David Christison

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Dr David Christison in stained glass at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

David Christison MD FRCPE LLD (1830–1912) was a Scottish physician, botanist, writer and antiquary. He served as a military doctor during the Crimean War, at which time illness forced him to abandon his medical career. From the 1860s onwards he travelled extensively in South America and later became a travel writer, publishing an account of his journeys within Paraguay, and other books on topics relating to that country. Another area which he turned to after abandoning medicine was archaeology where he made advances in the science of dendrochronology. He became a pioneer of systematic field study in archaeological research and was one of the first to carry out an extensive investigation of Scotland's ancient hillforts, again writing and publishing on the topic in later life.

Birth and education[]

David Christison (front centre, seated) together with other Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh physicians, including John Beddoe (far left), Joseph Lister, and Patrick Heron Watson (second from right). Alexander Struthers, who will die during medical service in the Crimean War, is probably the figure seated on the right.

Christison was born on 25 January 1830 (Robert Burns Day) in Edinburgh's New Town, at 3 Great Stuart Street on the Moray Estate. He was the second son of Sir Robert Christison, 1st Baronet, distinguished medical physician, and Henrietta Sophia Brown. Educated at the Edinburgh Academy,[1] the young Christison initially chose to follow in his father's footsteps by going on to train in Medicine at Edinburgh University. He began his medical career in the Old Royal Infirmary where his peer group included Joseph Lister, Patrick Heron Watson and Alexander Struthers, brother of the anatomist John Struthers.[2] Christison gained his first doctorate (MD) in 1851.[3]

Crimea[]

In 1854, Christison volunteered to tend troops serving in the Crimean War. Travelling out together with a group of fellow Scots, including his brother-in-law John Beddoe, he was stationed in the Dardanelles at the Renkioi military hopital where, in the course of his work there, he fell seriously ill and had to terminate his medical career. Another colleague from Royal Infirmary days, Alexander Struthers, while similarly engaged, died in the British Army's infamous Scutari Hospital in Istanbul where illnesses were rife due to poor conditions.

South America[]

In 1870 Christison was living at 40 Moray Place in Edinburgh.[4] From 1867 onwards, in an effort to improve his health, he had begun to take trips to South America. His travels included journeys to Argentina and Uruguay.[5] He would later publish a series of books on the subject of the latter country in particular, including: A Journey into Central Uruguay (1880), The Gauchos of San Jorge, Central Uruguay (1881) and Thunder Squalls in Uruguay (1887).

Later career[]

Exterior of Robert Rowand Anderson's distinctive gallery building on Queen Street, Edinburgh, custom-built to house Scotland's National Museum of Antiquities and National Portrait Gallery (1905)

After no longer being able to pursue his career in the medical profession, Christison threw himself into archaeology,[6] becoming a strong advocate for methodical and rigorous observation in the discipline. He undertook a systematic study of Scotland's hillforts through field research, visiting a large number of sites the length and breadth of the country over a good many years, publishing meticulously considered accounts of his findings for each on a regular basis in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and taking care to consider comparisons more widely. His careful expositions also often include direct witness of examples of thoughtless loss, damage and degradation to unprotected sites in his lifetime, as for example the following on the Castle of Doon, Ayrshire, in 1893:

"This interesting ruin is situated on a small, smooth rock-island in Loch Doon, and the whole space between the walls and the water [...] is covered with loose blocks, certainly not derived from the castle wall of enciente, which still stands to nearly its full height; although, alas! tottering to its fall, the stones of the pediment having been disgracefully allowed to be torn away a few years ago — a wanton destruction of one of the most interesting ruins in Scotland which is to be lamented."[7]

In 1894, he delivered the Rhind lectures and evenually published a connected analysis of his results in his book, Early Fortifications in Scotland (1898). It was through this, the first comprehensive survey of hillforts in any region of the British Isles, often critical of previous neglect of the subject, that Christison helped to pioneer a fuller and more meticulous understanding of the history and significance of these sites than had hitherto been the case. His example became a model for subsequent national and regional studies.

Christison was Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1891 when the society's sizable collection of objects of national historical interest was transferred to the newly opened National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland in Robert Rowand Anderson's distinctive custom-built red sandstone gallery building designed also to house the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, each institution at that time occupying one half of the building side-by-side.[8]

Recognition[]

Magdala Crescent, Edinburgh

In 1906 Christison was awarded an honorary doctorate (LLD) by Dean Ludovic Grant on behalf of Edinburgh University.[9] His portrait in stained glass by William Graham Boss forms one of the multiple portraits of committee members of the same gallery on the main stair.[10]

In later life he lived at 20 Magdala Crescent in Edinburgh's West End.[11]

He died on 21 January 1912 and is buried in the family plot at New Calton Burial Ground.[12]

Family[]

Part of Edinburgh's Christison dynasty, he was married to Susannah Hodgson Brown (1848-1928), a cousin. They had one son, John Alexander Christison (1889-1914) (who died suddenly of malaria while in Uganda), and three daughters.[13]

Selected publications[]

  • A Journey to Central Uruguay (1880)
  • The Gauchos of San Jorge, Central Uruguay (1881)
  • The Life of Sir Robert Christison (1885)
  • Thunder Squalls in Uruguay (1887)
  • The Size, Age and Rate of Girth Increase achieved by trees of the Chief Species in Britain, particularly in Scotland (1893)
  • On the Geographical Distribution of Certain Place Names in Scotland (1893)
  • Prehistoric Forts of Scotland (1896) the Rhind Lecture
  • Early Fortifications in Scotland: Motes, Camps and Forts (1898)
  • Excavation of the Roman Station at Ardoch, Perthshire (1898)
  • The Excavation of Rough Castle on the Antonine Wall (1905)

References[]

  1. ^ BMJ: obituaries February 1912
  2. ^ Leith Hospital 1848–1988, D H A Boyd, ISBN 0-7073-0584-5
  3. ^ http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n85-39125/
  4. ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1870
  5. ^ Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh March 1878
  6. ^ The Crimean Doctors by John Shepherd
  7. ^ David Christison, "The Prehistoric Fortresses of Treceiri, Carnarvon; and Eildon, Roxburgh", in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 28, (8 January, 1893), p.106.
  8. ^ "David Christison, 1831 - 1912. Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland".
  9. ^ BMJ: obituaries February 1912
  10. ^ Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries 1990 p.206
  11. ^ Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1910
  12. ^ "Dr David Christison (1830-1912) - Find a Grave". Find a Grave.
  13. ^ "John Alexander Christison (1889-1914) - Find A". Find a Grave.
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