Parkes, Edmund Alexander (1819–1876)

British professor of hygiene. In 1840 he was made professor of clinical medicine at University College. From 1842–45 he was assistant-surgeon in the Indian Army. In 1855 he superintended a large civil hospital in the Dardanelles, opened to relieve the pressure upon the hospitals at Scutari during the Crimean war, and in 1860 accepted the chair of hygiene at the Army Medical School.

Parkes was born in Bloxham, Oxfordshire, England. He studied at University College, London. He was a pioneer of modern hygiene, and famous throughout Europe in the field of military hygiene. His most important work was his Manual of Practical Hygiene (1891, 8th ed), which was translated into many European languages.