John C. Lettsome



Dr. John Coakley Lettsome (1744—1815) was born on Little Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. He was born into one of the early Quaker settlements in the British Territory. His surname is sometimes spelled Lettsom, particularly during the period of his life during which he resided in the British Virgin Islands. Dr. Lettsome founded the Medical Society of London in 1773. The Medical Society of London was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthropist, Dr John Coakley Lettsome, who was convinced that a combined membership of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries would prove productive. His revolutionary idea met with success and the Society has provided a forum for all branches of the medical profession for the last 231 years. Situated at the heart of London's medical community at Lettsome House, Chandos Street, near Cavendish Square, this is the oldest medical society in the United Kingdom.

As founder, President (1775–76, 1784–85, 1808–11, 1813–15), and benefactor Lettsome was the mainstay of the Society from 1773 until his death in 1815.

Life
John Coakley Lettsome was born into the Quaker community on the island of Little Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands, in 1744. John and his brother were the sole survivors of seven sets of male twins, sons of Edward and Mary Lettsome. John alone was sent to England at the age of 6 to be educated; perhaps he was the strongest twin, he certainly proved to be resilient.

At school in Lancashire the antics of the young Lettsome attracted the attention of the Quaker preacher Samuel Fothergill, who introduced his protégé to his brother, the London physician, Dr John Fothergill. Having completed an apprenticeship to a Yorkshire apothecary, Lettsome came to London in 1766 when through the influence of Dr Fothergill, he commenced a medical training at St Thomas' Hospital. His studies were interrupted by the death of his father, prompting his return to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands where he freed the slaves he had inherited and provided medical care for the local population. As the only doctor in the islands at that time, he was able to earn a considerable sum. Diligence and industry earned him a fortune, enabling him to resume his studies in Europe and culminating in the submission of his MD thesis on the Natural History of the Tea-tree to Leyden University in 1769.

Lettsome was also a close friend of two other enormously influential North American Quakers, Benjamin Franklin and William Thornton.

Career
Lettsome's career accelerated with the LRCP and marriage to an heiress. By the age of 30 his reputation as a physician, author, and Fellow of the Royal Society was established. Furthermore, he had founded the General Dispensary in Aldersgate Street and the Medical Society of London. He was a founder-member of the Royal Humane Society in 1774, he initiated the Sea-bathing Infirmary at Margate (1791), became a pillar of the Royal Jennerian Society and gave his support to the Society for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men, the Society for the Relief of Debtors, and the Philanthropic Society. Numerous clubs, societies, hospitals, dispensaries, and charitable institutions in the United Kingdom and North America benefited from Lettsome's patronage, while from his pen there flowed a stream of "Hints", pamphlets, diatribes, and letters promoting Sunday schools, female industry, provision for the blind, a bee society, soup kitchens and the mangel-wurzel, and condemning quackery, card parties, and intemperance. In the diversity of his interests, as physician, philanthropist, botanist, mineralogist and collector, Lettsome was in the mould of that giant of the previous generation of London physicians, Sir Hans Sloane.

As founder, President (1775–76, 1784–85, 1808–11, 1813–15), and benefactor Lettsome was the mainstay of the Society from 1773 until his death in 1815. His influence remained strong and his example inspired the next generation of Fellows—men such as Dr Thomas Pettigrew, his biographer, and Dr Henry Clutterbuck, who followed in Lettsome's footsteps as President of the Society and physician to the General Dispensary.

Abolitionism
Lettsome was also a noted abolitionist. In 1767 he had returned to the British Virgin Islands after the death of his father, and found himself the owner of a share of his father's slaves, whom he promptly manumitted. Lettsome then set up a medical practice on Tortola, and as the only physician on the island amassed a veritable small fortune of £2,000 in a mere six months, whereupon he gave half to his mother (who had remarried) and returned to London.

When his good friend, William Thornton, sought his advice about setting up a colony for freed slaves on the west coast of Africa, Lettsome counseled against it, and suggested that spending the money acquiring and manumitting the slaves in North America would be a better use of funds.

However, towards the end of his life, something ironic happened. Lettsome's son, Pickering Lettsome, returned to Tortola to practice law, and there he married a wealthy widow, who had inherited some 1,000 slaves from her grandfather, Benzaliel Hodge. Pickering Lettsome died about a month after the marriage, and his new wife (some 16 years his senior) died two months later, and left all of her property to her father-in-law, John Lettsome. By a twist of fate, shortly before his own death, Lettsome, who had freed all the slaves he had ever owned, found himself as the owner of another 1,000 slaves. However, Lettsome himself died before he had a chance to decide what to do with the slaves, and they were inherited by his grandson.

Entomology
Lettsome was an entomologist. He wrote The naturalist's and traveler's companion, containing instructions for collecting and preserving objects of natural history and for promoting inquiries after human knowledge in general. London: E. and C. Dilly (1774)a much used work.

Links

 * Postgraduate Medical Journal 2004;80:350-354