Robert Gooch, M.D. (January 1784 – 16 February 1830) was an English medical doctor and physician, known for his work in midwifery and the diseases of women.
Life and Education
Gooch was born at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Robert Gooch, a sea captain who was a grandson of Sir Thomas Gooch. He was apprenticed at age fifteen to Giles Borrett, a surgeon-apothecary at Yarmouth. In 1804, he entered the University of Edinburgh, graduating M.D. in June 1807 with an inaugural dissertation on rickets (titled De Rachitide). Among his close friends at Edinburgh were Henry Southey and William Knighton (later Sir William Knighton).
Medical Career
After training in London under Astley Cooper, Gooch began general practice in Croydon, Surrey, in 1808. Following the death of his first wife and child in 1811, he relocated to London, was admitted as a Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on 6 March 1812, and was soon elected lecturer on midwifery at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He later served as physician to the Westminster Lying-in Hospital and the City of London Lying-in Hospital.
His practice in midwifery and the diseases of women grew substantially after he moved to Berners Street in 1816.
Later Years and Works
Suffering from poor health, including haemoptysis (coughing up blood) in 1826, Gooch was appointed librarian to King George IV in April 1826 through the patronage of Sir William Knighton—the first instance of a medical man holding that post.
His major work, An Account of Some of the Most Important Diseases Peculiar to Women, was published in 1829. He also contributed articles to the Quarterly Review, including pieces on the plague (1825) and the Anatomy Act (1830). His letters on Beguines and Nursing were printed in the appendix to Robert Southey's Colloquies on Society.
Gooch died of consumption (tuberculosis) on 16 February 1830, aged 45, and was buried at Croydon. He left two sons and a daughter from his second marriage (to the sister of surgeon Benjamin Travers).
His collected papers were edited, with a revised edition of his treatise on the diseases of women, by Dr. Robert Ferguson and published in 1859. His portrait, by Richard James Lane, is held at the Royal College of Physicians in London.
