Joseph Toynbee

Joseph Toynbee
Joseph Toynbee, published in 1910
Born30 December 1815
Heckington, Lincolnshire, England
Died7 July 1866 (1866-07-08) (aged 50)
Known forpathological and anatomical studies of the ear
Children
Scientific career
FieldsOtologist

Joseph Toynbee FRS (30 December 1815[1] – 7 July 1866) was an English Otologist, whose career was dedicated to pathological and anatomical studies of the ear.

Personal life[edit]

Joseph Toynbee was born in Heckington, Lincolnshire on 30 December 1815,[1] and baptised there on 2 January 1816.[2] He was the third[3] son of fifteen children of the wealthy land owner and farmer George Toynbee (1783–1865). George's first wife and the mother of Joseph, was Elizabeth, (maiden surname of Cullen, 1785–1820).[4] Joseph's parents were married at Bracebridge, Lincolnshire, on 21 May 1811, by Licence.[5][6]

After several years of private tuition, he attended King's Lynn Grammar School in Norfolk. At the age of seventeen he studied medicine. His first experience in medicine came when he was apprenticed to William Wade of the Westminster General Dispensary in Gerrard Street in London's Soho. He studied anatomy under George Derby Dermott (1802–1847) at Hunterian Medical School at the Great Windmill Street, and later gained a reputation as a prosector.

Joseph married Harriet Holmes, a daughter of Nathaniel Reynolds Holmes, on 4 August 1846, at St John's Church, Hampstead. The couple were married by Licence.[7] They had nine children together, including economic historian Arnold Toynbee (1852–1883), the Dante scholar Paget Toynbee (1855–1932) and the bacteriologist Grace Frankland (née Toynbee, 1858–1946).[8]

Another son, Harry Valpy Toynbee (1861–1941), was the father of universal historian Arnold J. Toynbee, and archaeologist and art historian Jocelyn Toynbee.

He died on 7 July 1866, at 18, Saville Row, Mayfair, while conducting experiments with prussic acid and chloroform as a remedy for tinnitus.[9] Either one of these substances or their combination is to blame for his death.[10] He was buried at St Mary's Church, Wimbledon, on 11 July 1866. Joseph's residence on the burial register was listed as Wimbledon. He lived at Beech Holme, Wimbledon.[11] A drinking fountain dedicated to his memory stands near to his home.[12]

Career[edit]

He performed studies on the functionality of the Eustachian tube and of the tympanic membrane[10] and tried to restore attempts, the tympanoplasty. When St. Mary's Hospital was founded in Paddington, he a became an aural surgeon and a lecturer on ear diseases – his course of clinical lectures being published in 1855 and 1866.[10] During this time period he composed two major works: "A Descriptive Catalogue of Preparations Illustrative of the Diseases of the Ear" (1857), and "The Diseases of the Ear: Their Nature, Diagnosis and Treatment" (1860). From his many dissections of "deaf ears", he studied ankylosis of the stapes.[10]

Joseph Toynbee's artificial tympanic membrane made of gutta percha attached to a silver wire stem.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1842.[13]

Austrian otologist Adam Politzer (1835–1920) penned biographies in French (1905) and German (1914) honoring Toynbee, whom Politzer regarded as a major influence.

Works[edit]

  • On the structure of the membrana tympani in the human ear. Richard Taylor, London 1851
  • On the use of an artificial membrana tympani in cases of deafness : dependent upon perforation or destruction of the natural organ. J. Churchill, London 1857
  • A Descriptive Catalogue of Preparations illustrative of the Diseases of the Ear in the Museum of Joseph Toynbee. J. Churchill, London 1857
  • The Diseases of the Ear: Their Nature, Diagnosis, and Treatment. Blanchard and Lea, 1860
  • Hints on the Formation of Local Museums. Robert Hardwicke, 1863

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-22 for Joseph Toynbee: Stow - Tytler (Vol 19), p. 1065." Ancestry.com, 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  2. ^ "January 2nd 1816. Joseph, son of George and Elizabeth Toynbee. Abode: Heckington. Father's Occupation: Farmer." HECKINGTON PAR/1/6: Baptisms 1813 - 1842: No.158, p. 20. Lincolnshire Archives. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  3. ^ Family Search (subscription required)
  4. ^ "Elizabeth, wife of George Toynbee junior, Farmer. Abode: Heckington Fen. Buried March 29th 1820. Age 35." HECKINGTON PAR/1/7: Burials 1813 - 1864: No.191, p. 24. Lincolnshire Archives. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  5. ^ "George Toynbee of Heckington Bachelor & Elizabeth Cullen of this parish, Spinster." BRACEBRIDGE PAR/1/8: Marriages 1809 - 1812: No.6, p. 2. Lincolnshire Archives. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Bracebridge : All Saints : "Parish Register" database, FreeREG marriage George Toynbee to Elizabeth Cullen 21 May 1811." FreeReg database transcription. Mick Claxton. File line number 320. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  7. ^ "London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932 for Joseph Toynbee." Camden: St John, Hampstead: Marriages 1837 - 1851, No.293, p. 147.London Metropolitan Archives, Saint John at Hampstead, Register of marriages, P81/JN1, Item 076. Ancestry.com, 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  8. ^ Cohen, S. (23 September 2004). Frankland [née Toynbee], Grace Coleridge (1858–1946), bacteriologist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 30 Jan. 2018, see link
  9. ^ "LAMENTED DEATH OF AN EMINENT PHYSICIAN." Morning Advertiser, Wednesday 11 July 1866, p. 3.The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d Hawkins J.E. (2004). "Sketches of Otohistory, Part 2: Origins of Otology in the British Isles: Wilde and Toynbee". Audiol Neurootol. 9 (3): 129–134. doi:10.1159/000077263. PMID 15084817. S2CID 19646504. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2010.
  11. ^ "Surrey, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1997 for Joseph Toynbee." St Mary Wimbledon: Burials 1849 - 1871, No.971, p. 122. Surrey History Centre; Woking, Surrey, England; Surrey Church of England Parish Registers; Reference: P5/1/13. Ancestry.com, 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  12. ^ Toynbee, Polly (7 March 2023). "How a monument to my great-great-grandfather could help tackle the scourge of plastic pollution". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  13. ^ "Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660–2007" (PDF). royalsociety.org. London: The Royal Society. Retrieved 18 July 2010.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Toynbee genealogy[edit]

Beginning with Joseph, the Toynbees have been prominent in British intellectual society for several generations (note that this diagram is not a comprehensive Toynbee family tree):

Joseph Toynbee
Pioneering otolaryngologist
Harriet Holmes
Arnold Toynbee
Economic historian
Harry Valpy ToynbeeGilbert Murray
Classicist and public intellectual
Lady Mary Howard
Arnold J. Toynbee
Universal historian
Rosalind Murray
1890–1967
Antony Harry Toynbee
1914–39
Philip Toynbee
Writer and journalist
Anne PowellLawrence Toynbee
b. 1922
Josephine ToynbeePolly Toynbee
Journalist