Carlill, John Burford (1814 -1874)

John Burford Carlill was born in Hull. He entered as a student of University College, London in 1838, where he gained several medals and became house surgeon of University College Hospital. Carlill was admitted to the Royal College of Surgeons on 1842. After graduation he established a practice in London. In 1847 he became a member of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London.
In 1860 while examining a child with diphtheria, Carlill contracted the disease. He became the first adult patient to be given a successful tracheotomy to relieve the breathing problems associated with diphtheria.
His papers are deposited at University College London Archives. His portrait hangs at the Wellcome Institute in London.
After his death his books were sold at auction by Puttick & Simpson of 47 Leicester Square on 21 May 1875: A Catalogue of miscellaneous books, part of the library of John Burford Carlill, M.D.
In 1924 his son, A.J.B. Carlill, endowed The John Burford Carlill Pathological Laboratory at Westminster Hospital London in honour of his father.