Name Alexander Manson | ||
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Alexander Manson FRSE (1774 – 19 March 1840) was a Scottish physician based in Nottingham who pioneered the use of iodine in medicine.
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Life
He was born in Kirkcudbright the son of William Manson and his wife, Ann McGowan. He was christened in Kells on 8 February 1775. He studied Medicine at Edinburgh University.
Alexander Manson served in the Royal Navy from 1798 to 1810 HMS Phoenix, HMS Superb, HMS Sophie, HMS Amethyst and HMS Penelope and at the Invasion of Martinique (1809).
He graduated as MD from University of Edinburgh in 1811.
He was a physician at Nottingham General Hospital from 1813 to 1832, and at St. Mary's Workhouse Dispensary on Mansfield Road. He pioneered the use of iodine as a cure for certain medical conditions. His note books carry records of his cases.
In 1825 he published a reference book about his medical researches into the “effects of Iodine in Bronchocele, Paralysis, Chorea, Scrofula, Fistula, Lachrymalis, Deafness, Dysphagia, White-swelling, and Distortions of the Spine.”
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 7 April 1828 his proposer being Dr Robert Jameson.
During the Reform Riots, Dr. Manson, who was thought to be a supporter of the anti-reformists, was stoned by an angry crowd of demonstrators on 21 September 1831 in his carriage on Pelham Street in Nottingham. Later that same evening his home in Stoney Street, Nottingham was attacked.
He resigned his appointments in 1832 and went to live in Darley Dale, Derbyshire, where he died in 1840 at the age of 66. He is interred in the churchyard of St. Helen's Church, Darley Dale.
A monument was erected in his memory in St Mary's Church, Nottingham.
Family
He married Ann Nevill Grist, daughter of Thomas Grist on 8 February 1814 in St Mary's Church, Nottingham.