Walter Moxon was born at Midleton, Cork, the son of an inland revenue officer. Leaving school at an early age, he began work in a merchant’s office in London and studied meanwhile to pass the University’s matriculation. A brilliant student at Guy’s Hospital, he was appointed demonstrator of anatomy before graduating in 1859 and continued in this post until his election as assistant physician in 1866. Thereafter he lectured on comparative anatomy, pathology, materia medica and from 1882 — nine years after his promotion to full physician — on medicine. He edited a second edition of Wilks’s Lectures on Pathological Anatomy in 1875 and delivered the Croonian Lectures at the Royal College of Physicians in 1881. Moxon’s teaching and conversation were infused with wit and originality, and he was long remembered by his contemporaries for his gifted and unconventional personality. He married in 1861 a daughter of Robert Eckett. He died at Finsbury Circus, London. In his memory, the Moxon Medal, award triennially for observation and research in clinical medicine, was founded at the Royal College of Physicians.

G H Brown

[Lancet, 1886; Wilks and Bettany, 279; D.N.B., xxxix, 242]