William Warwick Wagstaffe (Sr) (1843-1910) was an English General surgeon and anatomist.
Belonged to the progressive school of surgery, an early advocate of the direct reduction of intussusceptions. Most notable was the application of his anatomical knowledge to the study of morbid anatomy, as a means of elucidating the problems of pathology.
Eponymously affiliated with the Wagstaffe Fracture (Wagstaffe-Le Fort fracture) and the Wagstaffe tubercle
Struck down by an obscure nervous malady in 1878, which slowly but steadily removed all his ability for physical activity and he never returned to surgical practice
Biography
- Born 1843
- 1855-1859 Epsom College
- 1861 – BA Kings College, London
- 1864 – MRCS Member of the Royal College of Surgeons
- 1867 – 1st MB, University of London but never to completed his Bachelor of Medicine examinations.
- 1868 – FRCS Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons
- 1871 – Resident Assistant Surgeon the Assistant Surgeon (1874), St Thomas’s Hospital
- 1878 – Developed general spinal paralysis with severe attacks of lightning pains. He became bedridden, but with intellect unimpaired.
- Unable to return to practical work he busied himself for some years in writing reviews for the British Medical Journal, translated Heiberg’s Atlas of the cutaneous nerve supply of the human body (1885), and edited Mayne’s Medical Vocabulary 6e (1889) and 7e
- Died 22 January 1910
Medical Eponyms
- Wagstaffe-Le Fort Fracture – avulsion fracture of anterior margin of distal fibula at insertion of anterior tibio-fibular ligament
- Wagstaffe tubercle – insertion site of anterior tibiofibular ligament on the anterior fibula
Controversies
William Warwick Wagstaffe (Sr), not to be confused with his son: William Warwick Wagstaffe (Jr) (1886-1928)
Major Publications
- Wagstaffe W. An unusual form of fracture of the fibula. St Thomas Hosp Rep. 1875;6:43-49
- Le Gros Clark F, Wagstaffe W. Outlines of surgery and surgical pathology. 1872
- Wagstaffe W. The Student’s guide to human osteology. J & A Churchill. 1875
References
- Obituary: William Warwick Wagstaffe (1843-1910). Lancet. 1910:175:4510;405
- Obituary: Wagstaffe, William Warwick (1843-1910). Br Med J 1910;1:356
- Biography: William Warwick Wagstaffe (1843-1910). Epsom College
- Biography: Wagstaffe, William Warwick senior (1843-1910). Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows Online. Royal College of Surgeons of England.
eponym
the person behind the name
LITFL posts by 
Leave a Reply