For the namesake and contemporary Scottish physician and social reformer, see John Roberton

John Roberton (1797)

John Roberton was a Scottish physician and social reformer. He was a pioneer of modern obstetrics and of evidence based medicine, and influential in the intellectual life of Victorian Manchester.-Life:...

.

John Roberton (1776 – 1840) was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 and social reformer. A radical

Radicalism (historical)

The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...

 and fringe figure in the medical profession, he is best remembered for advocating the founding of a medical police to promote health and social welfare and for authoring a book that became the centre of a notorious legal case.

Life

Roberton was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, the eldest of four children to a modest family. By 1799 he was in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 attending medical lectures though he seems never to have graduated

Graduation

Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...

. He was admitted to the Royal Medical Society

Royal Medical Society

The Royal Medical Society is the oldest medical society in the United Kingdom . Known originally as 'the Medical Society' when it was established in 1737, it was granted a Royal Charter in 1778...

 which suggests that he enjoyed the support of a patron

Patrón

Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...

. His early published scientific papers on blister

Blister

A blister is a small pocket of fluid within the upper layers of the skin, typically caused by forceful rubbing , burning, freezing, chemical exposure or infection. Most blisters are filled with a clear fluid called serum or plasma...

s, catarrh

Catarrh

Catarrh is a disorder of inflammation of the mucous membranes in one of the airways or cavities of the body. It can result in a thick exudate of mucus and white blood cells caused by the swelling of the mucous membranes in the head in response to an infection...

 and cantharides already suggest that he nurtured unconventional views. Though he seems to have practised under the supervision of a senior doctor until 1802, he then established himself independently as a general practitioner

General practitioner

A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...

. He specialised in the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and was a single-minded advocate of the use of cantharides. In 1809 Roberton published A Treatise on Medical Police, and on Diet, Regimen, &c.. He was fond of controversy and became involved in many undignified disputes, including that between the rival rites of freemasonry

Freemasonry

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...

. His conduct was eventually adjudged "disgraceful" by the Royal Medical Society and he was expelled, departing for London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1810.

On arrival in London, he started to finalise his work on the pathology

Pathology

Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....

 of the reproductive system

Reproductive system

The reproductive system or genital system is a system of organs within an organism which work together for the purpose of reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are also important accessories to the reproductive system. Unlike most organ systems, the sexes...

, On Diseases of the Generative System and asked Matthew Baillie

Matthew Baillie

Matthew Baillie was a Scottish physician and pathologist.-Life:...

 to accept the dedication of the book. In the book, Roberton had criticised the methods of Sir Everard Home

Everard Home

Sir Everard Home, 1st Baronet FRS was a British physician.Home was born in Kingston-upon-Hull and educated at Westminster School. He gained a schoalrship to Trinity College, Cambridge, but decided instead to become a pupil of his brother-in-law, John Hunter, at St. George's Hospital...

, a relative of Baillie's, and Baillie balked at accepting the dedication. Further, the book made no pretension of being a scientific work. As Roberton asserted in the introduction, "In this work, no tedious, uninteresting investigation will be entered into; it will be purely practical and suited to readers in general." Another undignified exchange of correspondence followed. Owing to his reputation and the somewhat sensational nature of the work along with its explicit illustrations, Roberton had some difficulty in finding a publisher. The book was eventually published by John Joseph Stockdale

John Joseph Stockdale

John Joseph Stockdale was an English publisher and editor with something of a reputation as a pornographer...

, who himself had something of the reputation of a pornographer

Pornography

Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...

, further enhancing its notoriety. Stockdale guaranteed the salacious reputation of the work when he published further editions, himself interpolating still more sensational illustrations. After a well-thumbed copy of the book was discovered by prison inspectors in Newgate Prison

Newgate Prison

Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...

 in 1839, the book became the centre of the important defamation case of Stockdale v. Hansard

Stockdale v. Hansard

Stockdale v Hansard 9 Ad & El 1 was a case in which the Parliament of the United Kingdom unsuccessfully challenged the common law of parliamentary privilege, leading to legislative reform.-Facts:...

.

Roberton was again disgraced but seems to have maintained a prosperous household in St. James's Park

St. James's Park

St. James's Park is a 23 hectare park in the City of Westminster, central London - the oldest of the Royal Parks of London. The park lies at the southernmost tip of the St. James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St. James the Less.- Geographical location :St. James's...

 on the revenue from Generative System and some private practice. Practice by unlicensed and unqualified physicians was not proscribed by law until the Medical Act 1858

Medical Act 1858

The Medical Act 1858 was a British Act of Parliament which created the General Medical Council to regulate doctors in the UK.Describing its purpose, the act notes that "it is expedient that Persons requiring Medical Aid should be enabled to distinguish qualified from unqualified Practitioners".The...

. In 1821, under the pseudonym T. Bell MD, he published, again through Stockdale, Kalogynomia, or the Laws of Female Beauty.

About Roberton

• [Anon.] (1857) "J. Roberton", Lowndes Bibliographers' Manual (Google Books)