Dr John Reissberg Wolfe, (c. 1824-1904), ophthalmologist

Correspondence including several letters relating to an account of Wolfe’s life written after his death by W J B Riddell, 1860-1925; testimonials, 1859-1873; lecture notes, c.1870-80; off prints of articles, 1867-1873; newspaper cuttings, 1868-1912.

John Reissberg Wolfe was born in Breslau c.1824. He received his medical education at Glasgow University from where he graduated as Doctor of Medicine in 1856. After working for a while in Salonica and then Paris, Dr Wolfe was appointed surgeon to Garibaldi in Sicily. Dr Wolfe’s first post in Scotland was at the Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen. He worked there as an ophthalmic surgeon and lecturer for several years before moving south to Glasgow. He founded the Glasgow Ophthalmic Institution in 1868 shortly after his move. The Ophthalmic Institution merged with the Royal Infirmary in 1891. During his time in Glasgow Dr Wolfe became consulting ophthalmologist to the Royal Infirmary as well as Professor of Ophthalmology in the extra-mural colleges of St Mungo’s and Anderson’s. In his later years, Dr Wolfe emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, working as surgeon-oculist to the Governor of Victoria, John Hope (1860-1908), 7th Earl of Hopetoun and 1st Marquis of Linlithgow. Four years before his death, Dr Wolfe returned to Glasgow where he lived until his death on 26 December 1904.

For an obituary of John Reissberg Wolfe, see the British Medical Journal, 1905 (Volume 1).

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