Horatio Bryan Donkin was born on 1 February 1845 in
Blackheath, the son of civil engineer Bryan Donkin (1809–1893) and grandson of the engineer and inventor
Bryan Donkin (1768–1855). He also served as physician to
East London Hospital for Children and lectured at the
London School of Medicine for Women. He became a
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1880 and received an M.D. from Oxford in 1893. Donkin was appointed a commissioner of prisons and director of convict prisons in 1898, resigning from his hospital posts. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Control of the Feeble-Minded in 1904–1908 and, upon retiring as commissioner, became medical adviser to the
Prison Commission. He was interested in the psychology of crime, and viewed prisoners as if they were patients. A prominent member of the
Savile Club, He died on 26 July 1927 in London. ==References==