}
Dr. Richard Smith Junior
Dr Richard Smith (1772-1843) was a surgeon on the staff of the Bristol Royal Infirmary from 1796 until his death.
He is known for his dissection of executed criminals; in April 1802 he dissected the bodies of two women hanged on St Michael's Hill for infanticide; he dissected and lectured upon the brain of one before the Mayor and Aldermen. He cut up a body found in a lead coffin near St Mary-le-Port in 1814, removing the brain to his anatomical museum. (The body was believed to have been that of Robert Yeamans, one of the "royal martyrs" executed in 1643, despite the fact that he was supposed to have been buried in Christ Church.) In 1828 he bound a collection of papers in the skin of John Horwood, executed for the murder of Eliza Balsum.
He was a member of almost every club in Bristol. He was Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Bristol Freemasons from 1830 to 1843, a Conservative councillor, a founding trustee of Bristol Charities, and he held shares in Clifton Suspension Bridge.
He died suddenly of apoplexy on the evening of January 24,1843, at the Philosophical and Literary Institution, aged 71 years old. Thousands lined the route of his funeral procession to Temple Church.
He is known for his dissection of executed criminals; in April 1802 he dissected the bodies of two women hanged on St Michael's Hill for infanticide; he dissected and lectured upon the brain of one before the Mayor and Aldermen. He cut up a body found in a lead coffin near St Mary-le-Port in 1814, removing the brain to his anatomical museum. (The body was believed to have been that of Robert Yeamans, one of the "royal martyrs" executed in 1643, despite the fact that he was supposed to have been buried in Christ Church.) In 1828 he bound a collection of papers in the skin of John Horwood, executed for the murder of Eliza Balsum.
He was a member of almost every club in Bristol. He was Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Bristol Freemasons from 1830 to 1843, a Conservative councillor, a founding trustee of Bristol Charities, and he held shares in Clifton Suspension Bridge.
He died suddenly of apoplexy on the evening of January 24,1843, at the Philosophical and Literary Institution, aged 71 years old. Thousands lined the route of his funeral procession to Temple Church.
