1816-apprenticed to John Abernethy at St Bartholomew's Hospital; 1822-MRCS; 1826-demonstrator of anatomy at St Bartholomew's; 1831 resigned from demonstrator but remained assistant surgeon; private practice in London and taught at the Aldergate school for ten years; 1837 -FRS; 1843 - anatomy lecturer at St Bartholomew's; 1843 - FRCS; 1848 -member of RCS council; 1850 - Hunterian orator; 1852 - professor of human anatomy and surgery; 1855 - court of examiners; 1863 president RCS; 1854-1864 - full surgeon; 1859-president of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society; 1864 - consulting surgeon and official retirement age, appointed chairman of the first parliamentary committee at the Admiralty to inquire into the best way of treating venereal disease in the army and navy, the direct outcome of the committee's report was the framing of the Contagious Diseases Act of 1866.