Thomas Masterman Winterbottom

He was appointed physician to the colony of the Sierra Leone Company in 1792, spending 4 years in Africa.

He wrote an account of his time in Africa which was published in 1803,[4] and which contains the description of African trypanosomiasis (Sleeping sickness), for which he is known.

He retained his interest in medicine until his death at the age of 93, at the time the oldest doctor in Britain.

His wife had died in 1840, and he had no children, so his considerable estate was left to a number of charities which he had supported during his life.

The bulk of this bequest was to found the South Shields Marine College, which he had established in 1837.