James Stark

James Stark of Huntfield FRSE FRCPE [Scottish Society of Arts|FSSA]] (9 November 1811–2 July 1890) was a 19th-century Scottish physician who became the first Superintendent of Statistics in Scotland. He created the concept of vital statistics in 1854. Life He was born on 9 November 1811 at 2 Bristo Street in Edinburgh's South Side, the son of Emma Brown (d.1815) and her husband, John Stark. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and undertook postgraduate studies in Paris and Bonn gaining his doctorate (MD) from Edinburgh in 1833. He then set up as a GP in the city at 21 Rutland Street in the West End of the city. In 1839 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and became Curator of their museum.