William Adams (oculist)

Sir William Adams (1783 to 1827), known after 1825 as Sir William Rawson, was an English eye surgeon. Born at Morwenstow in Cornwall, he trained under a surgeon in Barnstaple and in London, where he was a pupil of John Cunningham Saunders and became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1807. He founded the West of England Eye Infirmary in Exeter, and an ophthalmic hospital was built for him in London on Albany Street; for several years he treated soldiers whose sight had been damaged in the Egyptian campaigns without charge. In 1811 he helped restore part of the sight of the blind organist John Purkis, and in 1814 he published a book on ectropion of the eyelid. He was a central figure in the bitter dispute of 1806 to 1820 over the treatment of Egyptian ophthalmia, supported by Lord Palmerston, who obtained a parliamentary award for him. He was knighted and became oculist to the Prince Regent. His love of publicity made him many enemies.