William Anderson (collector)

William Anderson, FRCS, MRCS, LRCP ( born December 18, 1842 in Shoreditch / London, † October 27, 1900 in London) was a British surgeon, professor of anatomy and important collector of Japanese art.

Career and work

Anderson went after visiting the City of London School to study medicine, first to Aberdeen, and then at the Lambeth School of Art in London. In 1964 he worked at the London St Thomas' Hospital under Sir John Simon and Wilfrid Le Gros Clark. In 1873 he became professor of anatomy and surgery at Imperial Naval Medical College in Tokyo. 1880 Anderson went back to London, where he became assistant surgeon at St Thomas' Hospital and Senior Lecturer in Anatomy. In 1891 he became chief surgeon and Hunterian Professor of Surgery and Pathology, and Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy.

During his time Anderson began building a collection of Japanese art, pictures, engravings, etchings and illustrated books existed. You collection he later sold to the British Museum. It was at that time one of the best collections of Japanese art in Europe.

1898 Anderson first described a patient with angiokeratomas that were caused by an apparently previously unknown disease. His list was published in the same year as that of John Fabry, who described a patient with the same disease. The disease is now known as Fabry disease or, according to two Erstbeschreibern, Fabry -Anderson disease.

Anderson was married in 1873 to Margaret Hall. With her he had a son and a daughter. On October 27, 1900, he died of Sehnenfadenruptur ( rupture of chordae tendineae of the mitral valve of the heart).

Publications (selection)

• W. Anderson, Aiko Mabuchi: The Pictorial Arts of Japan. New edition, 2008, ISBN 4-861-66028-9
• W. Anderson: The Deformities of the Fingers and Toes. New edition, Nabu Press, 2010, ISBN 1-177-93480-9

Further Reading

• P. Beighton, Beighton G.: The man behind the syndrome. Springer - Verlag, 1986, ISBN 0-387-16218-6, pp. 53f.