Babington was born in 1794, and studied at Charterhouse School and the East India Company College before matriculating at Pembroke College in 1820. While at the Collge he studied medicine, which he also studied at Guy’s Hospital. He received his doctorate in 1831 and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians the same year. Babington invented several medical instruments including the first laryngoscope. He was the Founder and President of the Epidemiological Society. He died in London in 1866 at the age of 72.