Medical miscellany

A miscellanous collection of medical-related letters and documents in English, 1662-1907

1. Testimonial addressed to the chancellor of the diocese of Hereford on behalf of William Evans, 'a chirurgion in his late Majestie's service', now resident in Kington, Herefs. 20 May 1662. Signed by several of his neighbours.

2. Receipt by Nathaniell Fretchwell, of St Clement Danes, Middlesex, apothecary, for £260 from Robert Bird, of Staple Inn, London, in respect of the sale of a property in St Andrew Holborn, London, from Fretchwell to Bird. 1 May 1674. Signed and sealed by Nathaniell Fretchwell.

3. Facsimile of a burial plaque in the nave of Tonbridge Church, Kent, for Arthur Amherst MD (c.1615-1678). 20th century.

4. 'A list of the persons who had degrees conferred on them by His Majesty, April 25th 1728'. Degrees in Laws and Medicine awarded by the University of Cambridge. Early 18th century.

5. Bill for medical services performed by Clement Jackson, of Hampton, New Hampshire, on behalf of Caleb Gillman junior, of Exeter, New Hampshire, in November and December 1728. Attested by Jabez Smith, Justice of the Peace of the province of New Hampshire, 6 May 1734.

6. Bill for medicines supplied by Thomas Bulfinch to Colonel Quincy, July 1739-June 1742.

7. Order from the Commissioners for executing the office of the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain to Captain Vaughan, commander of HM sloop Peregrine, at Cork, to prepare to inderdict the Dutch ship Ruygen Huft, presently at sea and suspected of carrying plague. 31 December 1751. Signed by John Clevland (1706-1763), W. Ellis, Thomas Villiers (1709-1786), later first earl of Clarendon, and William Rowley (c.1690-1768).

8. Appointment of William Dudson as surgeon's first mate aboard HMS Blenheim. Navy Office [London], 11 November 1761. Signed by George Cockburne (d.1770), William Bately, E. Mason and William H. Bateman, principal officers and commissioners of His Majesty's Navy.

9. Account of medicines supplied by Hall Jackson (1739-1797), of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to the state of New Hampshire, for various troops, October- December 1776. Endorsed with an attestation by James Betton, Justice of the Peace, 11 December 1776, and note of receipt signed by Jackson, December 1778.

10. Order from Sir Digby Dent (1739-1817), commander of HMS Royal Oak, to captains Blair and Frandshaw, to report on the condition of the hospital at Barbados. Carlisle Bay, Barbados, 10 September 1779. Signed by Dent.

11. Printed certificate of attendance at lectures by William Osborn and Thomas Denman on the Theory and Practice of Midwifery and on the Diseases of Women and Children, awarded to John Powell. London, 12 October 1783. Signed by Osborn and Denman.

12. Fragment of an unidentified druggist's inventory and evaluation of stock. N.d. [late 18th century].

13. Letter from a Richard T. to Henry Grey Bennet (1777-1836) on his medical problems. Sol's Row, Frederick Street [London], 15 June, n.y. [early 19th century].

14. Recipe for dropsy, dated 2 November 1812.

15. Account for services and medicines supplied by Messrs Jollye & Gillings to the late Mr Browne, October 1813 - March 1815, addressed to his executors. Receipted by G. Jollye.

16. Bill for medicines supplied by Edward Batt, surgeon, to Mr Ward, July 1816 - May 1817. Receipted by Batt.

17. 'List of 170 convicts embarked for [convict ship]General Stewart from Laurel Hulk, Portsmouth Harbour, 30 June 1818'. Certified as fit for transportation to New South Wales by J. Porter, surgeon of the Laurel Hulk, 30 June 1818.

18. Account for services and medicines supplied by William Addison, surgeon, to William Aspland of Wicken, January 1817 - June 1820. Receipted by Addison.

19. Account for services and medicines supplied by E.L. Knowles, surgeon, to William Aspland, July 1824 - August 1827. Receipted by Knowles.

20. Fragment of a letter from [Robert Wainwright, clerk of St Thomas's Hospital, London], to an unidentified correspondent, requesting information on the numbers of pupils attending surgical lectures between 1815 and 1824. St Thomas's Hospital, 9 June 1834.

21. Indenture of apprenticeship in the art and practice of medicine and surgery of John Ward Cousins (1834-1921), of Portsea, Hants., son of Rev. Thomas Cousins, to Edward John Scott MD, MRCS, of Portsea, and William John Rundle MD, MRCS, of Gosport, Hants., for five years from 1 August 1850. 8 October 1851. Signed and sealed by the parties.

22. Notes on preventive measures recommended by the Royal Commission on the Cattle Plague, apparently in a single, anonymous hand. 5 ff. c. 1866.

23. Sir John Fisher's recipe for cholera, transcribed from the Times, 2 August 1866.

24. Letter from a Mrs F. Lambert, to a certain Mrs Nathaniel Cork, of Sutton, Surrey, recommending a medicine for rabies called the 'Birling Cure'. Garratts Hall, Banstead, 25 September, [1883]. With a covering note, presumably by Mrs Cork, urging use of the recommended cure should one of her servants, who had been bitten by a dog, become ill.

25. Bill for professional attendance, medicines etc. for the year 1890, from George Pocock Goldsmith MD, of Bedford, on behalf of a Miss Briggs of Mrs Carroll's 'Crescent House' School. 18 December 1890. Receipted by Goldsmith.

26. Letter from John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903) to Arthur Edward Durham (1833-1895), FRCS, on exhibiting a work in the forthcoming Royal Academy winter exhibition. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 12 December 1894.

27. Letter from Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), Baroness Burdett-Coutts, presenting a basket of flowers to the matron of Great Northern Central Hospital, London. Highgate, 21 September 1895.

28. Letter from Thomas Edmonston Charles to Ronald Ross (1857-1932) enclosing a copy of a report by G.Bastianelli, A.Bignami and B.Grassi to the Accademia dei Lincei on malarial transmission, translated into English. Rome, 2 December 1898. 3 ff. ts.

29. Agreement between George Coverdale Ltd, of York, and Charles Bell, of Scarborough, Yorks., for the sale of 'Bells Sucker Ointment', a proprietory medicine owned by the company to Bell for £100. 1 September 1906.

30-32. Statements by Richard Hugh Berry, vaccination officer to Chipping Norton Union, Oxon., relating to the non-compliance of various parents in Chipping Norton with notices to vaccinate their children. 29 May 1907.

Re document 9, other papers of Hall Jackson (1739-1797) are in the Countway Library, Harvard University, ref. H MS c14

Re document 11, the Wellcome Library holds notes of Osborn and Denman's midwifery lectures taken by other students between 1776 and 1778 (MSS.2098-2099)

Re document 16, the Wellcome Library holds ledgers of the Batt family, surgeon apothecaries of Witney, Oxon., 1744-1799 (MSS.5201-5202), to whom Edward Batt was probably related