William Hunter (anatomist)

William Hunter (1718 to 1783) was a Scottish anatomist and physician, born at Long Calderwood near East Kilbride. He studied under William Cullen, trained in London under William Smellie and became the leading obstetric consultant of the city, though unlike Smellie he did not favour forceps. He taught anatomy and dissection, became physician to Queen Charlotte in 1764 and, in 1768, built an anatomy theatre and museum in Great Windmill Street where leading British anatomists and surgeons were trained. His greatest work was the atlas of the human gravid uterus, published in 1774. His collections passed to the University of Glasgow and form the core of the Hunterian Museum. He was the elder brother of the surgeon John Hunter.