"The Author cannot help feeling himself under an obligation of apologising for the frequent egotisms”: the travelling self in medical geography

This study focuses on the travel experience of the British military physician and surgeon William Lempriere (b. before 1789, d. 1834) who was sent with the army to Gibraltar and Morocco (1789-1790), and later to Jamaica (1790s). When he came back to Great Britain, he published two personal accounts of his travels, these are A tour from Gibraltar [...] to Morocco (1791) and Practical observations on the diseases of the army in Jamaica (1799). The two works belong to the tradition of medical geography, or travel accounts written by travelling physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, when practising medicine in the army and/or when exploring new places (e.g. Africa, East and West Indies). In the two works Lempriere’s professional experience is conveyed along with his personal perceptions and emotions, and his private ‘travelling gaze’. The research will provide textual and discursive evidence of personal expressions and, notably, of those language features and patterns which emphasise the representation of the travelling self.