Archibald Stevensone

Archibald Stevensone was one of the original twenty-one Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh when it was incorporated by royal charter on 29 November 1681. His name was listed fourth on the charter. Born in 1629, he was the youngest of seven children. His father, the Rev. Andrew Stevensone, was a professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. His mother died in 1634, and from the age of nine he was brought up in Dunbar. In 1662 Stevensone married Elizabeth Ramsay, with whom he had four sons and four daughters. He received his medical degree from the University of Leiden in 1661. Stevensone served as the first President of the College from 1681 to 1684, before being succeeded by Robert Sibbald. In January 1684 he delivered one of the first monthly discourses before the College, on 'polypus cardis'. He died in 1710.