Edward Nettleship was an English ophthalmologist.

He was a native of Kettering

Kettering

Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...

. After finishing his medical studies, Nettleship became an assistant to Jonathan Hutchinson

Jonathan Hutchinson

Sir Jonathan Hutchinson , was an English surgeon, ophthalmologist, dermatologist, venereologist and pathologist.-Life:He was born in Selby, Yorkshire, England of Quaker parents and educated in the local school...

 (1828-1913) at the London Hospital, and a coworker with Warren Tay

Warren Tay

Waren Tay was a British ophthalmologist who was a native of Yorkshire.In 1881 Waren Tay first described the red spot on the retina of the eye that is present in Tay-Sachs disease. He reported this condition in the Volume I edition of the Ophthalmological Society, an organization in which he was a...

 (1843-1927) at the Moorfields Eye Hospital. Afterwards he spent nearly twenty years at St. Thomas Hospital in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, where he was mentor to Charles Howard Usher

Charles Usher

Charles Howard Usher was a Scottish ophthalmologist from Edinburgh. He studied medicine at St. Thomas Hospital in London, and after receiving his doctorate in 1891, he remained at St. Thomas, working under Edward Nettleship...

 (1865-1942). At St. Thomas he was an ophthalmic surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 and lecturer. The Nettleship Medal of the Ophthalmological Society was created in his honor.

Nettleship is remembered for his work with hereditary eye disorders. He made important contributions in the research of ocular albinism

Albinism

Albinism is a congenital disorder characterized by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes due to absence or defect of an enzyme involved in the production of melanin...

, retinitis pigmentosa

Retinitis pigmentosa

Retinitis pigmentosa is a group of genetic eye conditions that leads to incurable blindness. In the progression of symptoms for RP, night blindness generally precedes tunnel vision by years or even decades. Many people with RP do not become legally blind until their 40s or 50s and retain some...

 and hereditary night blindness. Prior to specializing in ophthalmology

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...

, Nettleship studied veterinary medicine

Veterinary medicine

Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...

 and dermatology

Dermatology

Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and its diseases, a unique specialty with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist takes care of diseases, in the widest sense, and some cosmetic problems of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails....

, and in 1869 provided an early description of urticaria pigmentosa

Urticaria pigmentosa

Urticaria pigmentosa is the most common form of cutaneous mastocytosis...

.