Some records report he was born 20 April 1803.
Henry Daggett Bulkley graduated from Yale College, B.A., 1821 and M.D., 1829, and began medical practice in New York City in November 1832.
He was the first American Doctor to specialize in the treatment of skin diseases and the first in this country to lecture on dermatology. Among his most valuable lectures were several on the classification of skin diseases. During this period in the history of American dermatology, there was no one accepted system of classification. His lectures, based on the system he learned during two years of study in Paris, paved the way for American acceptance of the teachings of the French School of Dermatology.
Coupled with Dr. Bulkley's in the scientific advancement of his field was a deep humanitarian concern for the poor and underprivileged who were afflicted with skin diseases. As a result he opened the Broome Street Clinic, the first dermatological clinic in the United States.
There were many other firsts in Dr. Bulkley's life - including the founding of the first dermatological society in the world, the New York Dermatological Society. He wrote several articles, served as editor of two medical journals, and edited significant textbooks on dermatology.
Henry D. Bulkley was appointed attending physician to the New York Hospital in 1848, a position he held until his death. He was past president of the New York County Medical Society and the only dermatologist [as of 1969] to serve as president of the New York Academy of Medicine.
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Henry Daggett Bulkley, son of John and Amelia Bulkley, was born in New Haven, Conn., Apr. 20, 1803. His mother was a daughter of Judge Henry Daggett, of New Haven.
He was engaged in mercantile pursuits in N. Y. city for six or seven years after graduation, and then returned here to study medicine under Dr. Knight. He received the degree of M.D. in 1830, and soon after went to Europe for further advantages, and spent some time in the hospitals of Paris studying cutaneous diseases.
He began practice in N. Y. city in Nov. 1832, and remained in extensive practice until his decease. He was especially an authority in cutaneous medicine, and one of the first in the country to lecture on these disorders, and the first to establish a dispensary in N. Y. city for their treatment. Besides his connection with several other dispensaries, he was appointed in 1848 attending physician to the N. Y. Hospital, which position he held until his death. He occupied at different times the presidential chairs of the N, Y. Academy of Medicine, the N. Y. County Medical Society, &c In 1846 and in 1852, he published editions of Cazenave and Schedel on Diseases of the Skin, and in 1851 edited Gregory on Eruptive Fevers.
Dr. Bulkley visited Europe for his health in June 1871, returning much benefited in October. He died of pneumonia at his residence in N. Y. city, Jan. 4, 1872, after an illness of four days.
(Yale Alumni Obituary Manuscript)
In 1 835 he mamed Juliana, daughter of Wheeler Barnes, Esq., of Rome, N. Y. He had four daughters and two sons ; his widow survives him, with two daughters, and both sons, one of whom graduated here in 1866 and follows the profession of his father.