Thomas Spencer Wells

Sir Thomas Spencer Wells (1818 to 1897) was an English surgeon who became surgeon to Queen Victoria's household and president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Born in St Albans, he studied medicine in Leeds, Dublin, London and Paris, served as a naval surgeon in Malta, and in 1853 set up his own practice in London, where he worked at the Samaritan Free Hospital for Women. He specialized in obstetrics and ophthalmic surgery and is recognized as a pioneer of abdominal surgery who perfected ovariotomy, the removal of a diseased ovary, at a time when that operation was rare and dangerous. In 1879 his name was given to an improved pattern of artery forceps, and he was among the earliest surgeons to use anaesthetics in operations. He held the Hunterian chair of surgery and pathology from 1877, was created a baronet in 1883 and was elected a member of the Leopoldina in 1886.