Researching Charles Penrose

Penrose was born at Bracebridge, Lincolnshire, the second son of Rev. John Penrose who was vicar there, and his wife Elizabeth Cartwright. His mother was a teacher and author of children's books under the name Mrs Markham. He was the nephew of Dr Thomas Arnold of Rugby School and cousin of Matthew Arnold, author and educator. He was educated at Rugby School and admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge on 30 October 1834. He was Bell Scholar in 1839. Also in 1839, Penrose rowed for the winning Cambridge crew in the Boat Race and for the Trinity College crew which won the first Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.

Penrose was ordained deacon at Lincoln in 1842 and became usher at Oakham School in 1844. He was then head master of Grosvenor College, Bath from 1844 until 1846 when he became headmaster of Sherborne School. However he resigned through ill health in 1850. Penrose became priest in 1856 and then perpetual curate of North Hykeham, Lincolnshire from 1857 until his death in 1868.

Penrose was a classical scholar and edited Select Private Orations of Demosthenes. He was also author of Eight Village Sermons.

Penrose died at North Hykeham at the age of 51.

Penrose married Ellen Caroline Pender Phillot at Dawlish in 1843. He was the brother of Francis Penrose.

A native of Philadelphia, Penrose was the son of a medical school professor, and his brothers included U.S. senator Boies Penrose, mining engineer R. A. F. "Dick" Penrose and geologist Spencer Penrose. The grandson of prominent politician Charles B. Penrose, he married into the wealthy Drexel family of the same city. Penrose held two doctorates, which he earned concurrently: a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard College.

After completing residency training at Pennsylvania Hospital, Penrose founded Philadelphia's first hospital for women and became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He was interested in the idea of facilitating surgical site drainage in abdominal surgery patients, but he was concerned about the risks of the drains available in the late 19th century. This led him to create the Penrose drain, a soft tube that he fashioned out of a condom with its tip removed.

After he contracted tuberculosis in 1891, Penrose left Pennsylvania for Wyoming, hoping that the change in climate would restore his health. While he was in Wyoming, Penrose became involved in the range conflict known as the Johnson County War; he was arrested after the deaths of two alleged cattle rustlers, and only his friendship with the governor of Wyoming prevented him from being lynched. Returning to Philadelphia after the conflict, Penrose wrote a memoir (The Rustler Business) about his time in Wyoming. For the last two decades of his life, Penrose directed much of his attention to zoology and conservation issues. He established a zoological laboratory at the Philadelphia Zoo, the first such laboratory at a U.S. zoo.