Dr William Falconer

1744-1824

In 1770 the physician to Chester Infirmary came to Bath, and took up residence at 29 the Circus; he was Dr William Falconer, and he practised there for more than fifty years, as well as serving as physician to the Bath General Hospital from 1784 until 1819. He wrote essays on the efficacy of the Bath waters and, with Joseph Priestley, was co-discoverer of carbonic acid gas. One of his lesser claims to fame was to originate the layout for the planting of the five plane trees that dominate the Circus; before that time the area, now grassed, was covered with paving stones.

Falconer also established a small medical dynasty in Bath. His son, Thomas, qualified as a doctor, and his grandson, Randle Wilbraham Falconer, was physician to the Bath hospital, and mayor of the city in 1857; he, too, lived in the Circus, and practised there for more than thirty years.