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Economic Botany Collections
Royal Pharmaceutical Society Collection at Kew
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William George Maton |
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© Royal College of Physicians of London |
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William George Maton (1774-1835)William Maton, born in Salisbury, was a successful and influential physician at the beginning of the 19th century in London. He was the Physician Extraordinary to Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and treasurer of the Royal College of Physicians. He had one of the largest and most successful practices in London and published widely in medicine, botany, natural sciences and local history. He studied the natural sciences at Oxford, receiving his B.A., M.A. and D.M. Under the influence of Richard Pulteney M.D., he abandoned his early intention to enter the Church and went into medicine instead. Maton held many distinguished positions at the Royal College of Physicians, including Harveian orator and Goulstonian lecturer. His medical papers appeared in many journals of the time: Medical Transactions of the Royal College of Physicians of London (1813, 1815), The London Medical and Physical Journal (1801), and he contributed to the Pharmacopoeia Londonensis of 1809 and 1824. His non-medical papers include an edition of the ‘General Writings of Linnaeus’, and various articles on antiquarian subjects published in the Gentleman’s Magazine and Archaeologia. Maton was elected one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society of London in 1794; he was the Vice President for many years and founded the Linnean Club, a dining club for the more ‘zealous and respectable members’ of the society. He was so well admired by his colleagues at the Linnean Society that they named a species of Australian woodpecker, a shellfish and a genus of plants after him. While in residence in Weymouth, Maton had the good fortune to answer a botanical query from one of the young Princesses. He thus became a favourite of the Royal family, not only as their physician, but also a private friend. From the existing documentation it is apparent that Maton was well loved and respected by his peers; he was described as courteous and warm in his demeanour. He was trusted and admired by all who knew him. To read an historical biography on William George Maton download this PDF Back to Maton Collection |