James Towers (obstetrician)

James Towers (died 24 July 1820) was the first occupant of the Regius Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Glasgow.

A pre-eminent surgeon, he studied obstetrics at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and also in London. In 1790 Towers requested to lecture on obstetrics at the University of Glasgow, and he was appointed the first Professor of Midwifery in 1815.

Towers married Helen McLehose, later called Helen Hozier, at Glasgow in 1790. A firm Tory, he was the father of William Towers-Clark (1805-1870), writer and Dean of the Faculty of Procurators, and of John Towers (1791-1833), who succeeded him as the second occupant of the Chair of Midwifery at the University.

Bibliography

• Comrie, John D. (1927) History of Scottish Medicine to 1860, London, Ballière, Tindall & Cox.
• MacLehose, James (1886) Memoirs and Portraits of One Hundred Glasgow Men, Glasgow, James MacLehose & Sons.