James Spence (surgeon)

He was born on 31 March 1812 at 12 South Bridge in Edinburgh, the son of James Spence, a perfumer, and his third wife.

[1] On qualifying he made two voyages to Calcutta in 1833 as surgeon to an East Indiaman, but returned to Edinburgh to teach anatomy for 7 years as the university demonstrator under Professor Alexander Monro tertius.

[5] In 1864, he was given the chair of systematic surgery as Professor of Surgical Science at Edinburgh University[6] in place of Prof James Miller In 1865 he was appointed Surgeon in Ordinary to Queen Victoria in Scotland and in 1867 was elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for 2 years.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1866 his proposer being Sir David Brewster.

[7] He died at home, 21 Ainslie Place on the Moray Estate in western Edinburgh on 6 June 1882.