| William Birmingham Costello | |
| Birth Name: | William Birmingham Costello |
| Birth Date: | 1800 |
| Birth Place: | Dublin, Ireland |
| Death Date: | 15 August 1867 |
| Nationality: | Irish |
| Occupation: | Surgeon and Medical Author |
| Years Active: | 1829–1867 |
| Notable Works: |
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William Birmingham Costello (1800–1867) was an Irish surgeon, alienist and medical author.
Costello was born near Dublin, and was educated there. He then spent the 1820s in Paris, a student of surgery under Jean Civiale, Guillaume Dupuytren and Charles Louis Stanislas Heurteloup.[1]
In 1829 Costello set up himself in London as a surgeon, specialising in the stone and lithotrity. He wrote journal articles, and lectured in the transient Brewer Street medical school, with John Epps and Michael Ryan.[1] Subsequently, he became medical superintendent of Wyke House Asylum, near Isleworth.[2]
In later life Costello lived in Paris, working mostly as a writer. He died there on 15 August 1867.[2]
Costello edited the Cyclopædia of Practical Surgery, including a copious bibliography; of which 12 parts were published in London, 1841–3. Contributors included Walter Hayle Walshe, and John Gay who wrote on "cleft palate".[2] [3] [4] In his Paris years, Costello was able to complete the work in four volumes (1861), using his own English translations of articles by French surgeons.[1]
Costello wrote also An Address to the Visiting Justices of the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum (1839), and A Letter to Lord Ashley on the Reform of Private Lunatic Asylums (1845).[1]