Hunter, William (1718–1783)

British anatomist and obstetrician. He was the leading obstetrician of his time and attended Queen Charlotte Hospital in that capacity. His greatest work, a labour of 30 years, was his Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus (1774), containing 34 life-size copper plates. Hunter was the first professor of anatomy at the Royal Academy (1768), and was president of the Medical Society of London (1781).

Hunter was born in Long Calderwood, near East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He studied at Glasgow and Edinburgh universities, and at St George's Hospital in London, England. He built the anatomical school in Great Windmill Street, Leicester Square, London, and taught there. He bequeathed his museum of pictures, portraits, prints, engravings, books, coins, and minerals, to Glasgow University with an endowment of £8000.