he was apprenticed to his father and admitted to our freedom 22nd
January, 1605, and on 13th December, 1615, called to the Livery; he
was then surgeon to the Prince of Wales, and had a dispensation from
the Court of the Company to attend the lectures and Hall only on such
occasions as should be convenient to him. On the accession of Charles I
he was made Serjeant-Surgeon to the King. In 1626 he was Master of the
Company, and again in 1638. A characteristic letter of Serjeant Clowes
and some particulars as to his election as Master in 1626 may be seen
on pp. 248-250. On 30th October, 1648, his decease was reported to the
Court.
By his will, dated 28th March, 1630, he bequeathed his property
freehold and copyhold, to his wife Sara, his son James, and his
daughters Ann and Sara.
Arms. Az. on a chev. engr. betw. three unicorns’ heads, era or. as many
crescents gu.
GEOFFREY CLOWES =
of Tutbury, Staffordshire |
|
+------------+
|
Nicholas Clowes, =
of Kingsbury, Warwickshire |
|
+------------+
|
Thomas Clowes = Emma d. of
of Kingsbury and | John Beauchamp.
London |
|
+------------+
|
1st. ...... d. of = William Clowes of = and. Katherine Smith,
Godwin of Kent | London, Surgeon to | grandd{r} of Sir Hen.
| Queen Elizabeth and | Wallop of Hampshire.
| James I, d. 1604. |
| |
+---------------+------+ |
| | |
William Clowes = Sara. Richard Clowes |
Serjeant-Surgeon | |
to Charles I. | +------------------+---------+----------+
d. 1648. | | | |
| Henry Clowes = Susan, d. Catherine Mary
| of Cornhill, | of Richard, m. Rich{d.} d. unm.
| admitted to | Cutler of Pile of
| Freedom of | London. Hampshire.
| Barber-Surgeons|
| 16 Jan., 1627, |
| viz., 1633. |
| |
+--------------+----+ +--------------+--------------+
| | | | | |
James Clowes. Ann. Sara. Richard Clowes. Thomas Clowes. Susan.
æt. 3, in 1633.
THOMAS THORNEY.
THOMAS THORNEY, born in 1542 or 1543, was apprenticed to William
Bovey (Master 1581) a surgeon in large practice. He was made free 8th
April, 1573, and elected an Assistant 19th June, 1595; he served as
Warden in 1598 and 1600 and was twice Master of the Company, viz., in
1602 and 1606, he was also a Common Councilman. Mr. Thorney acquired
considerable property in Holborn and the country, but dying on 4th
June, 1614, without issue, made his nephew Peter (son of his then
deceased brother Walter) his heir. He was a considerable benefactor to
the Parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, where there is a monumental tablet
to his memory. His Will dated 25th May, 1612, was proved on the day of
his death, and among other bequests to St. Andrew’s Holborn, he left
£10 to the Churchwardens--
to make a Dynner or supper therwith and to make merrie therewith with
my good neighboures for my sake and to encrease neighbourelie love
amongest them And the Churchwardens to bid the parson and Minister
to be with them. Item I give to the Company of Barbar Surgions twoe
spowte pottꝭ of silver and guilt one all guilte and the other
parcell guilte to the valewe of twentie poundes and the Thorne bushe
to be graven on either of them and the Barber Surgeons armes and my
name at lardge and some wordes to shewe that they were of my guifte
Item I give likewise to the Company of Barbor surgions of London that
shall followe me at my ffunerall fyve poundꝭ to make a Dynner with
and to be merrye for my sake and to the entent to encrease brotherlie
love amongest them The said ffyve poundes to be paied to the Master
and Wardens when they come to fetch my bodye to the churche.
To his wife Annie he gave his dwelling house in Holborn, and another
newly built house there, also one on the street side next the Bars, and
the third part of all his other lands for her life and all his goods
and movables. To Richard Cade “my auncient and honest servaunte” and
to Jane his wife 40_s._ each for rings. To his nephew, Peter Thorney,
his houses in Fetter Lane, the Bell Inn at Acton, a dwelling house at
Acton, and the King’s Head in Holborn near the Bars, with a proviso
that should Peter die without heirs the Bell at Acton was to pass to
the Barber-Surgeons.
