Clover Joseph Thomas 1825

Joseph Thomas Clover was born at Aylsham, Norfolk in 1825. After leaving Grey Friars Priory School he worked as an apprentice to a surgeon, and became a dresser at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital in 1842. In 1844 he entered University College Hospital as Physician's Assistant and House Surgeon to Thomas Morton and James Syme. In August 1848 he was appointed Resident Medical Officer. He may have been present at the first major operation in England to use an anaesthetic, when, in December 1846, Robert Liston amputated a patient's thigh using open ether. Clover spent the rest of his life studying and experimenting with the administration of anaesthetics, inventing several pieces of equipment for this purpose. He became a lecturer in anaesthetics at University College Hospital and an administrator of anasethetics at the Dental Hospital, positions he held at the time of his death on 27 September 1882. He was survived by his wife, Mary Anne (ne? Hall) and four children.

From the guide to the Papers of: Clover, Joseph Thomas (1825-1882), 1838-1883, (Wellcome Library)