Henry Parke Custis Wilson, II was an American surgeon and gynecologist.
Background
Henry Wilson, II was born on March 5, 1827, at Workington, Somerset County, Maryland, the son of Henry Parke Custis Wilson and Susan E. Savage. A paternal ancestor, Ephraim Wilson, emigrated to America from Ireland in the early part of the eighteenth century and settled on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, becoming one of the founders of the first Presbyterian Church in America. Wilson was proud of his Parke as well as of his Custis ancestry, the latter connecting him with the Washington and Lee families of Virginia.
Education
After taking the degree of Bachelor's degree at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) in 1848, he began to study medicine in Northampton County, Virginia, under William G. Smith.
He attended one course of lectures at the University of Virginia and one course at the University of Maryland, graduating from the latter in 1851 and settling in Baltimore to practise.
Career
In Baltimore he worked with Richard Henry Thomas, whom he accompanied on his daily rounds of visits. For some years he was the only gynecologist in the city.
In 1880, by abdominal section, he delivered an eight-pound living child from the abdominal cavity, a living child having previously been delivered from the uterus per vias naturales. He also devised sundry instruments for use in gynecological surgery. His writings dealt exclusively with the problems of his specialty. He served as president of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland in 1880 - 1881 and in his presidential address urged the construction of a fireproof library building. That same year he was also president of the Baltimore Academy of Medicine.
His hospital services included those of surgeon in charge to the Baltimore City Almshouse Infirmary (1857 - 1858), and consulting surgeon to St. Agnes Hospital from 1879 and to the Johns Hopkins Hospital from 1889. He was a co-founder with William T. Howard of the Hospital for the Women of Maryland (1882), serving with Howard as visiting gynecologist until his death. This hospital was modeled after the Woman's Hospital of the State of New York founded by James Marion Sims, and like it made no provision in its early days for private or paying patients.
He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church until his death, which occurred in on December 27, 1897, Baltimore.
Achievements
Membership
Henry Wilson, II was a founder of the Baltimore Obstetrical and Gynecological Society and of the American Gynecological Society, a member of the British Medical Association, and the British Gynecological Association, and an honorary fellow of the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society.
Personality
A small man, rather stout, alert, careful in dress, Henry Wilson, II was noted for his courteous manners, personal charm, and open hospitality.
Connections
In 1858, Henry Wilson, II married Alicia Brewer Griffith, daughter of David Griffith of Baltimore County. The couple had five children.