Benjamin Travers

Benjamin Travers, FRS (3 April 1783 – 6 March 1858) was a British surgeon, known for his expertise in the physiology and morbidity of the eye. From 1857 to his death, he was the Serjeant Surgeon, a member of the Medical Household (part of the Royal Household). Life Benjamin Travers was born on 3 April 1783 at Cheapside, London, the second of the ten children of Benjamin Travers, a London sugar broker, and his wife Mary Spilsbury. After Cheshunt Grammar School, he was educated privately before joining his father's counting house in 1799. In August, 1800 Travers was articled for six years to surgeon Astley Cooper. In 1807 he set up his own London practice and was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at Guy's Hospital. In 1810 he was appointed Surgeon to the London Infirmary for Diseases of the Eye, afterwards the Moorfields Ophthalmic Hospital, where he was later joined by William Lawrence. In May 1815, he was elected a Surgeon to St Thomas' Hospital where he served until his retirement in 1841. He also obtained the lucrative post of Surgeon to the East India Company's warehouses and brigade, On the formation of the medical establishment of Queen Victoria he was appointed a Surgeon Extraordinary, afterwards becoming a Surgeon in Ordinary to the Prince Consort. He was appointed Serjeant Surgeon in 1857.