Thomas Elliot studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, writing his thesis 'De Crisibus in Morbis Acutis'. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in February 1751 and died in July the same year. His dissertation was dedicated to Sir Gilbert Elliot, third Baronet of Stobs, likely suggesting a family connection.

Colin Drummond was born in Edinburgh in 1727, the third son of George Drummond, Lord Provost of the city. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1750 and became Physician-in-Ordinary at the Royal Infirmary in 1751, an institution for which his father had secured funding. Drummond held the post until 1773, when he retired to Bristol. He was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1772 but resigned the following year upon his relocation. After his wife's death in 1792, Drummond returned to Edinburgh, where he died in December 1795.

Francis Home was born in Edinburgh on 9 November 1719, the son of James Home, an advocate. After an apprenticeship with the Edinburgh surgeon Mr Rattray, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he became an early Member of the Royal Medical Society. Before graduating, Home served as a surgeon in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession. His essay 'Experiments on Bleaching' (1756) earned him a gold medal for its contribution to British manufacturing. In 1768 he became the first Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Edinburgh, publishing 'Methodus Materiae Medicae' (1770) as a course textbook. Home was also one of the professors responsible for bedside teaching at the Royal Infirmary. He died on 15 February 1813 and was buried in Berwickshire.

Biography: Francis Home

William Cuming was born in Edinburgh, the son of merchant James Cuming. After beginning his studies at the University of Edinburgh, he continued his education in France and the Low Countries, receiving his MD from the University of Rheims in 1736. Following his father's death, he settled in Dorchester, Dorset, where he practised medicine for many years. Cuming petitioned the University of Edinburgh for a diploma in 1750 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1752. He died in Dorchester in 1788.

Alexander Stevenson received his MD from the University of Glasgow in 1749 and was appointed Professor of Medicine there in 1766. He died in 1791.

James Grieve was born in Hawick and graduated MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1733. He was licensed to practise medicine in Russia the following year and served as both a military physician and physician to the St Petersburg Land Hospital. Grieve was appointed City Physician of St Petersburg in 1747 and later of Moscow in 1751, also serving as physician to Empress Elizabeth. He died in Moscow in 1763.

John Fothergill was born near Richmond, Yorkshire. After working as an apothecary's apprentice, he studied under Alexander Monro primus at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MD in 1736. Fothergill moved to London and practised at St Thomas's Hospital before establishing his own practice in 1740. In 1744 he became the first Edinburgh graduate to be licensed by the Royal College of Physicians of London, though as a Quaker he could not become a Fellow. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1754 and of the Royal Society of Medicine in Paris in 1776. He died in London in 1780.

William Cullen was born near Glasgow on 15 April 1710, the son of an attorney for the Duke of Hamilton. Apprenticed to the surgeon-apothecary John Paisley, Cullen later served as a ship's surgeon in the West Indies before returning to Scotland to practise medicine. At the University of Glasgow he lectured on the theory and practice of physic, later expanding his teaching to include materia medica, botany, and chemistry. In 1755 he moved to Edinburgh, succeeding Andrew Plummer as Professor of Chemistry. Cullen served as President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1773. He continued teaching and practising until 1789, retiring due to ill health. He died in Edinburgh on 5 February 1790.

Digitised Collection: Cullen Project

Painting: William Cullen

Profile: William Cullen

Biography: William Cullen

Alexander Monro was born in London, the only surviving child of the army surgeon John Monro. The family moved to Edinburgh when he was three. Monro studied at the University of Edinburgh between 1710 and 1713 but did not graduate. He was later apprenticed to his father. In 1717 Monro travelled to London and Paris to study anatomy, enrolling at the University of Leiden in 1718, where he studied under Herman Boerhaave. On returning to Edinburgh in 1719 he was admitted to the Incorporation of Surgeons and in 1720 was appointed Professor of Anatomy. His lectures, delivered in English rather than Latin, attracted large audiences. Upon Monro's petitioning, the chair of anatomy was removed from the Incorporation of Surgeons and became a part of the University of Edinburgh.

Bust: Alexander Monro primus

Profile: Alexander Monro primus

Biography: Alexander Monro primus

Patrick Haldane was born circa 1712 in Lanrick, Stirlingshire, the son of John Haldane, a Jacobite exile who spent twenty years in France. After studying under Boerhaave at Leiden in 1737, he earned an MD from the University of Rheims before 1758. Settling in Bath, he was awarded an MD ad eundem from the University of St Andrews in 1758 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh that same year. He died at Murrayshall in 1761.