Talk:Colin Chisholm (medical writer)

Biographical information
I propose to start a talk page on Dr Colin ChisholmAllanfearn (talk) 10:28, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Having successfully done so at the fifth attempt, I would suggest that the biographical content here is badly in need of revision.

The birth date suggested is speculative, and I'm not sure where it originates. Neither of the two DNB articles,which appear to be the foundation of the entry,is particularly reliable. The problem here is that, though Chisholm's father is known, and the date of his first marriage (Dec 1746) is recorded (in the Inverness OPR and accessible via Scotlandspeople) almost nothing else about it is. His father was William Chisholm, fourth son of the clan chief, Roderick Chisholm of Comar, baptised in Kiltarlity in 1717, who died in 1805, variously described as chirurgeon (in the Inverness OPR) surgeon, and physician, and in The Chisholm Writs, a calendar published by the Scottish Record Society, when witnessing a writ of 1751, also as "late of Jamaica". He would appear to have practiced in Kingston, though it's not known whether he had preceded that with military service. He was twice Provost of Inverness, once at the beginning of the American War of Independence and once at the end. William Chisholm's wife was Janet Mackintosh of the Kyllachy family, and Colin named his eldest daughter after her. Colin seems not to have been the eldest son. An older son was named William, thought by AW Mackenzie also to have practiced medicine in Bristol, though he cannot be traced there in local records, but Mackenzie also ascribes a daughter called Janet Mackintosh to this William. The eminent American writer and physician, David Hosack, whose father came from Elgin in Morayshire, in a biographical article on Colin published in 1829 in the American Journal of Medical Sciences, asserts, without published evidence, but he knew, corresponded with, and debated in print with Colin Chisholm, that Colin was born in 1755, and enlisted in what became the 71st Regiment in 1775 as surgeon, (gazetted 11 May 1776), after studying classics in Inverness, and Aberdeen, and medicine and surgery in Edinburgh. He was awarded the degree of MD by Aberdeen in 1793, quite possibly, if Hosack was right about his Edinburgh studies, simply on the strength of his published work since 1785. But he is understood to have been active in encouraging local students to enrol at Aberdeen while practicing in Bristol. He is known to have been in Inverness in 1794, the year of his marriage in Inverness to Elizabeth Cooper, daughter of Henrietta Cooper( widow of John Cooper) a friend of the local laird and Nevis planter Alexander Baillie of Dochfour recently arrived in Inverness from Nevis.

Chisholm's father's second marriage, the date of which is not recorded, though the first recorded child was baptised in 1777, was with Katharine Baillie of Dochfour, sister of Alexander, Evan Baillie (q.v.) and James Baillie, who until his death owned the Bacolet and Hermitage plantaions in Grenada, in which latter Colin, according to his will, owned a share. After his arrival in Bristol, where Evan Baillie pursued the latter part of his active career, it is clear, not least from his will, that he was closely involved with the Dochfour family, but for some reason estranged, as Katharine's own testament records, from his late father's widow.Allanfearn (talk) 11:02, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Aologies for the typo - William Chisholm died in 1807, not 1805.talk) 12:56, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

Stephen's author probably mistranscribed some of the available sources for Chisholm's official positions. The Bristol Memorialist  entry for Chisholm's death gives them as follows  'during the whole of the Revolutionary war surgeon to the 71sr Regiment; afterwards Surgeon to the Ordnance in Grenada; Surgeopn General to the Ordnance on Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedition to the West Indies; and late Inspector General of the Medical department of the Ordnance in the West Indies' but offers no dates. It's not clear whether the expedition mentioned was that to Grenada, or St Vincent, or whether his service under Abercromby extended to Demerara and Essequibo, where he later had interests.Delahays (talk) 17:22, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Provost William Chisholm's will, originally drafted in 1794, and available online only as an attachment to the will of his widow, and second wife Katharine Baillie of Dochfour, describes Colin as his eldest son and makes no mention of the William included by A.W. Mackenzie, referred to above. he does refer to an eldest son of his second marriage, Alexander, who, by a further note to the same will, predeceased him. The description throws Hosack's date of birth into some doubt.46.64.179.37 (talk) 14:05, 18 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the input. I'll try to respond appropriately, in line with content policy, when I have more time. Charles Matthews (talk) 11:07, 20 January 2014 (UTC)


 * So an exact page reference to the article by David Hosack is here. Vol. IV of American Journal of Medical Sciences (1829) is not a volume that I'm finding easily online at present, though other volumes from that year turn up.


