The Scottish Surgeon to the Tsar
February 6, 2017 - The Chairman in News & Blog Posts, Chairman's Blog
Whilst reading Dominic Lieven’s comprehensive book on the War with Russia in 1812
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Russia-Against-Napoleon-Story-Campaigns/0143118862 I came across Sir James Wylie who was surgeon to the Russian Army in 1812. On looking him up and consulting my good friend Mick Crumplin I felt he was worth mentioning.
He went to Russia in 1790 as physician to Catherine the Great. In 1804 Tsar Alexander I invited Wylie back to military service as Medical Inspector of the Imperial Guard. He was present at Austerlitz and in 1806 was appointed Inspector General for the Army Board of Health and became Director of the Medical Department of the Imperial Ministry of War in 1812. On 7 September 1812 at Borodino he performed about 80 operations on the field. He also attended the mortally wounded General Prince Bagration, Commander-in-Chief of the 2nd Rus
sian army.
Wylie accompanied Alexander I during his visit to England in 1814, and was knighted by the Prince Regent. On 2 July 1814, at the special request of the Tsar, he was created a baronet in the name and on behalf of George III. He died in Petersburg in 1854 just as the Crimean War was about to happen and he is remembered by a statue at the Medical and Surgical Academy in St Petersburg.
