Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Hewett, Prescott Gardner
HEWETT, Sir PRESCOTT GARDNER (1812–1891), surgeon, son of William N. W. Hewett of Bilham House, near Doncaster, was born on 3 July 1812. He received a good education, which was completed in Paris, where he devoted some time to painting, though he afterwards abandoned the idea of following art as a profession and turned his attention to medicine. He learned anatomy in Paris, where he also became thoroughly grounded in the principles and practice of French surgery, and on his return to England he was admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons on 15 July 1836. He then attracted the favourable notice of Sir Benjamin C. Brodie [q. v.] by the excellence of his dissections, so that when he was on the point of accepting a commission in the service of the Honourable East India Company he was offered the post of demonstrator of anatomy at St. George's Hospital, where his relative, Dr. Cornwallis Hewett, Downing professor of medicine at Cambridge, had served as physician from 1825 to 1833. Hewett became curator of the museum at St. George's Hospital about the end of 1840; the first record in his handwriting of a post-mortem examination is dated 1 Jan. 1841. He was appointed lecturer on anatomy in 1845, and on 4 Feb. 1848 he was elected assistant surgeon to the hospital, becoming full surgeon on 21 June 1861 and consulting surgeon on 12 Feb. 1875.
At the Royal College of Surgeons of England he was elected a fellow on 11 Dec. 1843. He was Arris and Gale professor of human anatomy and physiology 1854-9, a member of the council 1867-83, chairman of the board of examiners in midwifery 1875, vice-president in 1874 and 1875, president in 1876.
In 1863 lie was elected president of the Pathological Society of London ; in 1873 he was elected president of the Clinical Society ; and on 4 June 1874 he was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society.
He was appointed surgeon-extraordinary to the queen in 1867, serjeaut-surgeon-extraordinary in 1877, and serjeant-surgeon in 1884. He also held the appointment from 1875 of surgeon to the prince of Wales. He was made a baronet on 6 Aug. 1883. He then retired to Horsham, where he gave much of his time to water-colour painting and to country pursuits, though he still paid periodical visits to London for professional purposes. His collection of water-colour drawings was presented to the nation, and was exhibited at the South Kensington Museum at the beginning of 1891.
Hewett died on 19 June 1891. He married, on 13 Sept. 1849, Sarah, eldest daughter of the Rev. Joseph Cowell of Todmorden, Lancashire, by whom he had one son, who survived him only a few weeks, and two daughters. There is a half-length subscription portrait, painted by W. W. Ouless, R.A., in the board-room of St. George's Hospital. As a teacher Hewett was admirable ; for he could make his pencil explain his words. Gradually he became known, first to professional circles as one of the most profound anatomists and best lecturers in London, then as an organiser of rare energy and power, and lastly to the general public as a most accomplished surgeon and admirable operator. He was equally skilful in diagnosis, and his stores of experience could furnish cases in point in all medical discussions.
Hewett published numerous papers upon hernia, aneurysm, injuries of the head, and pyaemia in the 'Transactions' of the various societies to which he belonged. The results of his most valuable work upon the injuries and surgical diseases of the head are embodied in his article upon the subject in Holmes's 'System of Surgery' (4 vols. 1860-4).
[Transactions of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, 1892, vol. lxxv. ; St. George's Hospital Gazette, 1895, vol. iii. ; additional information kindly given by Dr. Humphry D. Rolleston and T. Pickering Pick, esq., consulting surgeon to St. George's Hospital.]