 * If the information in the Hosack piece differs from that in the ODNB, it can be placed in the article. And it can be noted that the sources differ. As things stand, I wouldn't want to go further than that, though I find things in the ODNB that are not quite as they should be often enough. Charles Matthews (talk) 21:34, 21 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Something more: the Royal Society database gives his date of birth as 1755. So that is sufficient to put that date in the article. Charles Matthews (talk) 21:54, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Progress! (Although you do wonder whether the Royal Society got it from Hosack). I can add another little bit The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal from July 1817 has an interesting article from him in which he muses in a fairly utilitarian way over typhus in Bristol and possible mechanisms of infection. He describes himself as senior physician to the Clifton dispensary which dealt with between 5,000 and 10,000 patients annually. He includes tables of climate observation from January 1804 to 1816. I think it might be safe to conclude he began formal practice in Bristol in 1803,possibly not at Clifton to begin with. He writes very well, incidentally.46.64.254.252 (talk) 00:44, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Yes, definitely not at Clifton to begin with. in Hosack's collected papers Vol 1 of 1824, (Essays on various subjects of medical science p 330 ff) he quotes a letter from Chisholm  relating to the debate about effluvial sources of infection,  opposed by Chisholm, in which Chisholm says he was a resident of Bitton, Gloucestershire for four years - (Family Search has only two births of Chisholms's children, in 1806 and 1807, Catherine Elizabeth and Rowland Stevenson (who lived only for a year) both born there) with animal processing factoires nearby, but no related infections.Delahays (talk) 01:36, 22 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Daughter Janette has her marriage reported in a January 1826 magazine. There described as second daughter. Charles Matthews (talk) 12:30, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Proposed for Royal Society 1808 - by five, including Haygarth and Jenner, and also Lord Seaforth, who would have known him from his Demerara activities. Seaforth had interests there. The election certificate (Nov.1808) places him in Clifton, which fits. In 1819 (and presumably earlier years) he is shown in Parliamentary Papers as drawing a pension of £91 p.a. on the Ordnance establishment. I think it might turn out that he retired from practice around 1820 - his final years were certainly spent touring Europe.Delahays (talk) 12:18, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

From his will, PROB/11/1699, prepared in 1819 and not subsequently altered, and in which he states he has no expectation whatsoever of further fortune, and concludes the settlement of his estate, it looks as though 1819 was probably the year he retired from active practiceDelahays (talk) 13:35, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Don't know how the Janette may have crept in - his will calls her Janet Mackintosh - his mother's maiden name. Waddington - despite the surname - was French. This line leads to, believe it or not, a Third Republic Prime Minister. Best not to go into that just now. First daughter, Henrietta Frank apparently takes first forename from his mother in law, Henrietta Cooper, who was a widow from Nevis. Son, William Henry Newton, who became an HEIC medic, takes the William from Chisholm's father, the Henry from the deceased father of his wife, Henry Cooper in St Kitts - Newton was a Fraser estate near Inverness, but no evidence it's the source of the forename. Third daughter was Mary Frances, and fourth Catherine Elizabeth (the latter his wife's forename). (EXCEPT other records indicate that his deceased father in law was JOHN, not Henry - the Henry may therefore be from Henrietta, though it's not convincing without further evidence.  Henrietta was,however, the great-niece of the wife of the Nevis merchant James Smith, father-in-law of Alexander Baillie of Dochfour, Inverness, who had worked for Smith in Nevis before becoming his partner.  Baillie's will indicates he had made allowances to Henrietta Cooper - whose name Smith spells COWPER in his will, in Inverness in the 1790s after she had arrived there= authority is Smith's will). The son born in Bitton who did not live longer than a year was Rowland Stevenson, and the source of his forenames has yet to present itself. Henrietta Frank married a naval officer Lieutenat (1828) Thomas Burton Maynard in Southampton in September 1830. One child known, Anthony Edmund born 1832 - registered with 9 years Naval service on Foreign station with a master's ticket 1865, (year after his father on retired list as Commander)1871 census in lodgings at Ryde, dies 1877 Stckwell Street Lambeth, unmarried. . By 1841 Thomas Burton M is marrying again, an Admiral's daughter. Wife's death not recorded, it seems. Other two have so far to be investigated. Delahays (talk) 13:58, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Mary Frances may possibly be the Mary Frances Chisholm who died aet 39 at Ryde in 1840. If so, chances will be she was born in Grenada or Demerara, before Chisholm sailed for homeDelahays (talk) 15:35, 22 January 2014 (UTC)


