Thomas Buzzard

Thomas Lovell Buzzard MD FRCP (24 August 1831 – 1 January 1919) was a Victorian English doctor who worked at the National Hospital, Queen Square. He was a pioneering neurologist who founded an epilepsy society and wrote also on Parkinson's disease. One of the last doctors to be trained through the apprenticeship route, Buzzard witnessed the Crimean War and later was a role model for the famous painting The Doctor. Early life Buzzard was born in Cross Street, Hatton Garden, London on 24 August 1831. His father, George was a solicitor. After being educated at King's College School, Buzzard became apprentice to a doctor, before entering King's College Hospital and working for Sir William Fergusson as house surgeon. Early surgical career Buzzard assisted in the 1854 cholera epidemic in Soho, London. In 1855, he joined the British medical staff with the Ottoman Army and was present at the Siege of Sevastopol. He was also a special correspondent in the Crimea for the Daily News. For this, he was honored with the Crimea Medal with clasp, the Order of the Medjidie, and the Turkish war medal. Neurology Buzzard graduated as M.B, with the gold medal in surgery, in 1857, after returning from the Crimea. He spent the next six years in general practice in London and in contributing to the Daily News and the Lancet.