Robert Willan 1757-1812 L. 1785

By an unknown artist,

To the waist, turned to the right, his dark eyes looking at the spectator; grey hair, dark velvet coat; a pillar to the right.

Very much in the manner of Lemuel Abbott, and perhaps by him. The costume indicates a date between 1790 and 1800.

Presented to Sedbergh School by his descendant, Mary Howell, and deposited on indefinite loan by the school with the College, 1962.

Robert Willan, the founder of English dermatology, was born near Sedbergh, Yorkshire, into a Quaker family, and began his medical studies at Edinburgh. He moved to London and was appointed physician to the Public Dispensary on its establishment early in 1783.

Dr. Willan was an accomplished classical scholar, a good antiquary, and a sound practical physician. He was the first in this country to classify diseases of the skin in a clear and intelligible manner. He had seen that only upon the elementary forms of eruption could a definite nomenclature be established, and he tirelessly searched for the originally accepted meaning of all the Greek, Roman, and Arabic terms applied to eruptive diseases, before he finally founded his nomenclature on this basis.

The publication of the Description and Treatment of Cutaneous Diseases in parts between 1798 and 1808 established Dr. Willan's reputation, and from its first appearance his income from his practice was ample. Most of his patients suffered from cutaneous diseases, and he was generally regarded by his medical colleagues as the expert and ultimate appeal on such subjects.

Robert Willan's wife, Mary, was the widow of a Dr. Scott. Her maiden name was De Beaufre. They are said to have married in the spring of 1801, and had one child of this marriage, a son who was intended for the Church.