Edward Bancroft, M.D., F.R.S., and the War of American Independence / by Sir Arthur S. MacNalty.

  • Arthur MacNalty
Date:
1944
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Edward Bancroft, M.D., F.R.S., and the War of American Independence / by Sir Arthur S. MacNalty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tieprinted from Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, November, 1944, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, pp. 7-15 {Section of the History of Medicine, pp. 1-9).] / % Edward Bancroft M.D., F.R.S., and the War of American Independence By Sir Arthur S. MacNalty, K.C.B., M.D., F.R.C.P. Conan Doyle in the Adventure of the Noble Bachelor puts the following words into the mouth of Sherlock Holmes: “It is always a joy to me to meet an American, for I am one of those who believe that’ the folly of a Monarch and the blundering of a Minister in far gone years will not prevent otir children from being some day citizens of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes.” To-day when Britons and Americans are flghting side by side once more to preserve ffeedom and civilization, we are overjoyed to meet an American, and this afternoon I want to introduce you to one whose advice if taken might have helped to make that world-wide country in the eighteenth century. Edward Bartholomew Bancroft, for many years forgotten, has many claims on our notice as physician, eminent scientist, philosopher, politician, novelist, technical expert in dyes and philanthropist. But it was not until seventy years after his death that he was also discovered to be the most remarkable spy of all time. He was born at Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1744. The Bancrofts came of good yeoman stock and are a well-known family in Massachusetts. The founder of the family was John Bancroft who came there in 1632. John’s grandson, Samuel, was horn at West Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1768 and removed to Granville in the same State. He may have been a cousin of Edward's for the latter called one of his own sons Samuel. Distinguished Bancrofts were the Rev. Aaron Bancroft (1755-1839), Unitarian divine and author of a life of Washington (1807), George Bancroft (1800-1891), the historian and United States Minister to Great Britain, Hubert Howe Bancroft (1839 1901), a great educationalist. Professor Wilder Bancroft is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry in Cornell University. Thus Edward belonged to an illustrious New England family. As a boy he was apprenticed to a trade. Running away while in debt to his master, he became a sailor and made several voyages. On his return he paid what he owed. Like Franklin, he was largely self-taught, but he appears to have gone to school, perhaps at Groton, Connecticut, in 1758, for Silas Deane, a native of that town, was one of his teachers. He next seems to have acquired some medical training, possibly as a surgeon’s mate on board ship, for we find him as a medical attendant on a West Indian plantation and later in a similar capacity in Dutch Guiana (Surinam). Here Bancroft met Paul Went¬ worth, a member of a well-known New Hampshire family, who owned a plantation there and who greatly influenced his career afterwards. Bancroft took advantage of his post to study the flora and fauna of Guiana and early gained reputation as a botanist and zoologist. His researches were recorded in his first published book. The Natural History of Guyana (1769), written in the form of letters to his brother. He also studied tropical plants and their dye-producing properties.