# Thomas Girdlestone

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**Thomas Girdlestone** ([Holt, Norfolk](/source/Holt,_Norfolk), 1758 – 25 June 1822) was an English physician and writer.[1]

## Education and career

After a classical education at [Gresham's School](/source/Gresham's_School), [Holt](/source/Holt,_Norfolk), Girdlestone joined the army as a surgeon's mate, serving under Colonel Sir Charles Stuart, governor of [Menorca](/source/Menorca), and in India. In 1787 he entered [Leiden University](/source/Leiden_University) to study medicine, and after qualifying settled at [Great Yarmouth](/source/Great_Yarmouth), [Norfolk](/source/Norfolk), where he practised as a doctor, wrote books on [medicine](/source/Medicine), and was also a [publisher](/source/Publisher).

It has been suggested that Girdlestone first advocated [arsenic](/source/Arsenic) salts as a treatment for [psoriasis](/source/Psoriasis) and [leprosy](/source/Leprosy) in 1806, but arsenical preparations have been used for skin diseases since the time of [Galen](/source/Galen).

In appearance, Girdlestone was tall and thin, liked to dress in black, with a white cravat, silk stockings and half-gaiters. He had a powdered head and pigtail and carried a gold-headed cane.

## Publications

- *Essays on the Hepatitis and Spasmodic Affections in India: founded on observations made whilst on service with his Majesty's troops in different parts of that country* (1787)
- *A Case of Diabetes, with an Historical Sketch of that Disease* (printed by I.D. Downes, for G.G. and J. Robinson, London, 1799)
- *The Odes of Anacreon* (translation, 1803)
- *Fowler's Solution* (1806)
- *Facts tending to prove that General Lee was never Absent from this Country for any Length of Time during the Years 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and that he was the Author of Junius* (1813)

## Family

Girdlestone married the widow of the Reverend John Close, and they had one son.

## References

1. [Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 21, Girdlestone, Thomas](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Girdlestone,_Thomas_(DNB00)) retrieved December 2017

- *Thomas Girdlestone (1758–1822), physician and writer* by Gordon Goodwin, revised Claire L. Nutt, in *[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)* (Oxford University Press, 2004)

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