Joseph Lister made important contributions to antiseptic surgical practice and the science of bacteriology. He was first commemorated by a plaque in 1915; this plaque was put back up in 1966 after post-war rebuilding but then lost during later building work. An earlier surviving residence was identified, and Lister is now commemorated with a new plaque at 52 Maple Street, where he lived as a student.

Joseph Lister was born on 5 April 1827 in Upton, then in Essex. His father was fascinated by microscopy and passed this interest on to his son. Lister was a Quaker and so at that time was effectively barred from most higher education institutions. University College, London, where he went to study for a broad-based BA in 1844, was an exception.

When sending Lister a prospectus that February, his father wrote (in Quaker style) ‘I quite hope the institution will give thee the means of acquiring sound instruction and good mental habits in a way thou wilt enjoy – and I feel much confidence in thy principles and thy industry to make the right use of the opportunities that will be placed before thee.’

Life at Maple Street

Lister’s first independent address was 28 London Street, now 52 Maple Street, Fitzrovia, a terraced house dating from 1777–8 where he lived with fellow Quaker, Edward Palmer. Palmer was an operative assistant, who likely encouraged Lister’s interests in medicine. The house is within sight of University College Hospital. On 2 April 1844 he informed his mother by letter that he was ‘getting pretty much settled in here and anticipate a pleasant residence’. The following week, he reported going on a nine-mile country walk to Hampstead and back with his housemate.

Before he had finished his first degree, Lister witnessed the first operation in Great Britain involving a patient sedated with anaesthetic (ether), performed in 1846 by Robert Liston. Lister intended to study medicine on graduation, but this was slightly delayed by a depressive episode, after which he took a year out to travel.

Student life

Lister joined the University College medical school in 1849. As a student, Lister chaired the student medical society and clashed in a debate with homeopaths. He published original work on the iris and the phenomenon of goosebumps. In June 1851 he performed his first operation, performing an abdominal repair on Julia Sullivan after she had been stabbed by her drunken husband. Lister testified at a trial that saw the husband sentenced to transportation.

Lister was influenced by ophthalmologist Wharton Jones, who inspired his early microscopical studies, and anatomist William Sharpey who introduced him to clinical surgeon James Syme. Lister qualified in 1852 and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. After qualifying, Lister went to work with Syme in Edinburgh and married his daughter Agnes in 1856. She worked as his assistant and scribe in his experimental work, and Lister adopted her Anglican faith.

Antiseptic system

In 1860, the Listers moved to Glasgow where Joseph was chair of surgery at Glasgow University and then, a year later, surgeon to the Glasgow Infirmary. He directed his physiological and microscopical research toward wound inflammation, which was a major cause of deaths in hospital. Building upon Louis Pasteur’s germ theory, Lister published his findings in The Lancet in several articles from 1867, most notably ‘On the effects of the antiseptic system of treatment upon the salubrity of surgical hospitals’ (published January 1870).

Lister’s ‘antiseptic system’ involved wound management and surgical interventions using diluted carbolic acid in lotions, oils, sprays and gauzes, and the sterilisation of surgical instruments. His application of antiseptic methods to surgery was innovatory; even today the vital principle of keeping infection out remains the same, though the methods have changed.

Lister encountered considerable professional opposition, partly because his papers offered empirical evidence of the appalling levels of hospital mortality, and therefore contained a strong implied criticism of the medical establishment. His system was gradually accepted over time. London establishments were particularly resistant, but Germany and Scandinavia adopted his ideas more readily. Hospital death rates tumbled as a result.

Later life and recognition

In 1869 Lister returned to Edinburgh, where he was appointed to the chair of clinical surgery previously occupied by Syme. Lister operated on Queen Victoria in 1871 for an abscess in her armpit. In 1877 he returned to London as professor of surgery at King’s College, and he spent the rest of his active life in the city, retiring from his chair in 1892 and ending ward supervisions in 1893. Throughout this time, Lister continued his experimental work and to refine his antiseptic method.

After Agnes Lister died during an 1893 holiday in Italy, Lister was said to have lost much of his enthusiasm for life, though he did serve as president of the Royal Society (1895–1902), and was awarded a barony (1897), becoming the first medical practitioner to enter the House of Lords. In 1902 he was one of the original twelve members of the reconstituted Order of Merit and was also awarded the Royal Society’s Copley Medal. In 1903 the Jenner Institute for Preventive Medicine was renamed the Lister Institute. Lister died on 10 February 1912.

Further reading

• Lindsey Fitzharris, The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s quest to transform the grisly world of Victorian medicine (2017)
• Christopher Lawrence, ‘Lister, Joseph, Baron Lister (1827–1912)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004) (public library subscription required)