William Woodville

His four volume book on medical botany published between 1790 and 1794 with 300 illustrations of medicinal plants by James Sowerby was an important reference work for physicians in the nineteenth century with a second edition in 1810 followed by a revision in 1832 by William Jackson Hooker and George Spratt.

[1] After spending some time on mainland Europe, he began to practise at Papcastle in his native county, but shortly afterwards moved to Denbigh.

On 17 March 1791, he was elected physician to the smallpox and inoculation hospitals at St. Pancras, in succession to Edward Archer.

It was suspected at the time that Woodville's vaccine had become contaminated with material from his smallpox patients, a conclusion supported by detailed analysis of the evidence.

He appropriated two acres of ground at King's Cross belonging to the hospital as a botanical garden, which he maintained at his own expense.