William Marsden (surgeon)

William Marsden (Sheffield, 1796 - London, 1867) was an English surgeon whose main achievements are the founding of two presently well-known hospitals, the Royal Free Hospital (in 1828) and the Royal Marsden Hospital (in 1851).

Marsden studied for a time at St Bartholomew's Hospital under the famous surgeon and lecturer John Abernethy (1764-1831). In 1818 he set up a small treatment house in Gray's Inn Road, Holborn (formally constituted as the Royal Free Hospital ten years later) to treat patients with no fee or formality, after discovering the problems the poor had in obtaining medical treatment.

A few years later, Marsden turned his attention to cancer sufferers and, in 1851, set up another small establishment in Cannon Row, Westminster. This grew into the Brompton Cancer Hospital (now the Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham Road site).

He is buried in West Norwood Cemetery, South London.