Robert Bentley Todd (1809 - 1860)

Born 9 Apr 1809 in County Dublin, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth Hart — married 19 Dec 1836 in York, England

Died 30 Jan 1860 at age 50 in London, Middlesex, England

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Biography

Robert Bentley was born in 1809. He was the son of Charles Todd and Eliza Bentley. He passed away in 1860.

Robert Bentley Todd (9 April 1809 – 30 January 1860) was an Irish-born physician who is best known for describing the condition postictal paralysis in his Lumleian Lectures in 1849 now known as Todd's palsy. He was the younger brother of noted writer and minister James Henthorn Todd.

The son of physician Charles Hawkes Todd (1784 - 1826) and Eliza Bentley (1783 - ), Robert was born in Dublin, Ireland, 9 April 1809. He attended day school and was tutored by the Rev. William Higgin (1793 - 1867), who was afterwards the bishop of Derry & Raphoe. Todd entered Trinity College in 1825, intending to study for the bar. When his father died the next year, he switched to medicine and became a resident pupil at a hospital in Dublin. He was a student of Robert Graves, and graduated B.A. at Trinity in 1829. He became licensed at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland two years later.

He then moved to London, where he practised medicine and lectured. He received a M.S. at Pembroke College, Oxford in 1832, a B.M. the following year, and a D.M. in 1836. He travelled widely in Europe, lecturing and becoming acquainted with a number of eminent men in his field. He took the license of the Royal College of Physicians in 1833, became a Fellow in 1837, and a Censor in 1839–40. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and served on the council in 1838-9. In 1836-7 he served on a sub-committee of the British Association to inquire into the motions of the heart, and in 1839–40 was Examiner for the University of London. In 1844 he was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Robert Bentley Todd died in his consulting rooms at his home located at 26 Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, Westminster, on 30 January 1860. He was buried at All Souls, Kensal Green, 4 February 1860. At Hassel by Hull, Yorkshire, Robert married Elizabeth Mary née Hart (1814 – ) 20 December 1836. The younger sister of Capt. John Hart M.P. (1808 - 1873) [Australian Dictionary of Biography], Elizabeth was baptised at St. John's, Hackney, the daughter of journalist John Harriot Hart & Mary née Glanville on 23 June 1814. In one of the most sensational cases of its day, John Herriot Hart co-owner The Whig Independent newspaper was imprisoned in Gloucester Goal for liable [Annual Register vol 72 p. 74], before being transported to Tenerife. It is presumed that he died on the return voyage to England. The children of Robert Bentley Todd & Elizabeth née Hart; Elizabeth Marion Todd (1841 - 1917) baptised at St. Margaret's, Westminster, 23 June 1841, died at 2 Connaught Square, 8 July 1917 [Times 8 July 1917, p. 1], Alice Margaret (b. 1843), Bertha Jane Johnson (1846 - 1927) born 20 February 1846, baptised St. Martin in the Fields, 5 March 1846, wife of Rev. Arthur Henry Johnson C.B.E. (1845 - 1927) lecturer at Oxford [Alumni Oxonienses 1715 - 1886] and James Henthorn Todd (1848–1891) baptised at St. Martin in the Fields 23 November 1847, who died near Bombay, India, 14 August 1891 [Times 20 August 1891, p. 1]. A statue of Todd was erected in the great hall of King's College Hospital.^[1]

Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 56^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bentley_Todd
2. ↑ https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Todd,_Robert_Bentley_(DNB00)