Anniversaries Journal of Medical Biography 22(4) 246–247 ! The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0967772014550122 jmb.sagepub.com
Dr John Radcliffe (1650–1714): ‘The Aesculapius of his Age’ No treatise, book, illness or instrument bears Radcliffe’s name. He is remembered instead for medical fellowships, university buildings, an asylum, an observatory and above all for the John Radcliffe Infirmary and the Radcliffe Camera, Oxford. John Radcliffe was no scholar: his reputation rests on common sense and his ability to give a shrewd diagnosis and accurate prognosis; his manner was blunt, he was arrogant, vain, witty and a snob. The key to his early career lay in his treatment of smallpox with cooling emulsions and fresh air, and his ‘miraculous’ treatment of Lady Spencer, which literally set her on her feet after several years of immobility – her influence launched Radcliffe in aristocratic and royal circles. King James II hoped to convert Radcliffe to Roman Catholicism but Radcliffe would not be wooed: ‘having been bred up a Protestant at Wakefield I intend not to change my Principles and turn Papist in London’. King William III, who suffered from asthma, rewarded Radcliffe with a pension and offered him a baronetcy. The Earl of Albemarle was so grateful for Radcliffe’s attendance that he gave him a diamond ring. The Privy Council sent for Radcliffe when Queen Mary failed to respond to treatment in 1694 but Radcliffe declared that she was already a dead woman due to the misjudgements of her doctors. Royal patronage brought Radcliffe immense wealth which he enjoyed, indulging in a carriage pulled by six horses, in country estates, a collection of old masters and silver, an ample cellar and a gold handled cane inherited by Dr Richard Mead (1673–1754), Dr Anthony Askew (1722–1774), Dr William Pitcairn (1711–1791), Dr David Pitcairn (1749–1809) and finally Dr Matthew Baillie (1761–1823) whose widow presented it to the Royal College of Physicians in 1825. Radcliffe’s cane and coach displayed his self-awarded coat of arms which he adopted from the arms of Francis Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater, in order to enhance his social status. Radcliffe began medical practice from his rooms at the University of Oxford in 1675, moving to Covent Garden, London in 1684 and from there to a substantial house in Bloomsbury Square in 1704, by which time his annual income was some 7000. When he heard he had lost an investment of 5000 in a scheme to recover treasure from a shipwreck, Radcliffe, drinking in a tavern with his cronies, was unperturbed, boasting
Dr John Radcliffe (1650–1714), oil painting by Godfrey Kneller (c.1710–1712). Royal College of Physicians.
that ‘he had no more to do but to go up 250 pairs of stairs to make himself whole again’. Radcliffe never married. He was tempted by a young lady with a large dowry but called off the engagement when he learned that she was ‘quick with child’ by another man. Then at the age of 59 he succumbed to the charms of a patient endowed with great beauty and wealth. Despite his attempts to impress her with a new gilt chariot, coachmen and lackeys in livery, he was rejected. With the exception of stout, sickly Queen Anne who disapproved of Radcliffe’s heavy drinking and his dismissal of her complaints as mere vapours, Radcliffe’s wit made him popular with women patients such as Madame Ursley: ‘Ursley, in a merry Mood Enquir’d of her Physician What hour was best to stir the Blood And Spirits by Coition.
Downloaded from jmb.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 5, 2016
Hunting
247
Says Radcliffe, if my Judgement’s right Or Answer worth returning, ‘Tis most delightful over Night, Most wholesome in the Morning. Quoth Ursley, then for Pleasure’s sake Each Evening I will take it And in the Morning when I wake My only Physick make it’.