PETER THORNEY.
PETER THORNEY was apprenticed to his uncle Thomas Thorney and admitted
to the freedom 14th July, 1603. He seems to have got into good practice
and was one of the Army Surgeons. He was appointed Surgeon-General
of the Army going to the relief of Rochelle, and made his will a few
days afterwards (25th July, 1628) with a presentiment of his death,
which was soon realised, as probate was granted on the 24th November
following. He says--
I com̃end my bodie to bee buried where it shall please god or my
freindes, if I come not home from the Sea this voiage I intended for
the releife of Rochell, but if it shall please god that I die in
England if it maiebee possible I would bee buried in S{t} Andrews
Church as neare to my Unckle M{r} Thomas Thorney as maie bee.
Among other bequests he gives five marks to such of the livery of the
Company as shall follow him to the Church; he makes his son Thomas
(then under age) his heir generally and provides for his wife Ann and
daughter Elizabeth; he leaves to George Peren, Barber-Surgeon, his
“yearball knowne by the name of Gerardꝭ yearball.”[338]
[338] Gerard’s Herball.
But if it shall please god soe that both my children shall die
without issue Then my will is that y{e} Bell in Acton shall remaine
for evˀ to the Company of the berber surgeons of London according as
my unckle M{r} Thomas Thorney hath hertofore bequeathed it.
Item I give to Edward Griffith which was my Servant all my
manuscriptꝭ belonginge to surgerie and all my instrumentꝭ belonging
to Surgery except my plaster box and salvatory and instruments in the
boxe and my silver seringe, and likewise unto the said Edward all my
medicines whatsoever I give him w{th} my bookes of Surgery whatsoever
in my Studdie.
JOHN GERARD.
[Illustration: Coat of Arms]
JOHN GERARD was born in 1545 at Nantwich in Cheshire, his parentage
is unknown, though by his coat of arms he appears to have descended
from the Gerards of Ince in Lancashire. In 1562 he was apprenticed to
Alexander Mason, a Surgeon in extensive practice, who was Warden in
1556 and 1561 and Master in 1567 and 1573 (Mr. Mason died 3rd April,
1574). Gerard was admitted to the freedom of the Barber-Surgeons 9th
December, 1569. There is no record of his admission to the Livery,
though in consequence of his professional attainments and his
presumable friendship with his master who made him free, he doubtless
had the clothing at the same time. The only note we have of Gerard,
before he comes on the Court, is one in which he appears before the
Masters as defendant in a case of alleged slander on the wife of a
brother freeman.
21st February, 1578. Here was a complainte against Jo: Jerrard for
saying that Richard James his wief had the ffrenche pocks, and he
made answere and saide he wolde justifie the same, and he was dismist
to the Comon Lawe.
Gerard was elected a Member of the Court of Assistants on the 19th
June, 1595. For some long time previous he must have been engaged in
the preparation of his great work “_The Herball or Generall Historie of
Plantes_,” a folio of some 1,400 pages, embellished with about 1,800
illustrations of plants,[339] and published in 1597, which, whilst
it was by far the best and most exhaustive work of its kind at that
period, has ever since been considered a standard book of reference; a
good copy being now worth 8 to 10 guineas. At this period he was living
“at my house in Holburne, within the suburbs of London,” probably near
Fetter Lane, where he had a large garden of herbs.
[339] The woodcuts for these illustrations were procured from
Frankfort, and originally executed for the German Herbal of
Tabernæmontanus.
