User:PBarnaby/sandbox

Peter David Handyside (1808-1881) was an Edinburgh-based surgeon and teacher of anatomy, who was a supporter of the Edinburgh Seven.

Early Life and Education
Handyside was born in Edinburgh, where his father was a Writer to the Signet. He studied Medicine at Edinburgh University, graduating M.D. in 1831. As a student, he was awarded the Harveian Society medal in 1827 and was elected Senior President of the Royal Medical Society the following year. He also served an apprenticeship under the pioneering surgeon James Syme which stimulated an interest in anatomy. Upon graduating he pursued anatomical studies abroad, first in Paris, and then in Heidelberg under the physician Friedrich Tiedemann. Following his return to Scotland, he was awarded the FRCS Edin. (Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh) diploma in 1833, and became a practising surgeon. From 1834 onwards, he combined his practice with teaching anatomy at the city’s extramural schools of medicine.

Career
Initially Handyside taught at 4 Surgeons’ Square (one of three extramural schools existing at the time), placing particular emphasis on its importance in Surgery. In 1841, he acquired another of he city’s extramural schools at 1 Surgeons’ Square, and began lecturing on Systematic Surgery. Shortly thereafter he set up in partnership with Henry Lonsdale and James Spence (1812-82); while Handyside assumed full responsibility for the teaching of Surgery, all three shared the teaching of Anatomy. His move to 1 Surgeons’ Square coincided with his appointment to one of the Surgeoncies in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

In 1842, Handyside applied for the Chair of Systematic Surgery at Edinburgh University, following the death of the incumbent Charles Bell (1774-1842). When James Miller (1812-1864) was preferred for the post, and when, in the same year, Handyside was also passed over for the Chair of General Pathology, he came to feel that his opportunities for advancement in surgery in Edinburgh were limited, and returned to the teaching of Anatomy. He would nonetheless be disappointed again in 1846 when he applied for the University Chair of Anatomy, following the death of Alexander Monro tertius (1773-1859). The Appointment Committee indicated that they were seeking a candidate who could devote all of his time to the Chair, and opted for John Goodsir (1814-1867).

Also in 1846 Handyside moved to the city’s third extra-mural school at 11 Argyle Square, where he taught Anatomy for one session, before withdrawing in favour of his assistant John Struthers (1823-1899) to concentrate on his clinical practice. When Struthers was appointed to the Chair of Anatomy in Aberdeen in 1863, Handyside resumed the teaching of Anatomy at the newly opened Surgeons’ Hall (newly erected by the College of Surgeons following the demolition of the Argyle Square school and now the only extramural school of Medicine in the city).

while in 1871 he was elected President of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh.

Innovative surgeon

In his surgical practice, he was recognised as an excellent operator. He had successfully amputated at the hip-joint in a patient with a malignant tumour o f the femur, and had also performed the operation of ovariotomy, when this was not a popular procedure.

Missionary Activity

He was also from its earliest days associated with the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society, and was on its Committee or was one of its Board o f Directors, in association with amongst others Mr. Benjamin Bell and Professor John Hutton Balfour, for over 40 years.

Handyside and the Edinburgh Seven

Despite the opposition of the then Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Professor Sir Robert Christison (1797-1882), both Drs Handyside and Patrick (later Sir Patrick) Heron Watson14 (1832-1908) consented to admit women to their ordinary classes of Anatomy and Surgery, respectively.