William Henry Flower - Early Life

Early Life

Flower was born at his father's house in Glade Valley "The Hill", Stratford-upon-Avon. His father, Edward Fordham Flower, had lived in America and was an opponent of the slave trade; the family's antecedents were Puritan. When Edward Flower returned to England, he founded a brewery in Stratford-on-Avon and married Celina Greaves. William was at first taught by his mother, and went to a boarding school in Edgbaston at 11.

In 1844 at 13 William was sent to a school in Worksop run by a German headmaster, Dr. Heldenmaier. There were ten hours daily schooling, and this included science (rare at that time). Flower was made Curator of the school museum, and for almost the rest of his life he was a museum curator of one kind or another.

William's interest in natural history appears to have been further fostered in early life by interactions with Rev. P.B. Brodie, an enthusiastic zoologist and geologist. William wrote later in life in his book, Essays on Museums, that he was pleased to create a museum as a boy with a miscellaneous collection of natural history objects, kept at first in a cardboard box, but subsequently housed in a cupboard.

According to his biographers (Cornish 1904; Lydekker 1906), he entered University College London in 1847 at 16. This may be a confusion for UC School, which was founded to support preparation for UCL. Flower matriculated in Arts in 1849 (Lydekker says gaining honours in zoology), then joined the Medical School at University College London whilst becoming a pupil at the Middlesex Hospital (Lydekker). He passed the 1st MB exam in 1851, receiving the gold medal in Dr. Sharpey's class of Physiology & Anatomy, and the silver medal in Zoology & Comparative Anatomy; the gold medal in the latter subject was taken by his fellow-student, Joseph Lister. It seems that Flower never took the 2nd MB exam (passing which would have conferred the basic medical degree).

In March 1852 Flower read his first paper before the Zoological Society, of which he was a Fellow. He was appointed Junior House Surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital, and after six months promoted to Senior House Surgeon. In March 1854 he passed the Royal College of Surgeons exam to become a Member (MRCS), a basic qualification for practising surgery in England. Also in 1854 he became Curator of the Middlesex Hospital Museum.