High blood pressure and the kidney: The forgotten contribution of William Senhouse Kirkes

Kidney International

Volumn 57, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 724-734

  Cameron, J Stewart ^a,b   Hicks, Jackie ^a  

^a KING'S COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

^b Elm Bank   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Arteriosclerosis; Cardiac hypertrophy; Hypertension; Renal history; Vascular disease

Indexed keywords

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT; HISTORY OF MEDICINE; HYPERTENSION; LITERATURE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; REVIEW;

EID: 0033945060     PISSN: 00852538     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1046/j.1523-1755.2000.00895.x     Document Type: Article

References (84)

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7. 7. FISHBERG AM: Hypertension and Nephritis (2nd ed), Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger, 1932, p 538
8. 8. ANONYMOUS: W.S. Kirkes (1823-1864) physician to St. Bartholomew's hospital. JAMA 211:2010-2011, 1970
9. 9. KIRKES WS: On some of the principal effects of resulting from detachment of fibrinous deposits from the interior of the heart, and their mixture with the circulating blood. Med Chir Trans 35:281-324, 1852
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11. 11. NORMAN JM (ed): Morton's Medical Bibliography (5th ed) (No. 2758), London, Scolar Press, 1992
12. 12. KIRKES WS: Handbook of Physiology (assisted by J. Paget). London, Taylor Walton & Maberly, 1848
13. 13. KIRKES WS: Cases, with remarks illustrating the association of chorea with rheumatism and disease of the heart. Trans Abernethian Soc St. Bartholomew's Hosp 8:55-69, 1850
14. 14. KIRKES WS, COOTE H: Tubercular inflammation of the brain. Med Times Gaz II:86-88, 200-203, 1850
15. 15. KIRKES WS, COOTE H: Fatal jaundice: Disorganization of the liver. Med Times Gaz II:539-541, 1850
16. 16. KIRKES WS, COOTE H: Hydatid cyst in the pleura. Med Times Gaz 1:10-12, 1851
17. 17. KIRKES WS, COOTE H: Malignant disease of the lung. Med Times Gaz 1:675-676, 1851
18. 18. BURROWS G, KIRKES WS: Inflammation of the muscular substance of the heart. Med Times Gaz VII:624-626, 1853
19. 19. BURROWS G, KIRKES WS: Affections of the bronchial mucous membrane in chronic renal disease. Med Times Gaz VI:8-11, 1853
20. 20. BURROWS G, KIRKES WS: Inflammation of the serous membranes in chronic renal disease. Med Times Gaz VI:643-645, VII:239-241, 1853
21. 21. BAILLIE M: The Morbid Anatomy of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body (2nd ed). London, J Johnson & G Nichol, 1797, pp 32-34
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30. 30. KIRKES WS: On apoplexy in relation to chronic renal disease. Med Times Guz 24:515-517, 1855
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39. 39. DE WARDENER HE: Hypertension artérielle et artérioles rénales: De Bright à aujou d'hui. Néphrologie d'Hier et dAujou d'hui 4:15-21, 1994
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47. 47. KIRKES WS: On hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart. Med Times Gaz XV:109-111, 135-137, 1857
48. 48. WILKS S: Cases of Bright's disease, with remarks. Guy's Hosp Rep 15:232-315, 1853
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51. 51. GOLL FG: Über den Einfluss des Blutrdrückes auf die Narnabsonderuns. Thesis, University of Zürich, E Kiesling, Zürich, 1853
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53. 53. HÉRISSON J: Le sphygmomètre: Instrument qui traduit à l'oeuil toute l'action des artères. Paris, Cruchard, 1833. See also: anon (PHG): Measurement of the pulse: The sphygmometer. "An instrument which makes every action of the arteries apparent to the eye" Invented by Dr Jules Herisson. With remarks on its utility in the study of disease. Lancet 1:22-27, 1834
54. 53. HÉRISSON J: Le sphygmomètre: Instrument qui traduit à l'oeuil toute l'action des artères. Paris, Cruchard, 1833. See also: anon (PHG): Measurement of the pulse: The sphygmometer. "An instrument which makes every action of the arteries apparent to the eye" Invented by Dr Jules Herisson. With remarks on its utility in the study of disease. Lancet 1:22-27, 1834
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56. 55. MAREY EJ: Physiologie Médicale de la Circulation Du Sang. Paris, Delahaye, 1863
57. 56. CAMERON JS, HICKS JA: Frederick Akhbar Mahomed and his role in the description of hypertension at Guy's hospital. Kidney Int 49:1488-1506, 1996
