Sir Henry Thompson (1820 - 1904) was born on 6 August 1820 and was brought up in Framlingham in Suffolk. He became a renowned specialist surgeon in urology even before the specialty developed; he was the surgeon who finally removed the bladder stone of Leopold, King of the Belgians.
Thompson however, was much more than a urologist or even a surgeon. Sir Henry Thompson’s interests were broad and varied and ranged from poultry farming, painting and astronomy to the collecting of rare porcelain.
More about Thompson's hobbies..........
Thompson’s success started at medical school. In his first year he came joint first in Anatomy, in his second he won the Gold Medal in Anatomy and the Silver Medal in Chemistry. This was followed by the Gold Medal for Pathology and second place for Surgery. In June 1850 he was elected House Surgeon and in October passed the examination at The Royal College of Surgeons. In 1851, he gained his MB BS coming second with honours in medicine and surgery and winning a Gold Medal in both. He was winner of two Jacksonian prizes for essays on stricture and the prostate and, in 1862, gave the Lettsomian lectures on the subject of “ Practical Lithotomy and Lithotrity ”.
Thompson was particularly adept at passing instruments urethrally and championed per-urethral lithotrity against open stone surgery. In 1847 Thompson travelled to France to be elected as a member of the Société de la Chirurgie and, at that time, was taught the technique of lithotrity by Civiale himself.
His public fame stemmed from his successful lithotrity of Leopold, King of the Belgians' bladder stone in 1863. Thompson was called in for his opinion after both Civiale and Langenbeck had failed to rid the king of his stone.
He was later called upon to treat the bladder stone of Napoleon III of France. He passed his lithotrite on 2 January 1873 and again on the 6th. Unfortunately the Emperor died on the 9th of chronic obstructive uropathy and urosepsis. Although this procedure was unsuccessful, Thompson’s reputation remained intact.
Sir Henry Thompson died in 1904 at the age of 84.
