Thomas Thurlow (bishop)

Thomas Thurlow (1737–1791) was an English bishop.

Life

He graduated M.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1761. He became Dean of Rochester in 1775, Bishop of Lincoln in 1779, additionally Dean of St Paul's in commendam in 1782, and was Bishop of Durham from 1787.^[1]

Legacy

His rectum is displayed in the Hunterian Museum in London, with the following description:

"A rectum showing the effects of both haemorrhoids and bowel cancer. The patient in this case was Thomas Thurlow (1737-1791), the Bishop of Durham. Thurlow had suffered from some time from a bowel complaint, which he initially thought was the result of piles. He consulted John Hunter after a number of other physicians and surgeons had failed to provide him with a satisfactory diagnosis. Hunter successfully identified the tumour through rectal examination, but recognised that it was incurable. Thurlow died 10 months later."^[2]

Family

He was brother of Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow, who was Lord Chancellor from 1778 to 1792.

Notes

1.  "Thurlow, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
2. Abrahams, Marc (27 April 2010). "The bishop's rectum: The Hunterian Museum in London displays the rectum of Thomas Thurlow, an unfortunate bishop who died of a tumour in 1791". The Guardian. Improbable research ... Retrieved 8 September 2012.