James Sawyer

Sir James Sawyer FRSE FRCP FSA JP (11 August 1844 – 19 January 1919)[1] was a 19th-century British physician and cancer researcher.

James Sawyer
Born(1844-08-11)11 August 1844
Carlisle, England
Died19 January 1919(1919-01-19) (aged 74)
Hatton, England
EducationQueen's College, Birmingham
OccupationPhysician
SpouseAnn Ross

Life
Haseley Hall, Five Ways

Sawyer was born in Carlisle on 11 August 1844 the son of James Sawyer and his wife Ann Ross.[1] He studied Medicine at Queen's College, Birmingham graduating in 1866. He then took a post as a resident physician at Queen's Hospital, Birmingham becoming full Physician in 1871. He then also took on a secondary role as Physician at Birmingham Children's Hospital.[2]

In 1873 he married Adelaide Mary Hill, daughter of Rev J. Harwood Hill of Cranoe in Leicestershire. They had two sons (including Lt Col James H Sawyer) and two daughters, one of whom married Dr H S French.[2] In 1875 his alma mater elected him Professor of Pathology and in 1878 he also began lecturing in Materia Medica. He became Professor of Medicine (in charge of the whole department) in 1885. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in the same year.[3]

He bought Haseley Hall, at Five Ways, Hatton, Warwickshire, Warwickshire, from Sir Edward Antrobus[4] in 1889 and lived there for the rest of his life.[5] He also has a house built in central Birmingham, in 1902, on Cornwall Street (now number 93, and Grade II* listed), by the architects T W F Newton and Cheattle, in Arts and Crafts style.[6]

In 1891 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were George Alexander Gibson, William Smith Greenfield, Sir Byrom Bramwell, and Alexander Bruce.[7]

He retired in 1891 but delivered the Lumleian Lecture to the Royal College of Physicians in 1908 (Points of Practice in Maladies of the Heart). He was President of the Birmingham Conservative Association and the Warwickshire Chamber of Agriculture in 1902.

Sawyer died at Haseley Hall on 19 January 1919.[8]

Cancer research

In 1900, Sawyer argued that the increased rate of cancer in England and Wales was due to the excessive consumption of red meat.[9][10] He suggested in his 1912 book Coprostasis that colorectal cancer was practically unknown amongst agricultural labourers because they worked in fields and had the opportunity to defaecate in the natural squatting position.[11]

Publications

References
  1. "Sir James Sawyer". history.rcplondon.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  2. BMJ, obituary 1 February 1919.
  3. Lancet, obituary, February 1919.
  4. "Haseley Hall, Five Ways (C) Robin Stott". www.geograph.org.uk.
  5. "Warwick Message Board: Knowhere Guide". www.knowhere.co.uk.
  6. "93, Cornwall Street B3, Birmingham - 1075645 | Historic England". Historic England. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  7. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  8. "Munks Roll Details for James (Sir) Sawyer". munksroll.rcplondon.ac.uk.
  9. "Increase of Cancerous Growths Attributable to an Increased Meat Diet". The American Practitioner. 29: 349. 1900.
  10. Proctor, Robert. (1995). Cancer Wars: How Politics Shapes What We Know and Don't Know About Cancer. Basic Books. p. 33. ISBN 0-465-02756-3
  11. Horton, James C. (2000). Inner Hygiene: Constipation and the Pursuit of Health in Modern Society. Oxford University Press. p. 204. ISBN 0-19-513581-4
  12. "Coprostasis: Its Causes, Prevention and Treatment". JAMA. 61 (23): 2092. 1913. doi:10.1001/jama.1913.04350240066039.
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