Background

He was born on January 17, 1820 in Gloucester, Massachussets, United States. His father, Winthrop, was descendant of William Sargent, who came to Gloucester from England before 1678, many of whose descendants distinguished themselves in the civil and military affairs of the colonies and some in literary or artistic paths. Winthrop Sargent succeeded his father in the management of large shipping interests belonging to his family, but the business failed in 1829, and in the following year he removed to Philadelphia, where he engaged in the commission business. He returned to Massachusetts in 1843, but in 1862 went back to Pennsylvania and lived at Morgan's Corner (now Radnor), near Philadelphia, until his death in 1874.

His mother, Emily Haskell, was a descendant of William Haskell, who came to New England about 1637.

Education

FitzWilliam Sargent studied at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa. , from which he received the degree of B. A. , in 1837. Sometime later he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1843.

Career

In the last year of his medical course he served as resident physician in the Wills Eye Hospital of Philadelphia. Later he served two years as resident physician in the Pennsylvania Hospital and then entered on general practice in Philadelphia, paying particular attention to ophthalmology.

In 1849 he was elected one of the attending physicians to the Wills Hospital, changing his position to attending surgeon in 1852. He resigned from the Hospital in 1857.

He was elected a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia in 1852. In 1848 he worked in an American edition of The Principles and Practice of Modern Surgery, and wrote a little book, On Bandaging and Other Operations of Minor Surgery, which went through several editions, published at Osaka in 1874.

He lived principally in Europe. In 1887 while living in Florence, Italy, FitzWilliam Sargent suffered an apoplectic stroke, and in the spring of 1888 the family moved to Calcot, near Reading, England. The following winter was passed in Bournemouth, where Sargent died.

Achievements

• He was known as the author and the illustrator of book On Bandaging and Other Operations of Minor Surgery, translated into Japanese. Besides, he edited the American edition of James Miller's The Principles of Surgery, contributed several articles to the American Journal of the Medical Sciences.

Works

More photos

• book

  • On Bandaging, and Other Operations of Minor Surgery

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • England, the United States, and the Southern Confederacy

    (Book by Sargent, Fitzwilliam)

Connections

On June 27, 1850, he married Mary Newbold Singer, a daughter of John and Mary (Newbold) Singer. His wife was an accomplished musician and also had considerable talent in drawing and painting. She is said to have had much to do with the cultivation of the artistic genius of their son John Singer Sargent, born while his parents were living in Italy in 1856.

Father:

Winthrop Sargent

Mother:

Emily Haskell

Spouse:

Mary Newbold Singer

father-in-law:

John Singer

mother-in-law:

Mary (Newbold) Singer

Son:

John Singer Sargent

coworker:

Robert Druitt