Background
He was born on 18 December 1847, in North Shields in northern England the son of Doctor John Byrom Bramwell and Mary Young.
He was born on 18 December 1847, in North Shields in northern England the son of Doctor John Byrom Bramwell and Mary Young.
He was educated at Cheltenham College and then in 1865 travelled north to Scotland to study Medicine at Edinburgh University. Here he studied under the eminent anatomist, Sir John Goodsir, John Hughes Bennett, James Syme, and James Young Simpson, a truly luminary group of teachers, evidencing Edinburgh’s position in the forefront of medical education.
He was president of both the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians in London. A keen sportsman, Bramwell also captained Edinburgh University cricket team In 1869 he began the role of house surgeon under James Spence at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, but his father’s sudden illness caused him to return to North Shields to take up his role as the local General Practice. From this role, in 1874 he took over the role of surgeon and pathologist at Newcastle Royal Infirmary.
He became a lecturer in the extra-mural classes which included education of females as physicians (at that time banned from the main university), greatly helping to develop this field
He was knighted in 1924. He died at his home, 10 Heriot Row in Edinburgh, on 27 April 1931 and was buried in Dean Cemetery close to his tutor Sir John Goodsir.
President of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh 1910–1912
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1886).
In 1879 he returned to Edinburgh to work as a surgeon, becoming a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1880.