William Withering

Advances in medical treatment in the eighteenth century arose mostly from astute clinical observation and meticulous record keeping. William Withering’s recognition of the role of digitalis in the management of dropsy (swelling of the legs, often the result of heart failure) was no exception. Born in Shropshire in 1741, the son of a country doctor, he trained in Edinburgh before setting up practice in Stafford. Here he learned of the use of a decoction of foxglove leaves by a country woman to cure dropsy and after years of careful clinical trial and experimentation, published his classical work entitled "An account of the foxglove and some of its medical uses." Therein he described the criteria which remain the foundation of digitalis therapy today.

He came to Birmingham in 1775 as a general practitioner, medical advisor to Matthew Boulton and specialist to the General Hospital. He was also an outstanding botanist, producing several major publications in that field and an energetic minerologist, climatologist and chemist. A member of the Lunar Society, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Linnaean Society. Forced in his later years by chronic illness to devote less time to medical practice, he moved to Edgbaston Hall where he was able to extend his collection of books, plants and rocks. Here he remained -- apart from one occasion during the Priestly Riots, when the house was attacked by a mob and he was forced to move hurriedly, his books and specimens hidden in wagons covered in straw – until his last days. Just prior to his death in 1799 a friend, after visiting him on his sickbed, commented, "The flower of English physicians is indeed withering." He is buried in Edgbaston Old Church.

Information compiled by Roger Browne, Emeritus Professor, University of Birmingham