Thomas Paytherus (1752–1828): Entrepreneurial surgeon-apothecary and ardent Jennerian

Abstract

Thomas Paytherus was born in Fownhope and apprenticed in Gloucester. He practised there and in Ross-on-Wye where he and Edward Jenner undertook an autopsy on a patient with angina that they linked causally to coronary artery ossification. In 1794 Paytherus moved to London and opened a highly successful pharmacy that he later sold to his partners Savory and Moore. Paytherus was among those who advised Jenner on the publication of his work on vaccination. Then he acted as an intermediary in the dispute between Jenner and Ingen-Housz and also alerted Jenner to Pearson’s claims as a pioneer of vaccination. In 1800 he published a detailed analysis of the dispute between Jenner and Woodville whose patients had developed variola-like lesions following vaccination. Their correspondence shows that Paytherus, Jenner and their families remained firm friends. Paytherus and his family moved to Abergavenny where he died in 1828.