Archibald Billing (1791-1881) MD FRCP FRS: bedside teaching at the London Hospital (1822)

After graduation at Trinity College Dublin in 1814 Archibald Billing, who was born in County Dublin, settled in London. His Dublin MD (1818) was incorporated at Oxford and he taught at the London Hospital where, when appointed Senior Physician in 1822, he introduced teaching at the patients' bedsides. He ceased to lecture in 1836 when he was invited to become a member of the Senate of the University of London. He published papers on a variety of clinical subjects but is remembered for First Principles of Medicine (1831) that went through six editions. His friends among the operatic artists included Niccolo Paganini, and The Science of Jems, Jewels, Coins and Medals (1867) was the work of a connoisseur. He lived in retirement for many years before he died at the age of 90 at 34 Park Lane, London, on 2 September 1881.