Joseph Toynbee FRS (30 December 1815[1] – 7 July 1866) was an English otologist whose career was dedicated to pathological and anatomical studies of the ear.

[2] He was the third[3] son of fifteen children of the wealthy land owner and farmer George Toynbee (1783–1865).

His first experience in medicine came when he was apprenticed to William Wade of the Westminster General Dispensary in Gerrard Street in London's Soho.

He studied anatomy under George Derby Dermott (1802–1847) at Hunterian Medical School at the Great Windmill Street, and later gained a reputation as a prosector.

He died on 7 July 1866, at 18, Saville Row, Mayfair, while conducting experiments with prussic acid and chloroform as a remedy for tinnitus.