Medical and surgery case book of John Badley

Volume entitled 'Cases in Surgery by John Badley' in which Badley describes various medical cases he attended, or witnessed, whilst working under the supervision of John Abernethy (1764-1831) at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London mainly during 1802. The final cases in this volume refer to patients Badley attended in his hometown of Dudley, then in Worcestershire, in 1803. Over half of the volume has been used with the remaining pages left blank. Badley has numbered the used pages and also given each individual cases a running number.

The cases described in this volume cover diverse medical topics including gallstones and urinary infections; hernias; tumours, some of which Badley deems to be cancerous; loss of vision; knife wounds; attempted suicide by pistol; head wounds; concussion; broken bones; and amputations. Detailed descriptions of the medical treatments used by Badley and his contemporaries have been provided. These treatments included bleeding; applying leeches; blistering the skin; prescribing various medicines including opium, magnesia, castor oil and wine; and administering purgatives in order to induce bowel movements. Badley often provides details of the patients general state of health including their pulse rate and state of breathing. He also states whether the patient survived following their treatment. In cases when the patient died Badley sometimes provides details of any postmortem undertaken to determine the cause of death. In some cases Badley offers his opinion on medical treatments and whether the correct course of action had been taken.

Only a handful of Badley's patients are named although he does sometimes record their initials. He normally states the sex, age and physical build of his patients. A few entries are dated but the vast majority are not. Other surgeons practising at St Bartholomew's Hospital at this time are also referred to. These individuals include Sir Charles Blick, John Abernethy, Sir James Earle (1755-1817), Mr Blizard, Mr Long and Mr Ramsden.

The volume is a valuable resource for researchers interested in the history of health, medicine and surgery. The volume details a number of medical treatments as well as describing the thought processes of a medical practitioner dealing with a variety of health complaints in a busy London hospital in the early years of the nineteenth century.

John Badley was born in Dudley, Worcestershire on 23 July 1783. His parents were William Badley, a surgeon, and Sarah Cox. John Badley studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London where it is said that he was a favourite pupil of John Abernethy (1764-1831). Abernethy was a leading surgeon of the time and was himself a student of the surgeon and anatomist John Hunter (1728-1793) with whom he was personally acquainted. Badley became a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons on 3 June 1803 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons on 11 December 1843. Along with Abernethy, Badley is listed as one of the original 300 Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons. He is also listed in Plarr's 'Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons'.

During 1803 Badley appears to have permanently returned to Dudley to practise medicine. His return to Dudley was likely due to his father's then poor health. It is said that Badley was a popular surgeon who was greatly in demand throughout the Midlands during the first half of the nineteenth century.

In 1810 John Badley married his first cousin, Mary Fisher Badley. The couple had eight children. The eldest two sons emigrated to America. The seventh child, James Payton Badley, remained in England and later assumed his father's practice. James Payton Badley married Laura Elizabeth Best and the couple had three daughters and one son, John Haden Badley (1865-1967), who was the founder of Bedales School in Petersfield, Hampshire. Bedales School was the first co-educational school in England.

John Badley died on 16 April 1870 and was buried in his father's vault at St Edmund's church in Dudley where there is also a memorial in the nave of the church.

Sources: Plarr's Lives of the Fellows Online available at: http://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/biogs/E000474b.htm viewed 23 November 2011; Find a Grave website available at: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8798023 viewed 23 November 2011; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography available at: http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47647 viewed 23 November 2011

Open. Access to all registered researchers

Transferred to Special Collections from the Barnes Library in 1999

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Description prepared by Mark Eccleston, November 2011, in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material

Formerly located in the Barnes Library in the Medical School at the University of Birmingham. Former reference MSS23 and then MSS49

Special Collections holds a volume of English words derived from Greek with the inscription 'John Badley's book', reference: MS487. The department also holds a manuscript volume entitled 'Mr John Hunter's lectures on the principles of surgery' with the name John Badley inscribed in the front flyleaf, reference MS701

The volume has lost its original binding and has subsequently been rebound