For the American jazz drummer, see Roy Porter (drummer)

Roy Porter (drummer)

Roy Lee Porter was an American jazz drummer.Porter moved from Walsenburg to Colorado Springs when he was eight years old and began playing drums in rhythm and blues bands while a teenager. He attended Wiley College in Texas briefly, where trumpeter Kenny Dorham was a fellow student...

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Roy Sydney Porter (31 December 1946 — 3 March 2002) was a British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 noted for his prolific work on the history of medicine

History of medicine

All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, astral influence, or the will of the gods...

.

Life

Porter grew up in South London

South London

South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...

 and attended Wilson's School

Wilson's School

Wilson's School is a boys' grammar school in Wallington, in the London Borough of Sutton, UK. Admission is based on performance in an entrance test with around 1,000 pupils being taught there....

 in Camberwell

Camberwell

Camberwell is a district of south London, England, and forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up inner city district located southeast of Charing Cross. To the west it has a boundary with the London Borough of Lambeth.-Toponymy:...

. He won a scholarship to Christ's College

Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...

, Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, where he studied under J. H. Plumb. His contemporaries included Simon Schama

Simon Schama

Simon Michael Schama, CBE is a British historian and art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain...

 and Andrew Wheatcroft. He achieved a double starred first

British undergraduate degree classification

The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...

 and became a junior Fellow

Fellow

A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...

 in 1968, studying under Robert M. Young

Robert M. Young (academic)

For other people with this name, see Robert Young ----Robert Maxwell Young, usually known as Robert M. Young or Bob Young , is a historian of science specialising in the 19th century and particularly Darwinian thought, a philosopher of the biological and human sciences, and a Kleinian...

 and lecturing on the British Enlightenment. In 1972, he moved to Churchill College

Churchill College, Cambridge

Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.In 1958, a Trust was established with Sir Winston Churchill as its Chairman of Trustees, to build and endow a college for 60 fellows and 540 Students as a national and Commonwealth memorial to Winston Churchill; its...

 as the Director of Studies in History, later becoming Dean in 1977. He received his doctorate

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 in 1974, publishing a thesis on the history of geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 as a scientific discipline. He was then appointed to the post of Assistant Lecturer in European History at Cambridge University and promoted to Lecturer in European History in 1977.

In 1979 he joined the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (part of the University College, London) as a lecturer. In 1993 he became Professor of Social History at the Institute. He briefly served as its Director. In 2000, Porter published The Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World. He retired in September 2001, moving to the Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

 coast, where he wanted to learn to play the saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

, cultivate his allotment and engage in some travelling. He died of a heart attack five months later, while cycling. His memorial service was on April 22, 2002 at St Pancras

St Pancras, London

St Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially-designated areas, but now is used informally and rarely having been largely superseded by several other names for overlapping districts.-Ancient parish:...

 Parish Church.

He was married four times in his life, firstly to Sue Limb

Sue Limb

Sue Limb is a British writer and broadcaster. She studied Elizabethan lyric poetry at Cambridge and then trained in education. She lives on an organic farm near Nailsworth, Gloucestershire....

 (1970), then Jacqueline Rainfray (1983), then Dorothy Watkins (1987) and finally Hannah Augstein. At the time of his death, his partner was Natsu Hattori.

He was known for the fact that he needed very little sleep.

Media appearances

Roy Porter made many television and radio appearances. He was an original presenter of BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...

's Nightwaves, a programme on which he was scheduled to appear, discussing doctors in literature, at the point of his death.

He also spoke at a large variety of events, and was known for his oratory talents.

Honours

Roy Porter was elected a fellow of the British Academy

British Academy

The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...

 in 1994, and was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians

Royal College of Physicians

The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...

 and the Royal College of Psychiatrists

Royal College of Psychiatrists

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom responsible for representing psychiatrists, psychiatric research and providing public information about mental health problems...

.

A plaque for the memory of Roy Porter was unveiled by the Mayor of Lewisham in a ceremony that took place on Thursday 5 June at 13 Camplin Street, New Cross Gate, London.

Works

Starting with the publishing of his PhD thesis, as The Making of Geology in 1977, Porter wrote or edited over 100 books, an academic output that was, and is, considered remarkable. He is particularly notable for his work in the history of medicine, in pioneering an approach that focuses on patients rather than doctors. Despite his recognition in the history of medicine, he is quoted as saying, "I'm not really a medical historian. I'm a social historian and an 18th century man". In addition to the history of medicine and other sciences, he specialised in the social history

Social history

Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...

 of 18th-century Britain

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 and the Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

. He also wrote and lectured on the history of 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...

