Beatty’s instruments on display in College

17 Oct 2013

As a celebration of Trafalgar Day on the 21st October, the surgical instruments of William Beatty, surgeon to Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, will be on view in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow on the afternoons 21st and 28th October, 4th and 11th November 2013 from 2.00 pm until 5.00 pm. Beatty was present at Nelson’s death bed and later wrote an account of the Admiral’s last hours entitled An Authentic Narrative of the Death of Nelson. This book will also be out on display. In the book Beatty provides details of how he preserved Nelson’s body in a cask of brandy in order for it to be taken back to England and a state funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Surgeon Beatty, later Sir William Beatty, went on to become the Physician at Greenwich Hospital and was knighted in 1831. He died in 1842 and is buried in Kensal Green cemetery, London.

Made by Laundy of London, a family business producing instruments from 1783 to about 1843, the set includes a screw tourniquet, an amputation knife with detachable handles, two trephines and forceps, a fine-toothed bow saw, a knife and a hook.

Further information about Monday afternoon openings click here.

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