Transcript

of

William Sedgwick Saunders [Obituary]

Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. XL, (1908), p. 44.

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1908 Newton Abbot meeting. The three line reference to Dr Saunder’s death appearing in the Obituary Section of the 1908 Association Transactions, to some extent masks his status and importance to the genealogist and historian. The deceased was born in 1824 at Compton Gifford, Plymouth, where his family had resided for many years. He received his early education at King’s College, and at the age of 19 entered St. Thomas’s Hospital, where he obtained many distinctions. An extensive obituary for William Sedgwick Saunders, L.R.C.P. EDIN., M.R.C.S., F.I.C., appears in the British Medical Journal of January 26, 1901, pp. 248-9. Further, a blog that provides detailed research related to the celebrated case of Jack the Ripper, indicates that as Medical Officer of Health and Analyst to the City of London, Dr. Saunders was called to testify at the inquest of Catherine Eddowes, murdered by Jack the Ripper on September 30, 1888. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

William Sedgwick Saunders died at "Cranbrook," Castle Road, Torquay, on March 11, 1908, after a long and painful illness. He joined the Association in 1880.