William Redfern (c.1774 – July 1833) was a leading surgeon in early colonial New South Wales.
Redfern appears to have been born in Canada and raised in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England. He passed the examination of the London Company of Surgeons in 1797 and was commissioned as a surgeon's mate in the Royal Navy.
Redfern was sentenced to death for his part in the naval Mutiny of the Nore in 1797. After spending four years in an English jail he was t...
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William Redfern (c.1774 – July 1833) was a leading surgeon in early colonial New South Wales.
Redfern appears to have been born in Canada and raised in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England. He passed the examination of the London Company of Surgeons in 1797 and was commissioned as a surgeon's mate in the Royal Navy.
Redfern was sentenced to death for his part in the naval Mutiny of the Nore in 1797. After spending four years in an English jail he was transported to New South Wales in 1802.
Redfern was granted a conditional pardon following his arrival in Sydney. In 1803, he received a full pardon from the colony's governor, King. As early as 1804 Redfern had been advocating the new smallpox vaccination. After being examined about his level of medical knowledge by the Surgeon-General of New South Wales, Thomas Jamison, it was certified that Redfern was "qualified to exercise the profession of a surgeon, etc." He was appointed as assistant surgeon in 1808 by Joseph Foveaux. Foveaux planned to...
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