​STARK, WILLIAM (1740–1770), physician, born in Birmingham in July 1740, was the eldest son of Thomas Stark, a merchant of Manchester. He studied philosophy at Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A. in 1758, and then proceeded to Edinburgh, where he acquired the friendship of William Cullen [q. v.] Thence he came to London in 1765, and devoted himself to the pursuit of medicine, entering as a pupil at St. George's Hospital. He studied anatomy under John Hunter (1728–1773) [q. v.], and employed himself in making experiments on the blood and other animal fluids. On 2 Sept. 1766 he graduated M.D. at Leyden, publishing his thesis, ‘Specimen Med. Inaug. septem Historias et Dissectiones Dysentericorum exhibens,’ Leyden, 1766, 4to. In June 1769 he began a series of experiments on diet, in which he was greatly encouraged by Sir John Pringle [q. v.] The zeal with which he tried these experiments on his own person ruined his health, and on 23 Feb. 1770 he fell a victim to his enthusiasm.

‘The Works of the late William Stark … consisting of clinical and anatomical observations, with experiments dietetical and statical,’ were edited by James Carmichael Smyth [q. v.], London, 1788, 4to.

E. I. C.