John Fife (surgeon)

After qualifying as a member of the London College of Surgeons, he was for a short time an army assistant-surgeon at Woolwich, but returned to Newcastle in 1815, and commenced practice with his father.

As a practitioner, and especially as a surgeon, the took a leading position in his town and throughout the northern counties, being remarkable for his punctuality and for the long distances he would ride in all weathers.

In 1848, assisted by Dr Robert Mortimer Glover, he did the autopsy on the 15 year old Hannah Greener, who had died controversially under the effects of the then-new drug chloroform, the first human death from this cause.

In 1838–9 he was mayor, and when the Chartist outbreak of July 1839 took place he displayed conspicuous courage and good judgment in suppressing it.

After a life of great activity, Fife suffered from stone in the bladder, which was removed by Sir W. Fergusson in 1870, but he was compelled to retire from practice.