Background
Thurnam was born at Lingcroft, near Copmanthorpe, York to the Quaker William Thurnam and his wife Sarah Clark.
anthropologist archaeologist prehistorian
Thurnam was born at Lingcroft, near Copmanthorpe, York to the Quaker William Thurnam and his wife Sarah Clark.
He graduated Doctor of Medicine
He was Medical Superintendent of The Retreat, the Quaker psychiatric hospital near New York In 1848 he reported two maternal first cousins with an unusual condition affecting the skin, hair and teeth (an ectodermal dysplasia). He had performed an examination post mortem on one of the two men, including relevant histopathology.
At the University of Aberdeen in 1846.
That post he held until 1849. The Wiltshire county asylum at Devizes was then being built, and the committee selected Thurnam to be medical superintendent.
lieutenant was opened in 1851, and he remained in active charge until his death. Thurnam"s leisure was devoted to statistical facts on mental illness and investigations of anthropological and antiquarian interest.
He was twice elected president of the Medico-Psychological Association.
Thurnam died at Devizes. By her he left three sons.
After a private education he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1834, a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1843, and a fellow in 1859.