Thomas Richard Fraser was born in Calcutta, India, on 5 February 1841. He was educated at public schools in Scotland and then studied at Edinburgh University, graduating with the degree of M.D. in 1862. He was appointed as an Assistant Physician at the city's Royal Infirmary in 1869 and in 1877 he succeeded to the Chair of Materia Medica, and in 1878 the Chair of Clinical Medicine. Fraser published many papers in practical medicine, particularly on the action and therapeutic uses of medicinal substances, and also on serpent's venom. In addition to his academic work, he was President of the Indian Plague Commission, 1898-1901, President of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, 1901-1903, and representative of the University on the General Medical Council from 1905. He was knighted in 1902, and was an Honorary Physician to the King in Scotland. Sir Thomas Richard Fraser died on 4 January 1920.
From the guide to the Papers of Sir Thomas Richard Fraser (1841-1920), 1881-1894, (Edinburgh University Library)
