Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1237

NAME WELLFORD 1215 WELLS name was spelled in England with a single 1), a surgeon of the town of Ware in Hertford- shire, where he was born on April 12, 1753, and most probably pursued his professional studies in London, as he was a licentiate of the Royal College' of Surgeons, London. Soon after he began practice in Ware a traveler who was passing through sustained a fracture of the thigh, and in the absence of Wellford's father, who was urgently sum- moned, the treatment of the case fell into the son's hands, and so successfully did he manage that the patient became a friend and through this friend, who had influence at court, the young surgeon was tendered an appointment in the medical service of the Brit- ish Army, either in India, or with the troops then preparing for service in America. Choos- ing the latter, he came to this country as surgeon of the First Royal Grenadiers for service in the War of the Revolution. The battles of Brandywine and German- town threw many prisoners into the hands of the British ; these, who were held in Phila- delphia, receiving the most unkind, if not brutal, treatment at the hands of the British surgeon and many valuable lives were "un- necessarily lost in consequence. This condi- tion of affairs caused Gen. Washington to remonstrate forcibly with Gen. Howe, with the result that the latter upon investigation re- moved the surgeon, and in his place appointed Dr. Wellford. His administration proved a great success, for by his careful attention a marked change for the better was brought about in the physical condition of the prison- ers, that was much appreciated by them, their friends, and by Gen. Washington, who, with many others, became his life-long friend. But, it also made for him some bitter enemies in the persons of certain of his superior officers — notably of the Tory and Hessian contingents of the British Army — and by their conduct towards him his position was rendered in- tolerable, so he resigned from the service, and determining to make this country his fu- ture home, settled down to practise in Phil- adelphia. One of his patients among the prisoners was Col. John Spotswood (a grandson of the old colonial governor of Virginia), whose brother came to Philadelphia to carry the colonel home, as soon as the way was opened by the retreat of the British troops. Lipon the solici- tation of the Spotswoods, and following the advice of Gen. Washington that he adopt as his American home the vicinity of Fredericks- burg, Dr. Wellford accompanied them to Vir- ginia. He brought with him to his new home on the banks of the Rappahannock letters of earnest commendation and of introduction from Washington, and, in addition, possessed the affectionate appreciation and good will of all the Spotswood clan. Settling in Fredericks- burg, he soon had a good practice, and mar- ried a granddaughter of Edward Randolph, the youngest of the seven sons of William Randolph, of Turkey Island, Catherine Yates by name. When, in 1794, the so-called "Whiskey In- surrection" in Pennsylvania broke out and as- sumed so serious an aspect that troops were mobilized by the federal government to subdue it, the president appointed Dr. Wellford surgeon-general of these troops. His services, however, were not required, as the raising of forces was sufficient in itself to quell the up- rising. He lived and practised in Fredericksburg until his death in that city April 24, 1823. His son, Beverly R. Wellford (q.v.), was a physi- cian, and from 1854 to 1868 professor of ma- teria medica and therapeutics in the Medical College of Virginia. Robert M. Slaughter. The foregoing sketch is based upnn data fur- nished by a grandson, B. R. Wellford. Wells, Brooks Hughes (1859-1917) Brooks Hughes Weils, gynecologist and widely-known genial editor of the American Journal of Obstetrics, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, July 28, 1859, son of Edward Livingston Wells and Mary Huder Hughes. His father was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and educated at New Haven and in Paris; his mother came of old New England ancestry ; two uncles, Charles and William Lowndes Wells, were graduates of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. Brooks Wells, as we commonly called him, received his early education in the Southport (Connecticut) Academy, and, after graduation, intended to enter Yale, but, owing to res angustae domi, went to Nevv York and entered a Iianker's office. Later he matriculated in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and graduated in 1884. His preceptor was Paul F. Munde (q.v.), and he assisted James W. McLane in the department of ob- stetrics. Upon graduation. Wells went to the Charity, now City Hospital, and the Maternity Hospital for eighteen months. In 1893 he became pro- fessor of gynecology at the New York Poly- clinic and was gjnecological surgeon at the New York Polyclinic Hospital, and associate