The style of Gerard’s writing was very quaint, and abounds with quiet
humour; he scouted monkish tales and old wives’ fables concerning the
miraculous properties of plants, etc., honestly endeavouring to present
facts to his readers; yet even he has not hesitated to record as true,
and gravely set forth, some fabulous stories, as, for example, in
speaking of Barnacles on p. 1391, he says--
There is a small Ilande in Lancashire called the Pile of Foulders,
wherein are found the broken peeces of old and brused ships . . .
wheron is found a certaine spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto
certaine shels, in shape like those of the muskle, . . . wherein is
conteined a thing in forme like a lace of silke finely woven, as it
were togither, of a whitish colour; one end whereof is fastned unto
the inside of the shell; . . . the other end is made fast unto the
belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time commeth to the shape &
forme of a Bird: when it is perfectly formed, the shel gapeth open, &
the first thing that appeereth is the foresaid lace or string; next
come the legs of the Birde hanging out; and as it groweth greater, it
openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come foorth,
and hangeth onely by the bill; in short space after it commeth
to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth
feathers, and groweth to a foule, bigger then a Mallard, and lesser
than a Goose; having blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers
blacke and white, spotted in such maner as is our Magge-Pie, called
in some places a Pie-Annet, which the people of Lancashire call by no
other name than a tree goose; which place aforesaide, and all those
parts adjoining, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best
is bought for three pence: for the truth heerof, if any doubt, may
it please them to repaire unto me, and I shall satisfie them by the
testimonie of good witnesses.
The woodcut illustrations with which the book abounds are designed
in a good artistic style, being frequently consulted and adapted
nowadays by artists engaged in floral design. In 1596, Gerard seems
to have propounded a scheme for the Company to keep a garden for the
cultivation and study of medicinal plants, and some land belonging to
the Company in East Smithfield was suggested for this purpose, but not
being thought a suitable spot, certain members of the Court offered to
contribute towards the purchase of a garden elsewhere; in June, 1597,
the subject was under consideration, and again in November, 1602; but
whether anything further was done in the matter does not appear. The
minutes in our books relating to this business, are as follows--
26th March, 1596. A motion was also made concerninge the Demisinge
of certen garden grounds at East Smithfield for the w{ch} M{r}
ffettyplace, M{r} Lacock and John Gerard were sevˀall Sutors. Yt was
agreed that the same should be let for yerely rent at the pleasures
of the masters or governors and none of the said sutors obteyned any
graunte. But for as muche as John Gerard’s request was to have yt to
make a garden of yt for the ffurtherance of learning in the knowledge
and practiqe of the nature and skill of herbes, w{ch} was thought
not a place ffytt for that pˀpose, but that a more convenient place
should be sought owte and dyvers of the Companie did offer to be
contributors for the buying of the same, and M{r} ffetiplace and M{r}
Lacock are to be spoken w{th}all and thus to be satisfied.
16th June, 1597. At the request of M{r} Peck[340] and M{r} Gerat
yt was agreed at this Corte that those whose names are here after
menc͠oned should survey a peece of ground ffyt to make a Garden for
to plant all kinde of herbes in routes plantes and suche like as to
the saide M{r} Gerat being a skilfull Herbalist should thinck meete
for the wo{r}shipp of this societie, and to relate their opinions and
acc͠ons therein to this howse and societie for the further pˀceding
therein, viz{t} M{r} John Isard[341] M{r} Lewes Atmer[342] M{r} Cox
M{r} Wood[343] M{r} Sprignell[344] M{r} Borne[345] Jeames Bates[346]
M{r} Thomas Waren[347] M{r} Bovy[348] M{r} Byrd[349] M{r} Gale[350]
M{r} Laycock[351] M{r} Jo Martin[352] or any viij. x. or the most
pˀte of them.
[340] John Peck, Master 1605 and 1610.
[341] Warden 1590, 1593, 1596.
[342] W. 1601.
[343] Master 1591.
[344] W. 1584, 1587, 1591.
[345] M. 1600.
[346] W. 1591, 1595, 1597.
[347] W. 1596.
[348] M. 1617.
[349] M. 1590.
[350] M. 1595.
[351] M. 1598, 1604.
[352] M. 1601.
2nd November, 1602. This daye it is ordered that the Committes for
M{r} Gerrard’s garden shall this aft{r} noone meet at the hall to
consider of the report for a Garden for the said M{r} Gerrard.
