Thomas Shapter spent almost all his working life in Exeter, Devon. He lived to be 93 years old. He is remembered primarily for his book describing the 1832 epidemic of cholera in Exeter in which 402 people died.
Self-portrait in his MD gown, LLD hood and John Knox cap, painted in 1886 according to the inscription on the back of the painting.
2.
ShapterT.Dissertatio medica inauguralis de senectute. MD Dissertation, University of Edinburgh, UK,
1831.
3.
MilliganJG.The history of duelling.
vol II.
London, UK:
Richard Bentley,
1841, pp.
327–
334.
4.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 25 May
1833, p.3.
5.
ShapterT.Medica sacra or, short expositions of the more important diseases mentioned in the sacred writings.
London, UK:
Longman, Rees,
1834.
6.
Anon. The medical quarterly review.
vol II.
London, UK:
J Suter,
1834, pp.
396–
397.
7.
ShapterT.A few observations on the leprosy of the Middle ages.
Exeter, UK:
W Roberts,
1835.
8.
TweedieA (ed). A System of practical medicine.
London, UK:
Whittaker & Co,
1840.
9.
A great grandson of a former Bishop of Exeter, he became a Fellow of Emmanuel College Cambridge and an acquaintance – and probably a suitor – of novelist Jane Austen. He was appointed Rector of the wealthy living of North Cadbury in 1812, shortly before his marriage to Susanna Lewis, Jamaican-born daughter of the prosperous owner of a slave-run sugar plantation.
10.
ShapterT.The climate of the South of Devon.
London, UK:
John Churchill,
1842.
11.
ShapterT.The climate of the South of Devon. 2nd ed.
London, UK:
John Churchill,
1862.
12.
ShapterT.A few observations on the leprosy of the Middle ages.
Exeter, UK: P A Hannaford and London, UK:
Longman & Co,
1842.
13.
ShapterT.The retrospective address, delivered at the eleventh anniversary meeting of the provincial medical and surgical association.
Worcester, UK:
Deighton & Co,
1843.
14.
ShapterT.Remarks on the mortality of Exeter: together with suggestions towards the improvement of the public health.
London, UK:
John Churchill,
1844.
15.
ShapterT.Report on the state of Exeter (health of towns commission).
London, UK:
Her Majesty’s Stationery Office,
1845.
16.
ShapterT.On the recent occurrence of scurvy in Exeter and the neighbourhood. Prov Med Surg J1847;
11:
281–
285.
17.
ShapterT.The history of the cholera in Exeter in 1832.
London UK:
John Churchill and Exeter, UK: Adam Holden,
1849.
18.
BalfourJH.Notice of plants at Dr Shapter’s garden at Cobham, near Exeter. Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh1879;
13:
23–
24.
19.
From 1844 to 1862, John Bucknill MD (1817–1897) was medical superintendent at Devon County Asylum at Exminster. He was knighted in
1894.
20.
Anon. Inquisition in lunacy. Journal of Mental Science1860: VI: Appendix.
