Thomas Michael Greenhow

Who was Thomas Michael Greenhow?

Thomas Michael Greenhow was a medical doctor. Born in Leeds, he spent much of his working life in Newcastle, where he founded its medical school in 1834. He died in Leeds on 25 October 1881.

He first co-founded Newcastle's Eye Infirmary, with John Fife, and then the Medical School. He worked at the Newcastle Infirmary, later renamed the Royal Victoria Infirmary, for many years and was instrumental in its expansion in the 1850s. Edward Headlam Greenhow, his brother's son, was also a physician-educationalist, who made his mark in epidemiology and public health.

Thomas married Elizabeth Martineau, daughter of Thomas Martineau and Elizabeth Rankin, of the prosperous, socially reformist Martineau family, mainly based in Birmingham. His wife's siblings included the religious philosopher James and the sociologist and political theorist Harriet.

The couple's daughter Frances was born in 1821. She married into the Lupton family of Leeds, also well-off manufacturers and Unitarians, a branch of English Dissenters. She worked to open up educational opportunities for women, especially access to universities.