10. "University intelligence". The Times. No. 36753. London. 28 April 1902. p. 12.
  11. Hunting, Penelope (2002). The History of The Royal Society of Medicine. Royal Society of Medicine Press. pp. 331–333. ISBN 1853154970.
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