Thomas Witherley

Last updated

Sir Thomas Witherley MD (1618–1694) was Physician in Ordinary to King Charles II, Second Physician to King James II, and President of the Royal College of Physicians from 1684 to 1687.

In 1688, Witherley was present at the birth of James Francis Edward Stuart.

In his earlier life, before his medical training, he had been a schoolmaster.

Career

Witherley was born at Burlingham St Peter, Norfolk, on 21 August 1618. His mother was the sister of Sir Edmund Reve, Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. [1]

In 1640, on his uncle's recommendation, Witherley was appointed Master of Sir John Gresham's Grammar School at Holt in his native county. [1] In October 1642, it was reported to the Fishmongers' Company, the school's trustees, that there had been a long outbreak of smallpox in Holt and that the school had had "noe schollers since Midsomer last yett the schoolmaster hath attended..." However, in May 1643 the Fishmongers heard that Witherley had been "betaking himselfe to the studie and profession of phisick" when he asked for a six-month leave of absence to enable him to take a medical degree in the Netherlands. This request appears to have been refused, as Witherley did not depart until after he had resigned his position as Master of the school in September 1644. [1]

Witherley took the degree of doctor of medicine at the University of Cambridge in 1655 [2] and in December 1664 was elected an honorary fellow of the College of Physicians. By 1677 he had been appointed physician in ordinary to King Charles II, and on 7 April of that year he became a fellow of the college. On 21 January 1678/79 he became an elect, was censor of the college (by now renamed the Royal College of Physicians) in 1683 and president from 1684 to 1687. [3]

In 1688, at the time of the birth of James Francis Edward Stuart, son and heir of King James II, when the new prince was widely believed to have been smuggled into the Queen's bedchamber in a bed-pan, Witherley was Second Physician to the King and gave evidence that he had been present at the birth. He deposed that he "saw Mrs Labadie bring the child from the midwife, and carry him into the next room... and saw the child before he was cleaned..." [4] A strong royalist, he was later accused by the Whig historian Burnett of being complicit in a plot by King James to turn a changeling into Prince of Wales so that there could be a Roman Catholic heir to the throne. [1]

Witherley died on 23 March 1693/94. [3]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 S. G. G. Benson, Martin Crossley Evans, I Will Plant Me a Tree: an Illustrated History of Gresham's School (London: James & James, 2002), pp. 132-133
  2. "Witherley, Thomas (WTRY634T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. 1 2 Sir Thomas Witherley at rcplondon.ac.uk, accessed 27 November 2011
  4. James Boswell, ed., Scots magazine, vol. 29, p. 687

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset</span> English peer

Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, known by the epithet "The Proud Duke", was an English peer. He rebuilt Petworth House in Sussex, the ancient Percy seat inherited from his wife, in the palatial form which survives today. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, he was a remarkably handsome man, and inordinately fond of taking a conspicuous part in court ceremonial; his vanity, which earned him the sobriquet of "the proud duke", was a byword among his contemporaries and was the subject of numerous anecdotes; Macaulay described him as "a man in whom the pride of birth and rank amounted almost to a disease".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worshipful Company of Fishmongers</span> Livery company of the City of London

The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers is one of the 110 Livery Companies of the City of London, being an incorporated guild of sellers of fish and seafood in the City. The Company ranks fourth in the order of precedence of City Livery Companies, thereby making it one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth</span> Scottish nobleman

James Drummond, 1st Duke of Perth, KT, PC, also 4th Earl of Perth and 7th Lord Drummond, was a Scottish statesman, and Jacobite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gresham's School</span> Public school in Holt, Norfolk, England

Gresham's School is a public school in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England.

Daniel Coxe III was an English physician and governor of West Jersey from 1687 to 1688 and 1689 to 1692.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gresham</span>

Sir John Gresham was an English merchant, courtier and financier who worked for King Henry VIII of England, Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. He was Lord Mayor of London and founded Gresham's School. He was the brother of Sir Richard Gresham.

Anthony Nicholas George Duckworth-Chad, of Pynkney Hall, in Tattersett near King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, is a landowner, City of London business man, and a senior county officer for Norfolk.

John Holmes was an 18th-century schoolmaster and writer on education, Master of Gresham's School in Norfolk.

George William Saul Howson MA was an English schoolmaster and writer, notable as the reforming headmaster of Gresham's School from 1900 to 1919.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Paston, 2nd Earl of Yarmouth</span>

William Paston, 2nd Earl of Yarmouth of Oxnead, Norfolk and Turnham Green, Chiswick, Middlesex was a British peer and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Comber (dean of Durham)</span>

Thomas Comber (1645–1699) was an English churchman, Dean of Durham from 1689.

Sir Bartholomew Shower (1658–1701) was an English lawyer and politician, Recorder of London and a distinguished High Tory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Briggs (physician)</span> English physician and oculist

William Briggs was an English physician and oculist.

Edward Gee (1657–1730) was an English churchman, known as a controversialist, and later successively Dean of Peterborough and Dean of Lincoln.

Sir John Pell IV, 2nd Lord of Pelham Manor was a British-born American landowner who owned Pelham, New York, as well as land that now includes the eastern Bronx and southern Westchester County, New York.

Sir Richard Atherton, was a Tory politician and an English Member of Parliament elected in 1671 representing Liverpool. He also served as Mayor of Liverpool from 1684 to 1685. He resided at Bewsey Old Hall, Warrington and died in 1687. He was 11th in descent from Sir William Atherton MP for the same county in 1381 and was the last Atherton in the male line to have been a member of parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Wright (academic)</span>

Francis Wright was an English Church of England clergyman, Oxford don, and schoolmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Pulleyne</span>

Benjamin Pulleyne, sometimes speltPullan, was a mathematician, Church of England clergyman, fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and schoolmaster. For almost fifty years he was the Master of Gresham's School, then usually known as Holt Grammar School.