Robert Henderson: Scottish doctor who was appointed Physician to the Forces (1795) and practised at Brighton, England

Abstract

Robert Henderson was a Scottish physician who qualified Doctor of Medicine at Aberdeen in 1786. By 1792, Henderson was working in Brighton on the south coast of England. He was admitted Licentiate of the College of Physicians of London in 1793. At Brighton he probably worked as a parish doctor. In 1795 Henderson was appointed Physician to the Forces and probably served as a garrison doctor. In Brighton, he is noted as an advocate of chalybeate water therapy (i.e. mineral spring water containing iron salts). Henderson undertook basic experiments into the chemistry of mineral water and a few, very brief, clinical observations may be his. In Henderson's time, the chalybeate in question was part of the ‘Wick estate’ to the North West of Brighton. Today the site of the spring is located within St Ann's Well Gardens, Hove and this article briefly considers its history. Circumstances link Henderson to Sir Lucas Pepys MD (1742–1830), physician-general to the army and closely associated with both the College of Physicians and the town of Brighton. Henderson died in Brighton on the 3rd April 1808. Henderson's daughter Sophia Janet married Captain William John Thompson Hood who served at Trafalgar aged eleven.