# Benjamin Travers
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{{Short description|British surgeon (1783–1858)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
thumb|Portrait of Benjamin Travers
'''Benjamin Travers''', [FRS](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) (3 April 1783 – 6 March 1858) was a British surgeon, known for his expertise in the physiology and morbidity of the eye.[{{Cite journal |date=1966-10-24 |title=Benjamin Travers (1783-1858) ophthalmic surgeon |journal=JAMA |volume=198 |issue=4 |pages=481–482 |doi=10.1001/jama.1966.03110170193036 |issn=0098-7484 |pmid=5331642}}] From 1857 to his death, he was the [Serjeant Surgeon](/source/Serjeant_Surgeon), a member of the [Medical Household](/source/Medical_Household) (part of the [Royal Household](/source/Royal_Household)).
==Life==
Benjamin Travers was born on 3 April 1783 at [Cheapside](/source/Cheapside), London, the second of the ten children of Benjamin Travers, a London sugar broker, and his wife Mary Spilsbury.[{{cite web |title=Summary of Individual {{!}} Legacies of British Slavery |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/773 |website=www.ucl.ac.uk |access-date=22 October 2024}}] After [Cheshunt Grammar School](/source/Cheshunt_School), he was educated privately before joining his father's counting house in 1799.
In August 1800, Travers was articled for six years to surgeon [Astley Cooper](/source/Astley_Cooper). By 1807, he set up his own London practice and was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at [Guy's Hospital](/source/Guy's_Hospital). In 1810 he was appointed Surgeon to the London Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye, and afterwards to the [Moorfields Ophthalmic Hospital](/source/Moorfields_Eye_Hospital_NHS_Foundation_Trust), where he collaborated with [William Lawrence](/source/Sir_William_Lawrence%2C_1st_Baronet). In May 1815, he was elected a Surgeon at [St Thomas' Hospital](/source/St_Thomas'_Hospital) where he served until his retirement in 1841. He also obtained the lucrative post of Surgeon to the [East India Company](/source/East_India_Company)'s warehouses and brigade.
On the formation of the medical establishment of Queen Victoria he was appointed a Surgeon Extraordinary, afterwards becoming a Surgeon in Ordinary to the Prince Consort. He was appointed Serjeant Surgeon in 1857.[{{cite web |title=Travers, Benjamin (1783 - 1858) |url=https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/lives/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ASSET$002f0$002fSD_ASSET:372202/one?qu=%22rcs%3A+E000015%22&rt=false%7C%7C%7CIDENTIFIER%7C%7C%7CResource+Identifier |website=livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk |access-date=22 October 2024|publisher=Royal College of Surgeons}}]
He was elected a [Fellow of the Royal Society](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) in 1813.[{{Cite web |title=Benjamin Travers |url=https://catalogues.royalsociety.org/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=NA1502&pos=1 |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=catalogues.royalsociety.org}}] He was President of the [Hunterian Society](/source/Hunterian_Society) in 1827 and served on their council from 1830 to 1858. He was their Hunterian Orator in 1838. He was also President of the [Medical and Chirurgical Society of London](/source/Medical_and_Chirurgical_Society_of_London) in 1827.
He married three times. His first marriage in 1807 was to Sarah, daughter of [William Morgan](/source/William_Morgan_(scientist)), FRS. His second marriage in 1813 a daughter of G. Millet, an East India director, and his third in 1831 was to the youngest daughter of Colonel Stevens. He had a large family, the eldest of whom was Benjamin. He died at his house in Green Street, Grosvenor Square, on 6 March 1858, and was buried at Hendon, Middlesex.