Alexander Wood

An English visitor to Edinburgh in 1776, at the apogee of that extraordinary period known as “the Scottish Enlightenment” wrote “Here I stand at the Cross of Edinburgh and can, within a few minutes, take fifty men of learning and genius by the hand”. Almost certainly this visitor would, sooner or later, also have seen and possibly taken by the hand, the surgeon, Mr Alexander Wood, who, although no genius, was undoubtedly one of Edinburgh’s most extraordinary citizens at that time and whose amiable eccentricities became, in his own lifetime, part of the city’s folklore.

Alexander Wood, the son of Thomas Wood, a farmer on the outskirts of Edinburgh, was born in 1725 and on account of his lean, lanky physique, was better known to his contemporaries and to posterity as “Lang Sandy” Wood. Little is known of his education or of what inspired him to become a surgeon and we have no details of his surgical apprenticeship.

He became a Freeman of the Incorporation of Surgeons in 1756 and rapidly gained a reputation as a skilled and safe operator. Having built up a large surgical practice and been appointed to the staff of the new Royal Infirmary, he was elected Deacon (President) of the Incorporation in 1762 and held office for two years. By this time, “Lang Sandy” had become a well known and universally popular figure in Edinburgh but, although a highly competent, practical surgeon, he made no contributions to the advancement of surgical knowledge and he became and remains to this day famous because of his remarkable character and personality.

He was a genial extrovert whose affability, bonhomie and kindliness enriched the Edinburgh social scene and endeared him not just to a narrow coterie of friends and colleagues, but to the citizenry at large. “Lang Sandy” was an enthusiastic supporter of many dining clubs and convivial societies and a founder member of two medico-social fraternities which flourish to this day - the Aesculapian Club founded in 1773 and the Harveian Society founded in 1778. He was the chief instigator of the Gymnastic Club founded in 1786, the members of which met annually at Leith to celebrate the “Ludi Apollinaris” and to compete with each other at “Gowfing, Bowling and Swimming”. At all of these Sandy Wood was a notable performer and especially at “Gowf”, which he continued to play energetically and with no little skill when past his 80th birthday. The Gymnastic Club disbanded in 1811 but its memorabilia still adorn the table at dinners of The Aesculapian Club to which they were bequeathed.

Nothing in all his life gave Lang Sandy greater pleasure than the diploma of “Doctor of Mirth” which his fellow Aesculapians conferred upon him in 1803.

In an age when personal idiosyncrasy was often deliberately cultivated and no-one was diffident about expressing his individuality, Sandy Wood stood out amongst his fellow citizens. Wherever he went including domiciliary visits to his patients, he was accompanied by his two pets - a tame sheep which trotted along beside him and a raven which perched on his shoulder - and he caused a considerable stir by being the first person in Edinburgh to own and use an umbrella.

When Robert Burns first came to Edinburgh in 1787 he sustained a leg injury which incapacitated him for three or four weeks and during this time he was treated by Lang Sandy of whom the poet’s patroness, Mrs Maclehose (Clarinda), herself a doctor’s daughter wrote “I am glad to hear Mr Wood attends you. He is a good soul and a safe surgeon. Do as he bids and I trust your leg will soon be quite well”. Lang Sandy and his famous patient became firm friends and there is no doubt that in his surgeon Burns found a man after his own heart. In two letters he refers to “My very worthy respected friend, Mr Alexander Wood” and to “one of the noblest men in God’s world - Alexander Wood, Surgeon”. Sandy Wood was a subscriber to the first Edinburgh edition of Burns’ poems and later it was upon his written recommendation that Burns was appointed to a post with the Commission of Excise.

There could be no more characteristic vignette of Lang Sandy that the lines written by his friend and colleague, Dr Andrew Duncan, Senr, after a memorably convivial meeting of the Gymnastic Club.

Here lies Sandy Wood, a good honest fellow
Very wise when sober but wiser when mellow
At sensible nonsense by no man excelled
With wit and good humour dull care he repelled

But though now he’s laid low we must not complain
For after a sleep, he’ll be with us again
Shed no tears my good friends, wear no garments of sable
Sandy Wood is not dead but laid under the table!