author
William Munk
1816–1898
Best remembered for creating the famous "Munk’s Roll," this Victorian physician helped preserve the lives and careers of generations of doctors. He also spent decades practicing medicine in London, with particular expertise in smallpox and the care of seriously ill patients.
1 Audiobook
Euthanasia : or, Medical treatment in aid of an easy death
by William Munk
About the author
Born in Battle, Sussex, in 1816, William Munk studied at University College London and earned his medical degree at Leiden in 1837. He went on to build a long medical career in London and became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
Alongside his clinical work, he became especially known as a medical historian and biographer. His lasting claim to fame is Munk’s Roll, the Royal College of Physicians’ biographical record of its fellows, a work that made his name familiar far beyond his own practice.
Sources consulted during this search agree that he was also regarded as an authority on smallpox, and later writers have noted his interest in relieving pain in incurable disease. He died in 1898, but his name still lives on through the record he created for the history of British medicine.