Sir James Young Simpson, 1st Baronet FRSE FRCPE FSA Scot (7 June 1811 – 6 May 1870) was a Scottish obstetrician and a significant figure in the history of medicine. He was the first physician to demonstrate the anaesthetic properties of chloroform in humans and helped to popularize its use in medicine.
Simpson's intellectual interests ranged from archaeology to an almost taboo subject at the time: hermaphroditism. He was an early advocate of the use of midwives in the hospital environment. Many prominent women also consulted him for their gynaecological problems. Simpson wrote Homœopathy, its Tenets and Tendencies, refuting the ideas put forward by Hahnemann.
His services as an early founder of gynaecology and proponent of hospital reform were rewarded with a knighthood, and by 1847 he had been appointed as physician to the Queen in Scotland. Queen Victoria also used anaesthesia for her childbirth, resulting in a significant increase of popularity in anaesthesia.
Simpson was a close friend of Sir David Brewster, and was present at his deathbed. His contribution to the understanding of the anaesthetic properties of chloroform had a major impact on surgery.
James Simpson was born in Bathgate, a younger son of Mary Jervais and David Simpson, a baker. He attended the local school, and in 1825, at the age of 14, entered the University of Edinburgh to study for an arts degree. Two years later he began his medical studies at the university, graduating with an MBChB. He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1830 and received his MD in 1832. While at University he took additional classes including those delivered by the surgeon Robert Liston. As a result of the quality of his MD thesis on inflammation, Professor of Pathology John Thomson took him on as his assistant.
As a student he became a member and then Senior President of the Royal Medical Society, initiating a lifelong interest in the Society's advancement. His first role was as a general practitioner in the Stockbridge district based at 2 Deanhaugh Street, and at the age of 28, he succeeded James Hamilton as Professor of Medicine and Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh.