William Warwick Wagstaffe
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 (1875, 1886)
Avulsion fracture of the medial aspect of the distal fibula due to avulsion of the anterior tibiofibular ligament attachment (ATFL). See also: Tillaux-Chaput avulsion fracture – posterolateral tibia avulsion
- Wagstaffe tubercle – insertion site of anterior tibiofibular ligament on the anterior fibula
Major Publications
- Wagstaffe W. An unusual form of fracture of the fibula. St Thomas Hospital Report. 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
Controversies
William Warwick Wagstaffe (Sr), not to be confused with his son: William Warwick Wagstaffe (Jr) (1886-1928)
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.
- Eponymythology: Eponymous Foot, ankle and talus injuries. LITFL
eponym
the person behind the name