. With G. E. Berrios

G. E. Berrios

German E. Berrios is a Professor of Psychiatry at Cambridge University in the UK.He was born in Tacna, Peru, and studied medicine and philosophy at the University of San Marcos . Subsequently, he read psychology and philosophy at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University, where he was a scholar by...

, Porter published A History of Clinical Psychiatry (1985) and co-edited the international journal History of Psychiatry (1989). He also edited the journal History of Science for many years.

In 2007 Roberta Bivins and John V. Pickstone edited Medicine, Madness and Social History: Essays in Honour of Roy Porter (Palgrave Macmillan). Several of the essays address Porter's work directly, and William F. Bynum appends a biographical sketch.

On the history of science

• The Making of Geology: Earth Science in Britain, 1660-1815 (Cambridge and New York, 1977; reprinted 1980) (ISBN 9780521215213)
• The Earth Sciences: An Annotated Bibliography (New York and London, 1983) (ISBN 9780824092672)
• Man Masters Nature: Twenty-Five Centuries of Science (1989) ISBN 9780807612330

On the history of medicine

• The History of Medicine: Past, Present and Future (Uppsala, 1983)
• A Social History of Madness: Stories of the Insane (London, 1987; 1989; 1996) (ISBN 9780297792239)
• Disease, Medicine, and Society in England, 1550-1860 (London, 1987; Basingstoke, 1993; Cambridge, 1995) (ISBN 9780333398654)
• Mind-Forg'd Manacles: A History of Madness in England from the Restoration to the Regency (London, 1987; 1990) (ISBN 9780485113242)
• Health for Sale: Quackery in England, 1660-1850 (Manchester and New York, 1989) (ISBN 9780719019036)
• Doctor of Society: Thomas Beddoes and the Sick Trade in Late Enlightenment England (London, 1991)
• The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity (London, 1997; 1999) ISBN 9780393046342

• Nicholas Venette: Conjugal Love (1983) ISBN 9780862451073
• Anatomy of Madness (1985) ISBN 9780317193589
• Disease, Medicine, and Society in England, 1550-1860 (1995) ISBN 9780521552622
• The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine (1996) ISBN 9780521442114

• A Social History of Madness: The World Through the Eyes of the Insane (1988) ISBN 9781555841850
• Bodies Politic: Disease, Death, and Doctors in Britain, 1650-1900 (2001) ISBN 9780801439537
• Madness: A Brief History (2002) ISBN 9780192802668
• Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine (2003) ISBN 9780393037623
• Flesh in the Age of Reason (2004) ISBN 9780393050752
• The Cambridge History of Medicine (2006) ISBN 9780521864268
• Madmen: A Social History of Madhouses, Mad-Doctors and Lunatics (2006) ISBN 9780752437309

On the Enlightenment

• Edward Gibbon: Making History (London, 1988) (ISBN 9780297793373)
• The Enlightenment (Basingstoke, 1990; 2001)
• Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World (London, 2000) (ISBN 9780713991529)
  • Published in the USA as The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment (New York, 2000) (ISBN 9780393048728)

On social history

• English Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1982; Harmondsworth, 1990) (ISBN 9780140220995)
• London: A Social History (London, 1994; 1996; 2000) (ISBN 9780674538382)
• The Rise and Fall of London's Town Centres: Lessons for the Future (London, 1996) (ISBN 9781899626250)

History Today Articles

• "Under the influence": mesmerism in England (September 1985)
• The Rise and Fall of the Age of Miracles (November 1996)
• Bethlam/Bedlam: Methods of Madness? (October 1997)
• Reading is Bad for your Health (March 1998)
• Matrix of modernity - Roy Porter discusses how the British Enlightenment paved the way for the creation of the modern world (April 2001)
• The body politic: diseases and discourses - Roy Porter shows how 18th-century images of the medical profession flow over into the work of political caricaturists (October 2001)

Co-authored

• Rape, with Sylvana Tomaselli (1986) ISBN 9780393046342
• Patient's Progress: Doctors and Doctoring in Eighteenth-Century England, with Dorothy Porter (1989) ISBN 9780804717441
• The Facts of Life: The Creation of Sexual Knowledge in Britain, 1650-1950, with Lesley A Hall (1995) ISBN 9780300062212
• Gout: The Patrician Malady, with G S Rousseau
  George Rousseau
  George Sebastian Rousseau is an American cultural historian. He was educated at Amherst College and Princeton University where he obtained his doctorate. From 1966 to 1968 he was part of the English Faculty at Harvard University, before moving to a professorship at UCLA, and later to the Regius...
  
