John Fletcher Little

{{short description|Irish physician and Liberal Party politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = John Fletcher Little

| image = John Fletcher Little.jpg

|birth_date = 1843

|birth_place = County Tipperary

|death_date = {{dda|1914|8|9|1843|df=y}}

|death_place =

| occupation = Physician}}

John Fletcher Little (1843 – 9 August 1914) was an Irish physician and Liberal Party politician.

Little was born in County Tipperary.{{cite journal|year=1914|title=John Fletcher Little, M.B.Cantab., M.R.C.P.Lond|journal=The British Medical Journal|volume=2|issue=2806|pages=650–651|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.2806.650-a|pmc=2299837}} He studied in Dublin and took the L.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1866. He practiced medicine at Woolton. Fletcher was influenced by Silas Weir Mitchell's physical methods of treatment such as massage and visited the United States.

Little studied at Cambridge and Charing Cross Hospital. He took the M.B. in 1888 and M.R.C.P. in 1899.{{cite journal|year=1914|title=John Fletcher Little, M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P. Lond, J.P.|journal=The Lancet|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101074831536&view=1up&seq=87|volume=2|pages=915}} He worked as a physician at the London Temperance Hospital and Mount Vernon Hospital. He was medical officer for Harrow. With Sir Jonathan Hutchinson he started the London post-graduate scheme which developed into the Medical Graduates' College and Polyclinic.

He was a liberal and contested Oxford in 1895. Little was inspired by James Salisbury's diet treatment and reported in 1886 that he had spent six weeks living on a diet of lean meat and hot water which made him lose a stone in weight.{{cite journal|year=1886|title=The Carnivorous Diet in the Reduction of Fat|journal=Gaillard's Medical Journal|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015070357721&view=1up&seq=331|volume=42|issue=2|pages=319}}

Little had three sisters and five brothers. He was the brother of Reverend Robert Wentworth Little. Little was a former member of the London County Council. It was estimated that his estate was worth £19,904 in 1914.{{cite journal|year=1914|title=India|journal=The British Medical Journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25311354|volume=2|issue=2805|pages=604|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.2805.604|jstor=25311354|s2cid=220216013}}