Career
Born in Leeds, Greenhow spent much of his working life in Newcastle, where he founded its medical school in 1834. He died in Leeds on 25 October 1881. He first co-founded Newcastle"s Eye Infirmary, with John Fife, and then the Medical School.
He worked at the Newcastle Infirmary, later renamed the Royal Victoria Infirmary, for many years and was instrumental in its expansion in the 1850s.
Thomas Greenhow married Elizabeth Martineau, daughter of Thomas Martineau and Elizabeth Rankin, of the prosperous, socially reformist Martineau family, mainly based in Birmingham. The couple"s daughter Frances was born in 1821.
She worked to open up educational opportunities for women, especially access to universities. Her son Francis Martineau Lupton is the great-great-grandfather of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.
One of the sons of Thomas and Elizabeth was Henry Martineau Greenhow (1829-1912), who followed his father into medicine.
He joined the Indian Medical Service and spent his whole career in British India, rising to surgeon major.