   (1998) ISBN 9780300073867

As editor

• The Ferment of Knowledge: Studies in the Historiography of Eighteenth-Century Science, with G S Rousseau
  George Rousseau
  George Sebastian Rousseau is an American cultural historian. He was educated at Amherst College and Princeton University where he obtained his doctorate. From 1966 to 1968 he was part of the English Faculty at Harvard University, before moving to a professorship at UCLA, and later to the Regius...
  
   (1980) ISBN 9780521225991
• Dictionary of the History of Science, with W F Bynum and E J Browne (1981) ISBN 9780691082875
• The Enlightenment in National Context, with Mikulás̆ Teich (1981) ISBN 9780521237574
  • Contributed essay, 'The Enlightenment in England'
• The Anatomy of Madness: Essays in the History of Psychiatry, 3 volumes, with W F Bynum and Michael Shepherd (1985) ISBN 9780422794305
  • Volume I: People and Ideas - contributed essay 'The Hunger of Imagination: approaching Samuel Johnson's melancholy'
• Revolution in History, with Mikulás̆ Teich (1986) ISBN 9780521259781
  • Contributed essay, 'The scientific revolution: a spoke in the wheel?'
• Problems and Methods in the History of Medicine, with Andrew Wear (1987) ISBN 9780709936879
• The Social History of Language, with Peter Burke (1987) ISBN 9780521301589
• Drugs and Narcotics in History, with Mikulás̆ Teich (1988) ISBN 9780521431637
• Romanticism in National Context, with Mikulás̆ Teich (1988) ISBN 9780521326056
• Sexual Underworlds of the Enlightenment, with G S Rousseau
  George Rousseau
  George Sebastian Rousseau is an American cultural historian. He was educated at Amherst College and Princeton University where he obtained his doctorate. From 1966 to 1968 he was part of the English Faculty at Harvard University, before moving to a professorship at UCLA, and later to the Regius...
  
   (1988) ISBN 9780807817827
• The Dialectics of Friendship, with Sylvana Tomaselli (1989) ISBN 9780415017510
• The Hospital in History, with Lindsay Patricia Granshaw (1989) ISBN 9780415003759
• Exoticism in the Enlightenment, with G S Rousseau
  George Rousseau
  George Sebastian Rousseau is an American cultural historian. He was educated at Amherst College and Princeton University where he obtained his doctorate. From 1966 to 1968 he was part of the English Faculty at Harvard University, before moving to a professorship at UCLA, and later to the Regius...
  
   (1989) ISBN 9780719026775
• Fin de Siècle and its Legacy, with Mikulás̆ Teich (1990) ISBN 9780521341080
• The Popularization of Medicine, 1650-1850 (1992) ISBN 9780415072175
• The Renaissance in National Context, with Mikulás̆ Teich (1992) ISBN 9780521361811
• The Scientific Revolution in National Context, with Mikulás̆ Teich (1992) ISBN 9780521395106
• Consumption and the World of Goods, with John Brewer (1993) ISBN 9780415037129
• Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine, with W F Bynum (1993) ISBN 9780415047715
• A Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century World History, with Jeremy Black (1994) ISBN 9780631180685
• The Biographical History of Scientists (1994) ISBN 9780195210835
• Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Science: The History of Attitudes to Sexuality, with Mikulás̆ Teich (1994) ISBN 9780521444347
• Inventing Human Science: Eighteenth-Century Domains, with Christopher Fox and Robert Wokler (1995) ISBN 9780520200104
• Languages and Jargons: Contributions Towards the Social History of Language, with Peter Burke (1995) ISBN 9780745612799
• Pleasure in the Eighteenth Century, with Marie Mulvey Roberts (1996) ISBN 9780814766446
• Nature and Society in Historical Context, with Mikulás̆ Teich and Bo Gustafsson (1997) ISBN 9780521495301
• From Physico-Theology to Bio-Technology: Essays in the Social and Cultural History of Biosciences, with Kurt Bayertz (1998)ISBN 978-9042005013
  • Also contributed essay 'Gout and quackery; or, banks and mountebanks'
• Toleration in Enlightenment Europe, with Ole Peter Grell (2000) ISBN 9780521651967
• The Confinement of the Insane: International Perspectives, 1800-1965, with David Wright (2003) ISBN 9780521802062
• Oxford Dictionary of Scientific Quotations, with W F Bynum (2005) ISBN 9780198584094

Books about Roy Porter

• Remembering Roy Porter (2002, The Wellcome Trust)
• Medicine, Madness and Social History: Essays in Honour of Roy Porter (2007) ISBN 9780230525498

External links

• Roy Porter memorial and bibliography at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL website.
• Roy Porter at The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  .