In August, 1597, John Gerard was chosen Junior Warden (George Baker,
the Queen’s Serjeant-Surgeon being at the same time elected Master),
and in January following he was appointed one of the Examiners of
Surgeons. In 1604, there had been controversies between Gerard and
Christopher Frederick (Master 1609), which on the 12th June were
referred to a Committee of the Court for settlement. “And if they
no ende can make they are to make report at the next Court of their
pˀcedinges therein.”
26th September, 1605. This day M{r} Jerrard was discharged of the
office of second Warden and upper governo{r} of this Company uppon
his suite & entreatie for certayne considerac͠ons. And is fyned for
the said places at x{li} which he is pˀntlie to pay to the pˀnte
M{rs} or governours And is hereafter to take his place as though he
had served the place of upper Governo{r} any thinge to the contrarie
notwithstandinge.
7th November, 1605. The above order was rescinded, but shortly
afterwards Mr. Gerard brought £10 into Court, and left it with the
Wardens, when it was ordered that the matter should be further
considered, and in the result the fine was accepted.
21st October, 1606. This daie John Gerrard was fyned at vj{s} viij{d}
for abuseing M{r} Peck and it is ordered that from henceforth they
shall be freinds, and all Controversyes betweene them are to cease.
20th July, 1607. Mr. Gerard was again appointed an Examiner of
Surgeons, and 17th August following elected Master.
Queen Elizabeth is reported to have entertained a high opinion of Mr.
Gerard’s attainments, and he was also patronised by her Minister,
William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, whose garden he superintended for twenty
years. In the dedication of his Herbal to Lord Burleigh, in speaking of
the “care and studie” of herbs, he says--
Under your Lordship I have served, and that way imployed my
principall studie, and almost all my time now by the space of twenty
yeeres. To the large and singular furniture of this noble Iland, I
have added from forren places all the varietie of herbes and flowers
that I might any way obtaine, I have laboured with the soile to make
it fit for the plants, and with the plants to make them to delight in
the soile, that so they might live and prosper under our climate, as
in their native and proper countrie: what my successe hath beene, and
what my furniture is, I leave to the report of them that have seene
your Lordships gardens, and the little plot of my speciall care and
husbandrie.
Among the numerous epistles, etc., laudatory of Gerard, prefixed to
the Herbal are some exceedingly quaint verses dedicated by “Thomas
Thorney[353] Master in Chirurgerie, to his learned friend and loving
brother in Art, M. John Gerard.” There is also an epistle by “George
Baker, one of hir Maiesties chiefe Chirurgions in ordinarie, and M. of
the Chirurgions of the Citie of London.” Besides his garden in Holborn,
Gerard seems also to have had one in the Strand by Somerset House,
and to have held the appointment of “Herbarist” to James I, for among
the Domestic State papers at the Record Office, is a grant dated 10th
October, 1603, by Anne, Queen of James I to Sir Robert Cecil, Lord
Cecil of Essingdon, of the Keepership of Somerset House with all the
orchards, walks, gardens, &c., thereto belonging “except and alwaies
reserved to John Gerrard of London Surgeon and herbarist to his Ma{tie}
all that garden plott or peece of ground w{th} all and singular pˀfittꝭ
comodities and other the app̃tencꝭ therew{th} graunted and demised unto
him by one lease given under o{r} hand and seale at”[354] . . .
[353] See p. 538.
[354] The lease was dated 14th August, 1603, and was for 2 acres of
land for Gerard’s life at a yearly rent of four pence, with a tribute
of herbs, &c., if demanded.
In 1639 the Company purchased a copy of Gerard’s work for the Library.