58. 57. BROWN GH (ed). Munk's Roll of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physician of London (vol IV, 1826-1925). London, Royal College of Physicians, 1955, p 80
59. 59. ANONYMOUS: The late William Senhouse Kirkes, M.D. Br Med J 2:714-715, 1864
60. 60. ANONYMOUS: Obituary. Med Times Gaz December 24:690-691, 1864
61. 61. MOORE N (ED): Williams Senhouse Kirkes. Dictionary of National Biography (vol 3, Suppl 22). London, Oxford University Press, 1901, pp 69
62. 62. Today the name Kirkes is virtually extinct. There is no one of that name in the telephone directories of any major city in the United Kingdom or in Ireland, nor is there anyone with the name of Kirkes left in Cumbria or Northumbria. Census and other searches reveal that even in the middle 19th century the name was extremely unusual, and even though Kirk is common, Kirke and Kirks are also rarely found.
63. 63. STOCKDALL J: Annales Cartmelensis, or Annals of Cartmel. Ulverston, William Kitchen, 1872, p 407
64. 64. BOUMPHREY RS, HUDDLESTON CR, HUGHES J: An Armorial for Cumberland and Westmoreland: Lake District Museum Trust. Published privately, by subscription, 1978, Morecroft Kirkes is listed as "RN" (Royal Navy), and records in the Maritime Museum, Greenwich show he served five terms aboard HMS Prince of Wales, retiring in 1808
65. 65. Graveyard records for the parish of Cartmel. Grave no 168 in Cartmel Abbey graveyard is the Kirkes family grave, a flat slab laid into the ground. The sons Morecroft (1809-1835), Martin Stockdale (1814-1845), and John (1813-1858) are commemorated on the slab also. Anne Kirkes lived to the age 76 when she died, according to her death certificate, of a "diseased brain present for four years" in Lancaster in 1859. John Kirkes, a military man, drank himself to death; Martin Stockdale, a navy man like his father, died in Glasgow in 1845. His father and brother Morecroft died before death certification began, so no cause of death is known.
66. 66. INTERNATIONAL GENEALOGICAL INDEX (Mormon records): Available on microfiche only. Hamnett Kirks christened by Moorcroft Kirks, Manchester Cathedral, 24th February, 1717; Moorcroft Kirkes christened by Moorcroft Kirkes, Liverpool, St. George's church, 14th October, 1749
67. 67. PARSON WM, WHITE W: History, Directory and Gazetteer of Cumberland and Westmoreland, with that Part of the Lake District in Lancashire, Being the Lordships of Furness and Cartmel, Etc. Etc. Leeds, Ed. Barnes & Sons, 1829
68. 68. MS 1407 in the Lancaster Library Collection is a copy of a deed drawn up before the marriage in 1836 of Eliza Kirkes to Thomas Gudgeon Dodson of Cockerham, near Lancaster, in 1836. Eliza Kirkes is stated as being from Lancaster, where our family may well have already been living by 1836, after Morehouse Kirkes' death in 1832. This document is the only other reference to a Kirkes we have come across. Anne (Stockdale) Kirkes acted as a witness to the deed, whereas the other witness was James Stockdale Harrison FRCS (one of the surgeons who later taught William Senhouse), so the family connection seems secure. If Eliza was Anne's daughter, no baptism is recorded in Cartmel 1812-1830, but she could have be born before the Kirkes came there in 1812 and thus been over 24 at her marriage, a plausible age. The document also mentions a Henry G. Kirkes as witness, but what relation to the family is unknown.
69. 69. This apprenticeship of William suggests that the family was now poorer following Morecroft senior and junior's deaths, although Anne Kirkes is described in 1851 as a "landed proprietor." William's second name is that of one of the great families of West Cumbria at the time, the Senhouses. What the connection was with this noble family we can only speculate, but one Senhouse, living nearby in Seascale in West Cumbria (Captain Sir Humphrey le Fleming Senhouse RN, who died in Macao aboard HMS Blenheim in 1841) [73]. was also a naval officer and could have been young William's godparent. If so, it seems no money transferred for William's education.
70. 70. Only as late as 1848 did Schönlein change the teaching of medicine in Berlin from Latin to German. We are grateful for information supplied by Professor Friedrich Luft on Kirkes' thesis and other aspects of Kirkes' Berlin connection.
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74. 74. City of Westminster Archives: Will of William Senhouse Kirkes dated 6th April 1864, proved 15th January 1865
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