John Innes (1696-1733)

John Innes (1696-1733) was Professor of the Practice of Physic at Edinburgh University from 1726 to his death in 1733.

On 9 February 1726, the Town Council of Edinburgh issued an Act which is effectively the foundational charter of the Faculty of Medicine. It appointed two Professors of the Theory and Practice of Medicine and two Professors of Medicine and Chemistry, and granted Edinburgh University the right not only to teach medicine 'in all its branches' but to examine students and confer degrees in medicine. In October 1726, a meeting of the Senatus Academicus formally recognized the four newly created Chairs as constituting a Faculty of Medicine along with the Chair of Anatomy. Innes was one of the two 'Professor of Medicine and Chemistry' but left chemistry teaching to his colleague Andrew Plummer (1697-1756), concentrating on the Practice of Physic. Upon his early death in 1733, Plummer took over his teaching duties.