James Home

James Home was born in 1760 and was the son of Francis Home (1719-1813), President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from 1775 to 1777. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1781 and became a Professor of Materia Medica in 1798 after his father's resignation of the same post. He succeeded in increasing his course's attendance by 50 per cent per student cohort. In 1821 he became a Professor of Medicine following James Gregory's death which he held until 1842. In 1787 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and served as its president from 1809 to 1812. Home continued to teach until his death on 5 December 1844.