Barbers -- England -- London -- History -- Sources; Barbers' Company (London, England) -- History; Surgery -- England -- London -- History -- Sources
Next to Butts, and immediately to the King’s right, is Dr. John
Chambre; he was physician to and a great favorite of Henry’s, holding
several clerical preferments as well. He was a Fellow and Warden of
Merton College, Oxon, where he was admitted Doctor of Physic, 29th
October, 1531. In the list of persons to whom Wolsey, in 1526, assigned
lodgings at the King’s house, when they should repair thither, occurs
the name of Dr. Chambre. There is also a catalogue of the King’s new
year’s gifts, in 1528, by which it appears that the Doctor had a piece
of plate weighing 24-3/8 ozs., at the same time the Cardinal’s gift was
40-1/4 ozs., and that of the Archbishop 31 ozs.
In Brian Tuke’s letter (23rd June, 1528), before referred to, he tells
Wolsey that when he called on the King with his letters, he found him
in “secret communication with his physician, Mr. Chambre, in a tower,
where he sometimes sups apart.”
Dr. Chambre was Dean of St. Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster, Canon of
Windsor, Archdeacon of Bedford, Prebendary of Comb and Harnham in
Salisbury Cathedral, Treasurer of Wells Cathedral, and beneficed in
Somersetshire and Yorkshire. Truly the lines had fallen unto him in
pleasant places!
He was one of the physicians in attendance on Queen Jane, at the birth
of Edward VI, and in a letter written by him to the Privy Council,
concerning the Queen’s critical state, he signs himself “priest.”
He was also in attendance on Anne Boleyn, in her confinement with
Elizabeth. His name is mentioned with that of Linacre and three others,
in the Charter to the College of Physicians, in 1518.
Sir William Compton, K.G., in 1522, nominated Dr. Chambre one of his
executors, in conjunction with the Bishop of Exeter, and Sir Henry
Marney, Lord Privy Seal.
Dr. Chambre built a “very curious cloyster,” in St. Stephen’s Chapel,
which cost him 11,000 marks, and he gave the canons of that chapel some
lands. He died in 1549.
On the King’s left is, first, Thomas Vicary (sometimes Vicars and
Vyccary), Master of the Barbers in 1530, and of the Barber-Surgeons
in 1541, 1546, 1548 and 1557. He was a man of great eminence in his
profession, having been Surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and
Serjeant-Surgeon to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. He was
the author of “The Profitable Treatise of Anatomy” in “The Englishman’s
Treasure, with the true Anatomie of Man’s Body.” An account of Vicary
will be found in D’Arcy Power, pp. 102, etc., and several particulars
relating to his connection with St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, are
recorded in a paper by Dr. Norman Moore (Hospital Reports, vol. xviii,
pp. 333-358); see also Dr. Furnivall’s exhaustive account (Early
English Text Society).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account