Physician, Heal Thyself: the Health and Mortality of Victorian Doctors

Since the work of Dr William Ogle in 1886 the health and mortality of members of the Victorian medical profession has been a relatively neglected subject. 'Physicians, surgeons and general practitioners' represents probably the only occupation whose mortality experience--both in terms of age and cause of death--may be traced continuously since the 1860s. Ogle's work, together with that based on the Registrar General's Decennial Supplements, shows how vulnerable especially young doctors were to high mortality risks. Their use in conjunction with data compiled by the Friendly Societies also suggests that before the twentieth century members of the medical profession may have experienced substantial periods of work-preventing illness which would certainly have affected their ability to make a satisfactory living. It is also clear that among members of the medical profession there were substantial variations in life chances; that Fellows of the Royal colleges fared far better than their less well-placed colleagues, but that among Fellows the surgeons and physicians shared similar experiences.