The University of Sheffield
The University Library

Innes Smith Medical Portrait Collection

Ref: POR 7

Title: Innes Smith Medical Portrait Collection

Scope: Portraits of medical men from the 16th to the early 20th centuries

Dates: c. 1630-1911 (but many undated)
Extent: c. 300 items
Name of creator: Robert William Innes Smith

Administrative / biographical history:

Robert William Innes Smith (1872-1933) was a graduate in medicine of Edinburgh University and a general practitioner for thirty three years in the Brightside district of Sheffield. His strong interest in medical history and art brought him some acclaim, and his study of English-speaking students of medicine at the University of Leyden, published in 1932, is regarded as a model of its kind. Locally in Sheffield Innes Smith was highly respected as both medical man and scholar: his pioneer work in the organisation of ambulance services and first-aid stations in the larger steel works made him many friends.
On his death, part of his large collection of books and portraits was acquired for the University. Of the 300 or so items in the Portrait collection, most are engravings, mezzotints, lithographs and photographs, the majority being portraits of distinguished medical men from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. The choice reflects the interests of Innes Smith, a large proportion being Scottish and Continental sitters. The largest component is the group of Georgian and Victorian medical men. Many of them are not listed in Burgess: Portraits in the Wellcome Institute, London, 1973. The nineteenth century photographs (e.g. Addison, Lister) are unusual and rare.
This may well be the largest institutional collection of medical portrait-prints outside London.