John Sutherland

Who was John Sutherland?

John Sutherland was a physician and promoter of sanitary science.

Sutherland was born in Edinburgh in December 1808, and educated at the High School. He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1827, and graduated M.D. at the university in 1831.

He was married to Sarah Elizabeth Cowie, daughter of a Lancashire merchant. There were no children. Mrs Sutherland became a friend of Florence Nightingale, and assisted her with practical matters, when he became Nightingale’s closest collaborator. Mrs Sutherland shared their concerns about public health; she was an active member of the Ladies’ Sanitary Association.

After spending much time on the continent he practised for a short period in Liverpool, where he edited ‘The Liverpool Health of Towns' Advocate’ in 1846. In 1848, at the request of the Earl of Carlisle, he entered the public service as an inspector under the first board of health. He conducted several special inquiries, notably one into the cholera epidemic of 1848–9. He was the head of a commission sent to foreign countries to inquire into the law and practice of burial.