John Hunter and Edward Jenner – The enduring friendship of two enquiring minds

13 Feb 2026

Georgina Thompson

John Hunter (1728 – 1793) was a Scottish surgeon who learned anatomy at his brother William’s anatomy school in London. He was a firm believer in careful observation and scientific approaches in medicine, setting up his own anatomy school in London in 1764. His anatomical work helped to develop the understanding of the human body and his huge collection of anatomical specimens was bought by the government after his death and given into the care of the Company of Surgeons (later the Royal College of Surgeons of England), becoming the basis of the Hunterian Museum.

Edward Jenner (1749-1823) was an English physician and scientist, best known for pioneering the concept of vaccines and developing the first ever vaccine, for smallpox. He is sometimes known as “the father of immunology” and whilst his work was not always celebrated during his lifetime – many doubted his techniques were any safer than the variolation procedure popular at the time – it is estimated that his work has saved more human lives than the work of any other individual.

Hunter and Jenner shared a close and formative relationship that began when Jenner arrived in London in 1770 to study at St George’s. He became not only Hunter’s pupil but also his lodger. When Jenner left London three years later to establish his own GP practice in Gloucestershire, the two continued their friendship through regular correspondence.

Colour painting of John Hunter, pointing at a skull and wearing a grey coat

“John Hunter (1728–1793)”, attributed to Johan Zoffany, 1765–85. RCSSC/P 135. Image courtesy of the Hunterian Museum.

Colour painting of Jenner vaccinating a young boy in an 18th century room, while family members and a colleague watch.

“Edward Jenner vaccinating a boy”. Oil painting by E.-E. Hillemacher, 1884. Public domain mark. Wellcome Collection

Within the archive we hold a collection of Hunter’s letters to Jenner though sadly none of Jenner's replies. Many are believed to have been burnt by Everard Home, Hunter’s brother-in-law, along with a considerable number of Hunter’s original papers. Although Home insisted this was in line with Hunter’s dying wishes, it is widely believed he acted in a fit of pique and jealousy and a desire to obscure his appropriation of Hunter's work as his own. The letters from Hunter were bequeathed by Jenner to John Baron, his biographer, and subsequently purchased by the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1877.

A handwritten letter.

MS0015/2 Letter on observations of cuckoos’ eggs and nests, Archives of the Royal College of Surgeons of England

The letters give a fascinating insight into the intellectual exchange between the two men and their shared passion for experimentation. Hunter’s relentless curiosity is evident in his repeated requests for specimens – ranging from fish to fossils and from lizards to bats. Many of the letters show a fascination with hedge hogs and cuckoos (or “cuckows” as Hunter wrote). He urged Jenner to send eggs, nests and stomachs and to carry out experiments such as moving a cuckoo's egg into another bird’s nest or measuring hedge hogs’ temperatures.

Jenner clearly shared Hunter’s fascination with cuckoos; he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1789 following the publication of his study of the nested cuckoo. The letter Jenner wrote to Hunter detailing his discoveries survives today in the archive of the Royal Society.

Hunter’s belief in the power of experimentation is woven through his letters. In one - sent shortly after Jenner experienced a romantic disappointment - Hunter exhorts him to move on and gives the helpful advice “I shall imploy [sic] you with Hedge Hogs”. In another he offers a gentle but pointed rebuke: “...but why do you ask me a question...why think, why not trie [sic] the experiment”.

Hunter instilled in his pupils an insistence on careful observation, repeated trials, and the sharing of results. Within the letters we can see how he entreats Jenner to expand his experiments, to repeat them in different conditions and share the results. His encouragement, curiosity and friendship clearly shaped Jenner’s development as both a doctor and a scientist.

A portion of a hand-written letter

MS0015/3 Letter on hedgehog experiment, Archives of the Royal College of Surgeons of England

Their correspondence continued until Hunter’s death in 1793.

Although we do not have Jenner’s letters to Hunter, we do hold several written by him to other recipients. Included in one is an account of his inoculation in 1796 of James Phipps, the 8-year-old son of his gardener. Through his work in Gloucestershire, Jenner had observed that milkmaids infected with cowpox seemed immune to smallpox. James Phipps was the first person to receive Jenner’s vaccine. His publication An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccine (1798), laid the foundation for the scientific understanding of vaccination and ultimately led to the global eradication of smallpox in 1980. The archive also holds the manuscript copy of Jenner’s seminal paper on cowpox, “An Inquiry into the Natural History of a Disease known in Gloucestershire by the name of the Cow-pox”.

A handwritten manuscript

MS0016/1 Draft manuscript paper on cow pox, Archives of the Royal College of Surgeons of England

If you would like to see any of the archival material mentioned above, please contact the Archive team at archives@rcseng.ac.uk to arrange an appointment.

Georgina Thompson, Assistant Archivist.

References and further reading

History