Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/87

  to the City dispensary, and afterwards to the new Finsbury and central dispensary.

In 1828 he was appointed physician to the lunatic asylum at Peckham, and, as the result of his observations there, published in 1833 a work entitled ‘A Treatise on those Disorders of the Brain and Nervous System which are usually considered and called Mental’ (London, 8vo). It attained considerable circulation, and established his medical reputation. In later life, through his friend Frederic Hervey Foster Quin [q. v.], he became one of the first English converts to homœopathy, and announced his convictions in a pamphlet entitled ‘Homœopathy and Allopathy, or Large, Small, and Atomic Doses’ (London, 8vo). He encountered much opposition from former friends, and the excitement of controversy broke down his nervous system. He died in London at his house in Bedford Row on 22 Sept. 1837, and was buried at Kensal Green cemetery.

Besides the works mentioned, he was the author of: 1. ‘Modern Medicine,’ London, 1808, 8vo. 2. ‘Cursory Observations on Fever,’ London, 1810, 8vo. 3. ‘Modern Maladies and the Present State of Medicine,’ London, 1818, 8vo. 4. ‘A Compendium of Theoretical and Practical Medicine,’ London, 1825, 12mo. 5. ‘A Treatise on those Diseases which are either directly or indirectly connected with Indigestion, comprising a Commentary on the Principal Ailments of Children,’ London, 1827, 8vo. 6. ‘Nervous and Mental Disorders,’ London, 1830, 8vo. He also contributed several medical articles to George Gregory's ‘Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences,’ 1806, as well as a series of papers (begun by John Reid, 1776–1822 [q. v.]), entitled ‘Reports’ to the ‘Monthly Magazine.’ He wrote two articles in the ‘Quarterly Review,’ the one on ‘Insanity and Madness’ in July 1816, and the other on ‘Vaccination’ in July 1818, and for a time edited the ‘Medical Repository.’

[Gent. Mag. 1837, ii. 542; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. vi. 371; Munk's Coll. of Phys. iii. 56; Georgian Era, ii. 586; Clarke's Autobiographical Recollections, 1874, pp. 234–5; Memoir of Thomas Uwins, 1858.]  UWINS, THOMAS (1782–1857), painter, was born at Hermes Hill, Pentonville, on 24 Feb. 1782, the youngest of the four children of Thomas Uwins, a clerk in the bank of England. David Uwins [q. v.] was his elder brother. Thomas early showed artistic tendencies, and had some instruction from the drawing-master at his sister's school. He was a day scholar at Mr. Crole's school in Queen's Head Lane, Islington, for six years, and in 1797 was apprenticed to the engraver Benjamin Smith [q. v.] While with Smith he engraved part of a plate for Boydell's ‘Shakespeare,’ but had an attack of jaundice said to have been caused by overwork and dislike of the drudgery of engraving, and he left Smith without completing his time. He now entered the schools of the Royal Academy, and joined Sir Charles Bell's anatomical class, supporting himself mainly by miniature portraits. He exhibited a portrait of Mr. G. Meyers at the academy in 1799. He also now or later gave lessons in drawing, and about 1808 began to design frontispieces and vignettes to ‘Sandford and Merton,’ ‘Robinson Crusoe,’ &c., for J. Walker of Paternoster Row. He also designed for Thomas Tegg [q. v.], drew ‘engravers' outlines’ for Charles Warren [q. v.], the engraver, and was much employed by Rudolph Ackermann [q. v.] designing fashions for his ‘Repository,’ for which he also wrote articles signed ‘Arbiter Elegantiarum.’ One of his drawings exhibited at the academy in 1808 was a portrait of Charles Warren's daughter (Mrs. Luke Clennell) as Belphœbe in Spenser's ‘Faerie Queene.’ In 1809 he joined the ‘Old Watercolour’ Society as associate exhibitor, and in 1813 became a full member. From 1809 to 1818 he was a constant contributor to the society's exhibitions, sending illustrations of Fielding, Bunyan, Shakespeare, Sterne, and other authors, besides numerous pastoral scenes and figures. In 1811 he was at Farnham, Surrey, studying the hopfields, and in 1815 visited the Lake country, where he met Wordsworth. In 1817 he went to France to paint vintage scenes. He made a short stay at Paris, and, well provided with letters of introduction, passed through the Burgundy country to Bordeaux, where he was well received by M. Cabareuss, and visited the châteaux of all the principal growers. The result was seen in two drawings only, sent to the ‘Old Watercolour’ Society's exhibition of 1818. In the same year he filled the office of secretary for the third time, and then withdrew altogether from the society in order to devote the whole of his time to meeting an obligation incurred in respect of a security given to the Society of Arts. Uwins took the whole burden on his shoulders, as his co-surety was a married man with a family. Continual work on miniatures seriously injured his eyesight, and in 1820 he went to Scotland to make topographical drawings to illustrate Scott, with whom he became well acquainted. He spent two years in Edinburgh painting and drawing portraits with much success,