Principles and Practice of Obstetricy in 1834 and Observations on some of the More Important Diseases of Women in 1837. In using the uterine sound for diagnostic purposes, he was considered more advanced than other obstetricians of the day. Later life He left Guy's in 1834 following a dispute with the hospital treasurer. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1838, and later published Hexametrical Experiments, or, A version of four of Virgil's pastorals... with hints to explain the method of reading, and a slight essay on the laws of metre that year. Dr. Blundell never married, but lived with his grand niece Mary Ann Harriet Noyes. From the 1871 British Census, we know he was living at 80 Piccadilly in London, but he also had a home in Westminster at No. 1 Great George Street. Dr. Blundell retired from practice in 1847. In his final years, it is said that he never rose before noon, saw patients in the afternoon, dined and then saw more patients after 8 or 9 pm. He always carried books with him, and was able to read them in his carriage by the installation of a special light. Death James Blundell died on 15 January 1878 in London, aged 87. His will, dated 11 April 1857 with a codicil of 27 March 1876, was proven on 29 January by his nephew Dr. George Augustus Frederick Wilks. His estate was valued at £350,000 at the time, today equivalent of over £45,000,000. The fortune had been amassed by his large private practice and significant bequests. Much of it was left to his niece Sarah Haighton Noyes (née Wilks) whose husband Henry Crine Noyes had died five years earlier. References Attribution Sources [Anon.]. "Blundell, James (1790–1878)." Rev. Anne Digby. In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2713 (accessed 11 December 2008). Personal Papers of the Noyes Family, in the possession of Cameron Bryant. 1790 births 1878 deaths People from Holborn Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 19th-century English medical doctors English obstetricians