Thomas Blizard Curling

Thomas Blizard Curling (1811 to 1888) was a British surgeon of the nineteenth century. Born in Tavistock Place, London, and educated at Manor House, Chiswick, he took no university degree, yet through the influence of his great uncle, the surgeon Sir William Blizard, he became assistant surgeon to the Royal London Hospital in 1833 and its full surgeon in 1849. In 1834 he won the Jacksonian prize for his investigations on tetanus. He became well known for his skill in treating diseases of the testes and rectum, and his published works on both subjects went through many editions. The stress ulcer that can follow severe burns is still called Curling's ulcer after him. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1850, served as president of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society in 1871 and as president of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1873, and died at Cannes in France in 1888.