Sir George Reid

Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn, 1826 - 1914. President of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh

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About this artwork

As Edinburgh's first Medical Officer of Health, Henry Littlejohn did much to educate the city's population in matters of personal and public hygiene. During his term, the death rate dropped dramatically and cases of smallpox and typhus became a rarity. A Professor of Medical Jurisprudence at Edinburgh University, he was also a brilliant teacher, holding his classes of over 250 students spell-bound. Shown here as if pausing in mid-sentence during a lecture, Littlejohn received this portrait as a retirement gift from his pupils in 1907.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
    Sir George Reid (1841 - 1913) Scottish
  • title:
    Sir Henry Duncan Littlejohn, 1826 - 1914. President of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh
  • date created:
    About 1907
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    102.20 x 76.20 cm; Framed: 138.40 x 111.80 x 11.00 cm / 25.00 kg
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Bequeathed by Professor Harvey Littlejohn 1927
  • accession number:
    PG 1042
  • gallery:
  • depicted:
  • subject:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Sir George Reid

Sir George Reid