“Paid for M{r} John Gerrardꝭ herball for the library for Claspes &
settinge on the chaine . . . . . xxv{s} vj{d.}”
John Gerard died in February, 1612, and was buried at St. Andrew’s,
Holborn, on the 18th of that month. There is a fine portrait of Gerard
facing page 1 of the Herbal, in which he is represented holding a
potato plant in his hand; below are the arms of the Barber-Surgeons
and his own coat, viz., quarterly 1st and 4th ar. a lyon rampant erm.
crowned or, a crescent for difference (Gerard), 2nd and 3rd ar. three
torteaux in bend between two bendlets sa. (Ince). Crest, A lyon’s jamb
era. inverted holding a hawk’s lure. Motto, D’assenti buone.
The best account of Gerard may be seen in a privately-printed
“Catalogue of Plants cultivated in the Garden of John Gerard and a life
of the Author,” by Benjamin D. Jackson, F.L.S. London, 1876.
SIR THOMAS BLUDDER.
Sir THOMAS was the son of Sir Thomas Bludder, of Flanchford, in the
parish of Reigate (who died 1st November, 1618). He was knighted at
Whitehall, 22nd April, 1618, and married three times, his third wife
being Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Brett, of Rotherby, Lancashire.
9th August, 1621. At this Court upon the request of Sir Thomas
Bludder Knyght who was desierous to be made a freman of this Company
It was ordered he shold be made free & so tooke his oath accordingly.
Sir Thomas, who was a Justice of the Peace for Surrey, represented
Reigate in the several Parliaments of 21 James I, and 1, 3 and 16
Charles I. He was a Royalist and imprisoned for his adherence to that
cause, and died on 29th September, 1655.
A pedigree of the Bludders will be found in Aubrey’s Antiquities of
Surrey, IV, 210.
Arms. Gu. a dexter arm embowed or, the hand ppr.
MARTIN BROWNE.
[Illustration: Coat of Arms]
MARTIN BROWNE was born about 1590, probably in Lincolnshire; he was
apprenticed to Thomas Clemence, a surgeon free of the Company, and on
13th July, 1613, was admitted to the freedom. He seems to have had an
extensive practice, and in 1648 was living in Creed Lane. There are
numerous references to him in our Minutes, from which may be gathered
that he was a man of great experience, and well able to hold his own in
some cases where his professional skill had been called in question by
jealous brethren of the craft. He served as Warden in 1640 and 1645,
and was Master in 1653, when he presented the Company with a loving
cup (_see_ p. 502). He died 16th April, 1655, and in his will dated
20th August, 1654, and proved 24th April, 1655, he describes himself
as of the parish of St. Gregory, “full of yeares,” and requests to be
buried in his parish church near his dead children “which was partly
under my owne pewe where now of late I satt.” To the poor of that
parish he leaves £10. To the poor of East Tilbury 40_s._ To the poor of
Louth, in Lincolnshire, £10. To his cousin Richard Mason, of Leeyborne,
Lincolnshire, £5, and to his son, Richard Mason, testator’s apprentice,
£5 and his case of silver instruments, “with fower books of phisick and
of Chirurgery namelie Ambrose Parrey and Rondeletius and Aqua Sendens
his mannuall operations and Tangaltius and others Authers all bound up
in one volumne.” He gives several legacies of money to cousins, nieces,
servants, and apprentices, makes his wife Margaret his executrix, and
leaves all his lands and houses in the counties of Essex and Lincoln
and the City of London to her for life, with remainder to his only
child Rebecca, the wife of Humphry Winch, Esquire. “To my cousen Henery
Barker all my Instruments of yron for Chirurgerie excepte my Lancetts
and incision knives. I likewise give [him] theise bookes namely the
workes of Hypocrates, Galen, Celsus, Paulus Agenta, ffernebens Senertus
his Chirurgery.”
Arms (as engraved on the loving cup). Quarterly, 1st and 4th three
mullets, 2nd and 3rd a hunting horn stringed between three escallops.
EDWARD ARRIS, ALDERMAN.
[Illustration: Coat of Arms]
Few names are held in greater veneration at Barbers’ Hall than that
of Edward Arris. His father, Jasper Arris, was apprenticed to Thomas
Burston or Burstowe, a Surgeon and Master of the Company in 1576.
