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Robert Steavenson MD

6/10/2025

95) The sepulchre of Robert Steavenson of Newcastle upon Tyne Doctor of Medicine who died the 2nd day of August 1828 in the 72nd year of his age.

My research has been defeated for many years on the gentleman recorded on this large horizontal grave slab close to the west wall of the church due to my misreading of his name. The monuments page on this site recorded him as Robert Stevenson (missing the 'a' after the first 'e') which is a common name in both its surnames Stephenson and Stevenson. That missing 'a' makes all the difference in a Google search.

Robert Steavenson (1756-1828) was awarded Doctor of Medicine (from University of Edinburgh) and wrote a thesis in Latin about the medical uses of electricity. He was a member of the Medical Society of Edinburgh, 1776, and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, 1777. He bacame a physician at Newcastle Infirmary and took over the operation of a lunatic assylum renamed Belle Grove House in Spital Tongues,

"Among the first (if not actually the first) treatise published by an English medical man upon the employment of electricity in medicine, was written in Latin by Dr. Robert Steavenson,* of Newcastle-on-Tyne, for some years physician to the infirmary in that town, and great uncle to the present writer.
* Dissertatio Medica Inauguralis, de Electricitate et Operatione ejus in Morbis Curandis, Robertus Steavenson, A. M. Britannus, Edinburgi, MDCCLXXVIII [1778].

There is a copy of Robert Steavenson's thesis and an English translation from the Latin included in:
Electricity & Its Manner of Working in the Treatment of Disease. A Thesis for the M.D. Degree of the Univ. of Cambridge By William Edward Steavenson (1884).

The translation of p.10 of Robert's thesis states:
"Before we bring this part of the dissertation to a close, it must be observed, that doctors seldom persevere in the use of electricity with sufficient diligence; for we ought not to forget that, though electricity removes some diseases all at once and as if by magic, still in others it must be used with long patience; and though the patient may have received no benefit from it after two or three months' use, still success is by no means to be despaired of; for it has removed, even after six months, diseases which could not be cured otherwise.* But Shenstone said, "Patience is a panacea; but where is it to be found, and who can swallow it?"

I still don't know what connection Dr Steavenson had with the village of Heddon on the Wall. Perhaps he lived nearby.

"Bygone Spital Tongues" by Olive Taylor says in the caption to a photograph: "Originally named New House, it was purchased by Dr. A. Hall and opened as an asylum on 18 October 1766 and took the name St Luke's Asylum. In 1795 the house was bought by Dr Steavenson and the name changed to Belle Grove Retreat. It became a private residence in 1857 and was renamed Belle Grove House. In 1900 the name was changed to Whiteknights."