Complex sentence: Bowdler was born near Bath, the son of a gentleman of independent means, and studied medicine at St. Andrews and at Edinburgh, where he took his degree in 1776, but did not practice, devoting himself instead to the cause of prison reform.
Split into simpler sentences: Bowdler was born near Bath, the son of a gentleman of independent means. He studied medicine at St. Andrews and at Edinburgh, where he took his degree in 1776, but did not practice, devoting himself instead to the cause of prison reform.