Jasper Arris (probably born 1560-2), was admitted to the freedom, 3rd
April, 1583, chosen a Liveryman, 22nd January, 1606, an Assistant, 3rd
August, 1614, served as Warden in the years 1617 and 1622, and was
reported on 8th January, 1623, as then recently deceased. There are
few notices of Jasper in our books, and one of them on 21st October,
1606, is perhaps not much to his credit, as it records his fine for
working on the Sabbath day; from which we may gather that he was one
of those who, contrary to the Ordinances and the Statute, worked both
as a Barber and Surgeon,--a practice often winked at by the Governors.
His son Edward, was born in London in 1591, and was admitted to the
freedom by patrimony on 21st January, 1617, having learnt his art with
his father; he was admitted to the Livery 9th October, 1627, and on
30th April, 1629, granted his diploma to practise Surgery. In 1632, he
was chosen Steward, and the next year Master of the Anatomy. On the
23rd April, 1640, he was elected an Assistant and served the office of
Warden in 1642. On 10th February, 1648, he was appointed one of the
Examiners of Surgeons, and elected Master of the Company 1651. On 3rd
July, 1663, Mr. Arris was nominated by the Court of Aldermen, Alderman
of the Ward of Bridge Without (_loco_ Richard Evans) and was sworn
in on the 28th July following, but this civic office was probably an
uncongenial one to him, for he very shortly afterwards applied to be
discharged from it, and thereupon paid a fine of £300 to the City.
In 1645 Mr. Arris founded an Anatomy Lecture, and with a characteristic
modesty endeavoured to conceal the founder’s name, though his intention
in this respect was necessarily frustrated when the deed of settlement
had to be drawn. This, the Arrisian Lecture, still survives at the
Royal College of Surgeons. (Particulars of the foundation will be
found on pp. 368, 369.) In 1649, when our plate was sold, Mr. Arris
re-purchased King Henry VIII’s cup, and “freely gave it againe to this
Company,” for which all Barber-Surgeons and Barbers have ever after
been profoundly grateful to him. He also, in 1651, gave us four silver
cups. Mr. Arris’ granddaughter, Henrietta Maria Langford, seems to have
got into straitened circumstances, as on 5th August, 1718, we read “It
is ordered that Henrietta Maria Langford daughter of Robert Arris son
of Alderman Arris Members of this Company, shall be made free without
charge, in Gratitude to the Memory of Alderman Arris, in order that
she may be admitted one of the Company’s Pentioners.”
The Alderman died 28th May, 1676, at the good old age of eighty-five
and is buried in St. Sepulchre’s Church, where there is a quaint tablet
with this inscription--
EDWARD ARRIS ESQR. GAVE TO | NEAR THIS PLACE LYETH INTER’D
THE COMPANY OF CHIRURGEONS 30L | THE BODY OF MARY ARRIS YE
FOR AN ANATOMY LECTURE & TO | WIFE OF EDWARD ARRIS ESQR.
THE HOSPITAL OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW | & SOMETIME ALDERMAN OF THIS
24L BOTH YEERLY FOR EVER | CITY. THEY WERE MARRIED 60
TO CHRIST’S CHURCH HOSPITAL | YEARS AND HAD ISSUE 23 CHILDRE
100L & 50L TOWARDS REBUILDING | WHEREOF ONLY THOMAS ARRIS
OF THIS CHURCH AND SEVERAL | (DR. IN PHYSICK FELLOW OF THE
LARGE GIFTS TO THE POOR OF THIS | COLLEGE IN LONDON JUSTICE
PARISH WHEREIN HE WAS BORN. | OF YE PEACE IN THE COUNTY OF
AND ALL THESE IN HIS LIFE TIME | HARTFORD AND A MEMBER OF
HEE DECEASED THE 28TH OF MAY | THE HON{BLE.} HOUSE OF COMMONS) HER
1676 AGED 85 | SURVIVED. SHEE DIED Y{E} IJTH
& LYETH BURIED | OF DEC{R.} 1674 AGED 76 YEARS.
BY HIS WIFE. |