{{Short description|British paediatrician}} Octavius Sturges|thumb
'''Octavius Sturges''' (1833 – 3 November 1894) was a British paediatrician who coined the term "chorea".
==Early life== He was born in London in 1833, the eighth son (hence the name) of John and Elisabeth Sturges. He attended King's College School and then was sent to the East India Company's Addiscombe Military Seminary, Croydon. After graduation in 1852 he served two years in the army as an officer in the East India Company in Bombay,<ref name=HHARP>{{cite web|title=Dr Octavius Sturges (1833–1894)|url=http://www.hharp.org/library/gosh/doctors/octavius-sturges.html|work=HHARP: the Historic Hospital Admission Records Project |publisher=Kingston University|accessdate=22 February 2013}}</ref> but his military career ended in his erroneous diagnosis of aortic aneurysm. In 1857 he returned to the UK.<ref name=DNB>{{cite web|last=Moore|first=Norman|title=Sturges, Octavius (1833–1894)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26749|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=22 February 2013|author2=revised by Michael Bevan}}</ref>
==Career== In July 1858 he enrolled at Emmanuel College, Cambridge to study medicine and graduated B.A. in 1861, M.B. in 1863, and M.D. in 1867.<ref name=BMJ>{{cite journal|title=Obituary: Octavius Sturges, M.D., F.R.C.P., Senior Physician to the Westminster Hospital|journal=British Medical Journal|date=10 November 1894|volume=2|issue=1767|pages=1084–1085|pmc=2405493}}</ref> He then began practice in St George's Hospital, becoming medical registrar in 1863. He left to be assistant-physician at the Westminster Hospital in 1868 and became full physician in 1875. He was made assistant-physician to the Hospital for Sick Children in Great Ormond Street in 1873, and full physician in 1884.<ref name=HHARP /> At the time of his death he was senior physician there and at the Westminster Hospital.<ref name=DNB />
He became a member of the Royal College of Physicians in 1863, and was elected Fellow in 1870.<ref name=BMJ /> He delivered the 1894 Lumleian Lectures on the subject of heart inflammation in children.
He wrote a number of articles but he is best remembered for his two books ''The Natural History of Pneumonia'' (1876) and ''Chorea and Whooping Cough'' (1877)
He died in 1894 from injuries received when knocked down by a hansom cab<ref name=HHARP /> and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.<ref name=BMJ /> He was unmarried.
==Publications==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=sBkDAAAAQAAJ ''Chorea and Whooping Cough: Five Lectures''] (1877) * [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009704101 ''On Chorea and Other Allied Movement Disorders of Early Life''] (1881) * [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100384395 ''In the Company's Service: A Reminiscence''] with Mary Sturges (1883) * [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002084219 ''The Natural History and Relations of Pneumonia; its Causes, Forms, and Treatment: a Clinical Study''] with Sidney Coupland (1890, 2nd edition); (1876, 1st edition by Octavius Sturges alone)<ref>{{worldcat|oclc=14778117|name=The Natural History and Relations of Pneumonia}}</ref>
==Articles==
* Abstract of a Clinical Lecture on a Fatal Case of Pneumonia after an Accident ''Br Med J'' 1879;1:300 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.1.948.300}} * The Nomenclature of Pneumonia and other Allied Lung-Inflammations ''Br Med J'' 1881;1:11 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.1.1044.11}} * The Heart Symptoms of Chorea ''Brain'' 1881;4(2):164-189 {{doi|10.1093/brain/4.2.164}} * Remarks on Some Special Characters of the Present Epidemic of Typhoid Fever in London ''Br Med J'' 1882;2:1239 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.2.1147.1239}} * The Rheumatic Origin of Chorea ''The Lancet'' 1883;122(3141):808–810 {{doi|10.1016/S0140-6736(02)23982-3}} * The Kindred of Chorea ''American Journal of the Medical Sciences'' 1891;102(6):578-586 * The Lumleian Lectures on Heart Inflammation in Children ''Br Med J'' 1894;1:505, 1894;1:561 and 1894;1:623 * Empyema in Childhood ''The Lancet'' 1894;143(3689):1215-1216 {{doi|10.1016/S0140-6736(01)68982-7}}
==Correspondence==
* The Westminster Hospital ''Br Med J'' 1871;2:451.3 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.2.563.451-b}} * The Treatment of Pneumonia ''Br Med J'' 1873;2:739.1 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.2.677.739}} * Out-Patients' Medical Relief ''Br Med J'' 1875;1:495.1 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.1.745.495}} * Dissolution of the Medical Teachers' Association ''Br Med J'' 1876;2:840.1 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.2.834.840}} * Is Collective Investigation Dangerous? ''Br Med J'' 1884;1:483.2 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.1.1210.483-a}} * Collective Investigation ''Br Med J'' 1884;2:1097.1 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.2.1247.1041}} * The Collective Investigation Committee ''Br Med J'' 1884;2:985.1 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.2.1246.985}} * The Pathology of Acute Pneumonia ''Br Med J'' 1885;1:99.1 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.1.1254.99}} * Pneumonic Fever, Old and New ''Br Med J'' 1889;1:1030.2 {{doi|10.1136/bmj.1.1479.1030-a}}
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturges, Octavius}} Category:1833 births Category:1894 deaths Category:Medical doctors from London Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Category:British paediatricians