John Hunter

Directions around the Royal College of Surgeons of England are often given with reference to "the statue". "Turn left at the statue and take the lift....."

Given that there is a little natural rivalry involved, it's good that John Hunter was a Scot born in East Kilbride. He was an enigmatic man and many aspects of his character raise eyebrows still. One biographer wrote:-

"His nature was kindly and generous, though outwardly rude and repelling.... Later in life, for some private or personal reason, he picked a quarrel with the brother who had formed him and made a man of him, basing the dissension upon a quibble about priority unworthy of so great an investigator. Yet three years later, he lived to mourn this brother's death in tears."