The Duchess of Marlborough and Princess Anne of Denmark (later Queen Anne) sought out Radcliffe to treat their precious sons. To the Duchess, Radcliffe replied frankly that there was nothing to be done but to send for the undertaker. Similarly, he told Princess Anne there was no possibility of recovery for the young Duke of Gloucester (1689–1700), heir presumptive to the throne. Radcliffe retired to his country house at Carshalton and was elected MP for Buckingham in 1713. In the summer of 1714 he was summoned to attend Queen Anne on her deathbed. Suffering from gout himself and having learned from his friend Dr Mead that nothing could be done to save the Queen, Radcliffe declined the summons. Queen Anne died on 1 August whereupon Radcliffe was vilified, accused of neglect and threatened with censure by the House of Commons, even assassination. One anonymous letter-writer vowed to sacrifice Radcliffe ‘to the ghost of Her Late
Majesty that cries aloud for your blood’. Radcliffe died a few months later on 1 November 1714, ‘a Victim to the Ingratitude of a thankless World’ and afflicted by what he described as his ‘old chronic distemper’. Radcliffe’s will provided for the extension of University College, Oxford, contributed to the Royal College of Physicians’ building in Pall Mall East, London, and left 500 for the patients of St Bartholomew’s Hospital ‘for mending their diet’ and linen. With the proceeds from his estate his trustees founded medical fellowships, a lunatic asylum, the Radcliffe Camera which opened in 1749, the John Radcliffe Infirmary (1770) and the Radcliffe Observatory (1772). John Radcliffe’s philanthropy was matched by generous bequests to his family, servants and executors: in a touching last letter to his sister, ‘My Dear Dear Milly,’ he told her to seek out his rings and jewels, hidden in his gilded cabinet.
Penelope Hunting London, UK Email: [email protected]
Note All quotations are from The Life of Dr John Radcliffe 1652– 1714, benefactor of the University of Oxford by Campbell R Hone (1950).
John Kirkup who contributes the series ‘Who made What’ to this journal has published ‘An Illustrated History of Hip Joint Surgery; from Hippocrates to Charnley’ (Bone & Joint, London) which bears on the cover a radiograph of a patient’s functioning hip prostheses in 2001 after bilateral replacement by Sir Jon Charnley in 1971. Some of the basic anatomy was known in the time of Hippocrates but the major advances are within the medical lifetimes of many who still in active practice. This book is illustrated copiously with radiographs, specimens, personalities and equipment and is a good read and of course reference to this fascinating are becomes increasingly important to us all as our age advances the wear and tear on our hips.
Downloaded from jmb.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 5, 2016
Dr John Radcliffe (1650–1714): ‘The Aesculapius of his Age’ No treatise, book, illness or instrument bears Radcliffe’s name. He is remembered instead for medical fellowships, university buildings, an asylum, an observatory and above all for the John Radcliffe Infirmary and the Radcliffe Camera, Oxford. John Radcliffe was no scholar: his reputation rests on common sense and his ability to give a shrewd diagnosis and accurate prognosis; his manner was blunt, he was arrogant, vain, witty and a snob. The key to his early career lay in his treatment of smallpox with cooling emulsions and fresh air, and his ‘miraculous’ treatment of Lady Spencer, which literally set her on her feet after several years of immobility – her influence launched Radcliffe in aristocratic and royal circles. King James II hoped to convert Radcliffe to Roman Catholicism but Radcliffe would not be wooed: ‘having been bred up a Protestant at Wakefield I intend not to change my Principles and turn Papist in London’. King William III, who suffered from asthma, rewarded Radcliffe with a pension and offered him a baronetcy. The Earl of Albemarle was so grateful for Radcliffe’s attendance that he gave him a diamond ring. The Privy Council sent for Radcliffe when Queen Mary failed to respond to treatment in 1694 but Radcliffe declared that she was already a dead woman due to the misjudgements of her doctors. Royal patronage brought Radcliffe immense wealth which he enjoyed, indulging in a carriage pulled by six horses, in country estates, a collection of old masters and silver, an ample cellar and a gold handled cane inherited by Dr Richard Mead (1673–1754), Dr Anthony Askew (1722–1774), Dr William Pitcairn (1711–1791), Dr David Pitcairn (1749–1809) and finally Dr Matthew Baillie (1761–1823) whose widow presented it to the Royal College of Physicians in 1825. Radcliffe’s cane and coach displayed his self-awarded coat of arms which he adopted from the arms of Francis Radcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater, in order to enhance his social status. Radcliffe began medical practice from his rooms at the University of Oxford in 1675, moving to Covent Garden, London in 1684 and from there to a substantial house in Bloomsbury Square in 1704, by which time his annual income was some 7000. When he heard he had lost an investment of 5000 in a scheme to recover treasure from a shipwreck, Radcliffe, drinking in a tavern with his cronies, was unperturbed, boasting
Dr John Radcliffe (1650–1714), oil painting by Godfrey Kneller (c.1710–1712). Royal College of Physicians.
