10 Facts About Joseph Toynbee

Joseph Toynbee FRS was an English otologist whose career was dedicated to pathological and anatomical studies of the ear.

Joseph Toynbee was born in Heckington, Lincolnshire on 30 December 1815, and baptised there on 2 January 1816.

Joseph Toynbee was the third son of fifteen children of the wealthy land owner and farmer George Toynbee.

Joseph Toynbee's parents were married at Bracebridge, Lincolnshire, on 21 May 1811, by Licence.

Joseph Toynbee studied anatomy under George Derby Dermott at Hunterian Medical School at the Great Windmill Street, and later gained a reputation as a prosector.

Joseph Toynbee married Harriet Holmes, a daughter of Nathaniel Reynolds Holmes, on 4 August 1846, at St John's Church, Hampstead.

Joseph Toynbee died on 7 July 1866, at 18, Saville Row, Mayfair, while conducting experiments with prussic acid and chloroform as a remedy for tinnitus.

Joseph Toynbee was buried at St Mary's Church, Wimbledon, on 11 July 1866.

Joseph Toynbee performed studies on the functionality of the Eustachian tube and tympanic membrane, and developed a form of tympanoplasty to restore function to the latter when damaged.

Joseph Toynbee was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1842.