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Henry Plowman (June 1779 - 1 March 1842) was a Royal Navy surgeon during the War of the Second Coalition and the Napoleonic Wars. He was the second son of the Rev'd John Plowman.. , vicar of Toller Porcorum, with his second wife Elizabeth née Gollop.

In 1817 Henry Plowman married Mary Elizabeth Kirkham at Winterborne Houghton and their daughter was born in 1818 but died aged 8 months in 1819. His wife, Mary, died in 1820. In 1822 he married Frances Louisa Taunton a daughter of Thomas and Agnes Taunton of Wrackleford House. They had three sons. Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy stood as Godfather to the eldest, Thomas Henry, in 1832.

Surgeon's Mate

 * HMS Orion 31 March 1801 - 10 July 1802 . Captain: Robert Cuthbert.
 * On 15 January 1802 whilst anchored at Spithead he wrote his will which was signed by the Captain..


 * HMS Prince 13 April 1803 - 5 January 1804 . Captain: Richard Grindall

Surgeon

 * HMS Thunder 26 January 1804 - 4 September 1805 . Captain: George Cocks.
 * HMS Amphion 5 September 1805 - 30 November 1807 . Captain: William Hoste.
 * In September 1805 Admiral Lord Nelson sent Hoste and the Amphion on a diplomatic mission to Algiers which meant they missed the Battle of Trafalgar by a matter of days,


 * HMS Barfleur 9 March 1808 - 15 May 1809 . Captain: D. M'Cleod.
 * In January 1809 the Barfleur was at Corunna and was involved in the evacuation following the Battle of Corunna. On the 16th January  General Sir David Baird was wounded in the upper arm and taken to HMS Ville de Paris for treatment. Henry Plowman, with the Ville de Paris's surgeon, amputated Baird's left arm. .  Plowman's medical journal records that  the Barfleur received 34 wounded soldiers after the battle of Corunna of which three died, two of them shot through the lungs and one through the abdomen. All the rest at the time of their departure from the ship, which was 10 days after the battle, was in a fair way of recovery .


 * HMS Triumph 16 May 1809 - 10 August 1810 . Captain: Samuel Hood Linzee.
 * On 4 March 1810 HMS Triumph and HMS Phipps, salvaged a large load of elemental mercury from a wrecked Spanish vessel Purisima Concepcion near Cadiz, Spain. 130 tons were removed and stored aboard the two vessels. The quicksilver was in kidskin bladders. The bladders containing the mercury soon ruptured. The element spread about the ships in liquid and vapor forms. The sailors presented with neurologic compromises: tremor, paralysis, and excessive salivation as well as tooth loss, skin problems, and pulmonary complaints, symptoms of mercury poisoning.  Henry Plowman had concluded that the ailments had arisen from inhaling the mercurialized atmosphere. His treatment was to order the lower deck gun ports to be opened, when it was safe to do so; sleeping on the orlop was forbidden; and no men slept in the lower deck if they were at all symptomatic. Windsails were set to channel fresh air into the lower decks day and night.
 * Two papers have been written covering the the effects of Mercurial vapour on the Triumph's crew and Plowman's treatment. The first was in 1823 by William Burnet, MD who published it for presentation to the Royal Society, and the second in 2003 by Dr Michael J. Doherty MD.


 * HMS St Albans 24 November 1810 - 1 October 1811 . Captain: Edward Brace.
 * HMS Barfleur 6 October 1811 - 27 October 1812 . Captain: Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy.
 * HMS Ramillies 2 November 1812 - 28 August 1815 . Captain: Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy.
 * Half Pay.
 * HMS Hyperion 7 March 1827 - 19 September 1828 . Captain: William James Mingay.
 * The Hyperion was based at Newhaven and Plowman was employed as a Supernumerary Surgeon visiting various locations in Sussex.

Half Pay & Retirement
Between 1815 and 1827 Henry Plowman was on half pay living at 9 Portman Street, London, and worked as an apothecary/chemist. He treated Admiral Hardy for a number of medical complaints in 1826 In 1828 Plowman retired on half pay and moved to Dorset. In 1831 he declared himself unfit for Naval service due to the effects of the mercury poisoning he had suffered onboard HMS Triumph.

Whilst living in Dorchester, he was involved in local activities. In July 1834 he was a member of the committee set up to look at the proposed railway between Dorchester and Weymouth. He was the secretary to the Weymouth and Dorchester Medico Chirurgical Book Society, supported Henry Ashley in the 1831 and 1835 elections and in 1838 was elected as a member of the Board of Guardians for the Dorchester Union representing Winterbourne Herringston.

From 1836 Plowman was a subscriber and committee member of the Dorchester Dispensary until it closed in March 1841. He was also involved in the Dispensary's replacement, the Dorset County Hospital, as a subscriber and member of the Management Committee until his death

Henry Plowman died at Dorchester on 1st March 1842 and was buried in the aisle of St Peter's Church Dorchester