that ‘he had no more to do but to go up 250 pairs of stairs to make himself whole again’. Radcliffe never married. He was tempted by a young lady with a large dowry but called off the engagement when he learned that she was ‘quick with child’ by another man. Then at the age of 59 he succumbed to the charms of a patient endowed with great beauty and wealth. Despite his attempts to impress her with a new gilt chariot, coachmen and lackeys in livery, he was rejected. With the exception of stout, sickly Queen Anne who disapproved of Radcliffe’s heavy drinking and his dismissal of her complaints as mere vapours, Radcliffe’s wit made him popular with women patients such as Madame Ursley: ‘Ursley, in a merry Mood Enquir’d of her Physician What hour was best to stir the Blood And Spirits by Coition.
Downloaded from jmb.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 5, 2016
Hunting
247
Says Radcliffe, if my Judgement’s right Or Answer worth returning, ‘Tis most delightful over Night, Most wholesome in the Morning. Quoth Ursley, then for Pleasure’s sake Each Evening I will take it And in the Morning when I wake My only Physick make it’.
The Duchess of Marlborough and Princess Anne of Denmark (later Queen Anne) sought out Radcliffe to treat their precious sons. To the Duchess, Radcliffe replied frankly that there was nothing to be done but to send for the undertaker. Similarly, he told Princess Anne there was no possibility of recovery for the young Duke of Gloucester (1689–1700), heir presumptive to the throne. Radcliffe retired to his country house at Carshalton and was elected MP for Buckingham in 1713. In the summer of 1714 he was summoned to attend Queen Anne on her deathbed. Suffering from gout himself and having learned from his friend Dr Mead that nothing could be done to save the Queen, Radcliffe declined the summons. Queen Anne died on 1 August whereupon Radcliffe was vilified, accused of neglect and threatened with censure by the House of Commons, even assassination. One anonymous letter-writer vowed to sacrifice Radcliffe ‘to the ghost of Her Late
Majesty that cries aloud for your blood’. Radcliffe died a few months later on 1 November 1714, ‘a Victim to the Ingratitude of a thankless World’ and afflicted by what he described as his ‘old chronic distemper’. Radcliffe’s will provided for the extension of University College, Oxford, contributed to the Royal College of Physicians’ building in Pall Mall East, London, and left 500 for the patients of St Bartholomew’s Hospital ‘for mending their diet’ and linen. With the proceeds from his estate his trustees founded medical fellowships, a lunatic asylum, the Radcliffe Camera which opened in 1749, the John Radcliffe Infirmary (1770) and the Radcliffe Observatory (1772). John Radcliffe’s philanthropy was matched by generous bequests to his family, servants and executors: in a touching last letter to his sister, ‘My Dear Dear Milly,’ he told her to seek out his rings and jewels, hidden in his gilded cabinet.
Penelope Hunting London, UK Email: [email protected]
Note All quotations are from The Life of Dr John Radcliffe 1652– 1714, benefactor of the University of Oxford by Campbell R Hone (1950).
John Kirkup who contributes the series ‘Who made What’ to this journal has published ‘An Illustrated History of Hip Joint Surgery; from Hippocrates to Charnley’ (Bone & Joint, London) which bears on the cover a radiograph of a patient’s functioning hip prostheses in 2001 after bilateral replacement by Sir Jon Charnley in 1971. Some of the basic anatomy was known in the time of Hippocrates but the major advances are within the medical lifetimes of many who still in active practice. This book is illustrated copiously with radiographs, specimens, personalities and equipment and is a good read and of course reference to this fascinating are becomes increasingly important to us all as our age advances the wear and tear on our hips.
Downloaded from jmb.sagepub.com at Imperial College London Library on June 5, 2016