 * I've been to the library, and filled in a couple of gaps in the biography. Charles Matthews (talk) 15:59, 22 January 2014 (UTC)
 * And here's the memoir in the The American Journal of the Medical Sciences: . Charles Matthews (talk) 16:03, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Should have added that his Demerara plantation was called "Success". His will doesn't mention it, so it's likely to have been disposed of - not clear when. At the time of compensation, in the 1830s, it was owned by Richard Michael Jones. It was a centre of uprising in the 1823 disturbances. (see entry on him in the website Slaves and Highlanders46.64.254.252 (talk) 21:29, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Whoops - the idea that he married in England (especially when used as shorthand for Great Britain) is the kind of thing that raises Scots hackles. Even if the view from Grenada is different. He married in 1794, at Inverness, Elizabeth Cooper, daughter of a St Kitts merchant, Henry Cooper, whose widow, Henrietta had come to Inverness with her daughter and was being partly maintained by the Nevis absentee planter and former merchant, Alexander Baillie of Dochfour, (elder brother of Evan) who had married, and was now the widower of. Sarah Smith, daughter of his partner there. I've corrected this. Whenever she was actually born, Janet Mackintosh Chisholm could not have been born in 1805, since the fourth daughter, Catherine Elizabeth's, birth is recorded in 1805 at Bitton (see Family search) 1800 is more plausible,(since i.a the third daughter, if she did die at 39 in 1840, as the Ryde burial register suggests, would have been born in 1801, but currently no Grenada or Demerara birth records seem to be accessible online. There is a ScotlandsPeople reproduction of the marriage record date 23 Dec 1794, OPR Marriages 098/00 0080 0191 INVERNESS.  He is described as Colin Chisholm Esq of Grenada. She as Eliza, but they seem to have preferred Elizabeth.46.64.254.252 (talk) 21:42, 22 January 2014 (UTC).

Plantation Success is recorded before 1812 as under the attorneyship of a John Wilson and was later in the hands of John Gladstone.46.64.254.252 (talk) 23:04, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Another obit in the Edinburgh Surgical and Medical Journal Vol 23 ( I take that to be 1825) p 423, April issue, eBook on Google, Free, suggests the Aberdeen degree was A.M., and that his medical studies were in Edinburgh as of Session 1772-3. An Edinburgh magazine might be just as liable to error as any other about that. I'll try and check the Aberdeen records - the Edinburgh class records probably don't survive and there's no suggestion Edinburgh gave him a degree. But it seems to cnfirm the notion Rollo was involved in his stay in Grenada after the American war. It makes no mention of Demerara though. On this just now David Alston (Slaves and Highlanders) better informed than most. In view of the lack of an undisputed birth date it's worth noting that this source places him among the oldest Fellows of the Royal Society. A 1755 dob would make him 70 at death. Election at 50 + in a year in which he was a father for possibly the last time couldn't have been that uncommon46.64.254.252 (talk) 01:01, 23 January 2014 (UTC).

Hosack confirms he retired from practice in 1819, (giving his age at that juncture as 69) moving to Switzerland for 'the better education of his children' (though his son William Henry Newton Chisholm had joined the EIC as an asstant surgeon in the Bengal Army in 1817 (papers in the India office collection in the BritishLibrary).Delahays (talk) 15:56, 23 January 2014 (UTC)

Chisholm's son, William Henry Newton Chisholm. who joined the EIC (Bombay) army medical service in 1817 has a date of birth recorded in the India Office family search website as 24 Sep 1797 The HEIC list of 1845 doesn't show him, and the website only uses his full name to record his birth. It does show a William Chisholm who died in 1840 but ....Delahays (talk) 01:18, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Error - The William Chisholm who witnessed the writ and is described above as a surgeon practising in formerly Jamaica wasn't the future Provost and not Colin Chisholm's father - (see Inventory of Chisholm writs). My fault.86.131.144.75 (talk) 11:37, 29 September 2015 (UTC)