Alexander Taylor (physician)

Sir Alexander Taylor FRSE MRIA (1802–18 May 1879) was a 19th-century Scottish physician and author. He attended to the wounded in both sides dring the Franco-Prussian War. His book The Climate of Pau promoted the town as tourist destination. Rue Alexander Taylor in Pau is named in his honour.[1]

Life

He was born in 1802 in Alton, Ayrshire the son of William Taylor, a ship-owner. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh gaining his doctorate (MD) in 1825.[2]

In 1835 he served as Staff Surgeon to the English Auxiliary Force in Spain. In 1839 he settled in Pau in the Pyrenees and lived and worked there for the rest of his life.

In 1842 he published "The Climate of Pau" which did much to promote the town as a tourist destination. This was said to combat "Winter Depression" and respiratory disease and was first aimed at English-speaking countries, then translated into several European languages.[3] Visitors coming as a result of his encouragement included Mary Lincoln.[4]

In 1846 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposer was John Argyll Robertson.[2] He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1865.

In 1870 he did much to relieve the injured in Pau during the Franco-Prussian War. In this he aided the injured on both sides of the conflict.[5]

After the death of his wife in June 1878 he lived in a boarding house on Rue Montpensier.

He died on 18 May 1879 at 5 Cayton Crescent in Hampstead during a visit to relatives in London.[2] His body was returned to Pau and he was buried next to his wife in the municipal cemetery in the town.

On Christmas Day 1878 a stained glass window was erected by him to the memory of his wife, Lady Taylor, in the Protestant Church on Rue Serviez in Pau.

Family

His wife Julia died before him.

Publications
  • The Climate of Pau

References
  1. Pau: Street Guide
  2. 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 28 October 2018.
  3. "Pau (Municipality, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France)". crwflags.com. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  4. "Mary in Europe: Pau, France". rogerjnorton.com. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  5. TUCOO-CHALA, Pierre. Pau, ville anglaise. Société nouvelle d'éditions régionales et de diffusion, 1979


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