George Pearson, MD, FRS physician, chemist and early advocate of Jenner's

Edward Jenner

Edward Anthony Jenner was an English scientist who studied his natural surroundings in Berkeley, Gloucestershire...

 cowpox vaccination.

Davies Gilbert

Davies Gilbert

Davies Gilbert FRS was a British engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830....

, who was then President of the Royal Society, began his 1829 memoir (written anonymously) of Dr. Pearson thus:

'THIS eminent physician, celebrated chemist, and amiable though singular individual has, at an advanced age, fallen under the stroke of his ancient but indomitable enemy.'

He continued:

'Dr. Pearson was born at Rotherham

Rotherham

Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...

 in Yorkshire. [His father, John, was an apothecary]. His grandfather Nathanael, was for years Vicar of Stainton, in that neighbourhood, and died in 1767 at the age of 88. His uncle, George after whom he was named, was a wine-merchant at Doncaster

Doncaster

Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

 for upwards of thirty years a member of the Corporation, and twice Mayor of the Borough.'

Pearson studied in Edinburgh, took his MD in 1771 and went to study for a year at St. Thomas's Hospital. He settled in Doncaster in 1777. In his six years there he became a close friend of John Philip Kemble

John Philip Kemble

John Philip Kemble was an English actor. He was born into a theatrical family as the eldest son of Roger Kemble, actor-manager of a touring troupe. His elder sister Sarah Siddons achieved fame with him on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane...

 and analyised the water at Buxton

Buxton

Buxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England. It has the highest elevation of any market town in England. Located close to the county boundary with Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, Buxton is described as "the gateway to the Peak District National Park"...

, about which he produced a two-volume work.
In 1783 he moved to London and was admitted a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on 25 June 1784. He began to lecture. He was elected (chief) Physician of St. George's Hospital on 23 February 1787, and was there for the next forty years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 23 June 1791 . (He served on the Society's Council in 1802 and in 1827, in which year he gave the Bakerian Lecture).

Davies went on:

'Dr. Pearon was acknowledged by good judges, to be a sound Greek and Latin scholar. He was a hospitable landlord, a disinterested friend, and a very good-humoured and jocose companion : he abounded in nanecdotes, which he took with excellent effect. He would often observe to his friends, that he knew he was growing old; but that he had made up his mind to die 'in harness.

On Sunday November 9, 1828 he died at his home in George Street, Hanover Square

Hanover Square

Hanover Square may refer to:* Hanover Square, London, England* Hanover Square, Manhattan, New York City, USA** Hanover Square , elevated station* Hanover Square, Syracuse, USA-See also:* Hanover Square Rooms, London...

, in Davies' words: 'in consequence of a fall down stairs'.

He left two daughters; one, Frances Priscilla, married John Dodson

Sir John Dodson

Sir John Dodson was an English judge and member of parliament.-Life:Dodson was born at Hurstpierpoint 19 January 1780. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. John Dodson, rector of Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, who died in July 1807, and Frances, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Dawson...

, DCL (and formerly M. P.), and the other was, once again as Davies put it in 1828, single.

A few Selected Works

• George Pearson, Observations and Experiments forinvestigating the Chymical History of the Tepid Springs of Buxton; intended for the improvement of Natural Science and the Art of Physic, two vols., 8vo., J. Johnson, London, 1783.
• George Pearson, Directions for Impregnating the Buxton Waters with its own and other Gases, and for composing Artificial Buxton Water, J. Johnson, London, 1785.
• George Pearson, An account of the preparation and uses of the phosphorated soda; being an abstract of a paper on that subject inserted in the Journal de Physique, August 1788, London, 1789.
• George Pearson, Experiments and Observations on the Constituent Parts of the Potato Root, London, 1795.
• George Pearson, An examination of the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on the claims of remuneration for the vaccine pock inoculation, containing a statement of the principal historical facts of the vaccina, J. Johnson, 1802.
• George Pearson, Researches to discover the faculties of pulmonary absorption with respect to charcoal, Bakerian lecture, delivered to the Royal Society, 20 December 1827.